The Chronicles of Westwood Manor: Interview Two

When I interviewed a tenant at Westwood Manor, The Mustard Seed Edmonton’s first apartment building under the HousingFirst philosophy, he almost brought a tear to my eye! Now this guy is what you would call a “particular individual”: you know, those people who like things done in a certain way, with a certain style. He is one of those guys who keeps the common room clean and makes sure things things stay afloat around the house. 
Now for those of you who don’t know, The Mustard Seed's housing program is unique in that it tries to fill the gaps and reach the “hard-to-house” individuals who don’t make it in regular HousingFirst programs. In light of this, the tenant stated,

“I take pride in being part of an experiment: guinea pigs! It is a first-time experience for The Mustard Seed and a new learning experience for everyone. All eyes are on this experiment because we are doing this differently compared to other agencies. It is exciting in a way, to be a part of this new thing, to be able to give input on how we can improve. You really become a part of the process and experience. We give input and things change for our benefit.”

To be honest, I was taken aback at the sheer confidence in his words as he said this. He really felt empowered as a decision-maker in the Housing Program. This was his program, his experiment. Part of this experiment was conflict resolution. Westwood Manor has committed to a restorative justice framework for conflict resolution. He had this to say about resolving problems in the house,

“I realize that some people have different standards of what they might consider acceptable behaviour. We are gonna have different opinions, and that’s normal. I’m glad there is a resolution process to resolve differences quickly. Other than minor disagreements there has not been any incidents here. I like to keep the common room clean. Sometimes the other tenants have to do better to clean up after themselves, like spaghetti over the stove: maybe they think it is normal. Differences like that. If that’s the extent of differences that’s pretty good [he chuckles].”

The Housing Program and Westwood Manor at the Edmonton Mustard Seed have been growing like crazy. We are in the process of purchasing 2 more apartments and it is expected that up to 3 tenants will be moved into Westwood Manor each month until the 20 unit apartment is filled. I asked the tenant how he felt about all the changes:

“Things are going to change – change is inevitable. Some people are afraid of change, are uncomfortable, but you can’t live like that. There haven’t been any negative changes yet. And our input is welcome which is great. Input makes difference.
Here there is a mechanism where you bring concerns and they can be discussed. Maybe they won’t agree but at least you have an opportunity to have your voice heard. I am very encouraged to have a voice here.”

Boy oh boy, somebody give me a tissue!

Love Lots,

Jeremiah

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Woe to Those Who Hate the Rich

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort” Luke 6:24

It may be accurate to say that I don’t feel any fluffy butterflies in my belly when I see someone driving their Corvette top-down, wearing off fancy sunglasses, and playing gangsta music pounding hard enough to inflict internal bleeding. And neither do I feel the fury Chuck Norris directs towards them. Honestly, I really just don’t fit in with the rich.

Let's start here with a bit of background. I grew up in an immigrant family. My mother, originally from the Philippines, came over from Singapore to be a nanny in Canada; and my Dad came over from Yugoslavia, the part now called Croatia. After my parents got hitched, they bought an acreage - perhaps in the hopes of reclaiming the family farm my father once had in his homeland. Now I wouldn’t call us poor; we were only on welfare for a couple months. However, I do remember that people thought we were poor. Sure we didn’t have any running water most of the time. I remember feeling only a little embarrassed when we arrived at church with empty jugs, which my Dad and I filled between Sunday School and the morning Service. And sure we didn’t have the nicest place. I still remember those bus rides where the veterans in the backseat took it upon themselves to give the new kids the exclusive tour of the route. On this tour, my house was referred to as the “dirty place”. The obligatory oohs and ahhs that followed made me feel special, but also sad for my mom: she can be a real clean-freak; she just loves to keep things clean. Despite all these things, we still lived pretty comfortably.

These experiences, however, served to create a gap between me and the rich; I just don’t understand them. Hopefully now you, my dear reader, can understand my skepticism when a fairly large design and architecture firm, decided to donate their time and money to the housing program at The Mustard Seed Edmonton by landscaping the grounds surrounding our first apartment building. As I helped to plant trees and spread a variety of different rocks and mulch on the ground, I couldn’t help wonder why they were there. The Jekyll in me said, “It is from the bottom of their good hearts”; while the Hyde in me said, “It is from the guilt; they have to do something good to make them feel better.”

Christ in me, who become poor for us, says, “Love your neighbour”. I am still learning to do this because I not have both poor and rich neighbours. Woe to me if I love one and not the other, if I do good to my friends and spite my enemy, if I am not thankful for the generosity of those who have much. And also because I don’t like woe all that much.

Love Lots,


Jeremiah

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The Chronicles of Westwood Manor: From the Tenants Interview 1

Whether you call it HousingFirst or HousingPlus or Housing-whatever, it can be said that the “Housing" program is a new and mysterious enigma here at The Mustard Seed Edmonton. The rumours about this fancy program must be spreading like gangrene: "Did you hear? They installed a pool with a diving board - on the roof no less!" and "Have you heard? They just bought an exact replica of the Taj Mahal made out of spaghetti!"

Well friends, let me assure you with comforting words: rainbow, cherry cake, unicorn, puppies. To dispel the myths even further, I have with me our very own expert, whom we will refer to as Mark, a tenant and handyman here at the house.


Jeremiah: So, Mark, what happens on a regular day at the apartment?
Mark: Sometimes I go to work, sometimes I go out and get groceries ...uh I mean, do cleaning and maintenance, talk in [the] Common Room, meet up with people at The Mustard Seed. We sit around, talk, and enjoy.
[To himself]:Can’t believe I said grocery shopping! *laughs*

J: Has this house had a positive influence on you?
M: Yeah it has! The programs here at The Mustard Seed have really improved my Christianity and has really helped to increase my sense of unity with the community I am a part of.

J: What is your favourite part of the Housing program?
M: My favourite part is the suite that they gave me: brand new cupboards and floor, exceptional acoustics for a stereo and [affords me] the ability to cook my own meals.

J: Where would you be if you had no house to live in?
M: YMCA, but I like this place 1000 times better. I’ve rented really expensive apartments before with problems. You look out the window and see greasy people and wonder if a shower curtain salesman lives across from you.*chuckles*. But it is a really safe place here.

J: If there was one thing you would like the rest of the Mustard Seed to know about its Housing program, what would it be?
M: Tough luck. *laughs*. Just kidding! The Mustard Seed is getting more places and is providing top-notch support. You can’t get it better than this. The Mustard Seed has exceeded the limit and has gone way out of their way to do better. Just when you think The Mustard Seed has done everything, they do more.

Well there you have it folks, wisdom from the expert. I pray this has given you a little taste of The Mustard Seed Housing Program at Westwood Manor.


Love Lots,
Jeremiah


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“I AM a POSITIVE Person, Jerkface!”

I look at him. He looks at me. He is definitely drunk, but I easily see past that; not a good skill to have, really. I work the door at The Mustard Seed in Edmonton during meals and do my best to prevent all drug and alcoholic users from entering our zero-tolerance force field. He starts swearing - not in a mean or threatening way, but with very honest indignation. Standing straight, his left knee is pulled unnaturally out to the side as if a muscle-head wrestler bent it the wrong way and forgot to put it back. He manages to hold this position as the rest of his body sways back and forth in his alcohol-induced state. He has waited a few years for knee surgery and, out of his hatred of prescription painkillers, he uses alcohol to survive the day and sleep at night. Good news: he just got an appointment with a clinic so that he can soon get the surgery. I try to be positive. “Be happy, friend! You will be getting the surgery soon”. Bad move Jeremiah. He swears again. This time directed at me with both honest frustration and sheer meanness. He is obviously not in a very positive mood.

People have said I'm a positive person. I have noticed, however, that it is very difficult to be positive to those who have witnessed, and been victim to, atrocious things. They see the world through the tainted lens of these traumatic experiences and comprehend my positive remarks as mere fiction and fantasy outside their own perspective. My positivity is not a valid part of their “real world”. It has been a goal of mine to ground my optimism in reality and in a way that they can understand. This has been difficult, although, I have made some progress.

One community member, who is a regular here at The Mustard Seed, was having some trouble with employment and getting his identification. I wanted to encourage him so I took something from his “world” – his regular attendance at The Mustard Seed – and relayed it back to him in a positive way. I simply said that he was a positive influence in the community of The Mustard Seed. This was also grounded in the real, in his world, because I had noticed his generosity to other community members. And I think he got the message.

Leave me a comment and let me know what the real world is through your lens.

Love Lots,

Jeremiah

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Under the Glass Ceiling

One of the community members said something, which really shook me recently:

“How can you live with a disability? It’s like you're living in a room with a glass ceiling. You can see all that you want to achieve, but you know you can never get there. How can you live with a disability? ” 

The same can be also said for many trauma victims; for those who continually dress their wounds in addictive remedies; for those who, from birth, had no one to admire and nurture their potential.

The worst part is perhaps that the glass of the ceiling is transparent. They can see who they could have been. They see their dreams clearly, yet increasingly distant; fleeting wisps of memories never theirs. Cursing their present state, they dive deeper into the walls that confine them and drown in their own shadows.

Housing First has been the model chosen to undo these types of situations. The housing program of the Mustard Seed in Edmonton has recently been approved by Homeward Trust, the first apartment building has been filling rapidly, and other apartments are possibly in the works! I, Jeremiah, a mere summer student intern, have been graciously cannon-balled into the middle of this extravaganza. And I love it! And I despair in it!

I love the stories and laughter we share when we sit together with a meal. I love it when I spill hamburger all over myself when the sarcastic excitement of 50% off all clothes in Value Village hits the room. I admire the generosity present between the tenants. Even the precious cigarette is given away freely to a friend. On the flip side, I despair at the sight of deep scars through skin which give credence to the stories that tumble out at unexpected moments. I despair when their pain squeezes them so tightly that they, with subtle and unintentional words and actions, sometimes hurt each other.

So what of the glass ceiling? Well, they move out - out of those four walls - and enter a new community where the sky is the limit. Through the housing program they come to a home. One of the tenants told me yesterday,

“It’s hard to find a home, but this place really feels like a home. It takes a heart to make a home and this place has a lot of heart!”  

A home is a place of belonging where it does not matter what you have done or how short you have fallen from who you could have been. All that matters is right now, and who you are making yourself to be with the support of all those around you. Here the sky does not become the eternal reminder that your hopes have failed, but rather the place where your imagination can find hope again. I am very thankful to be a part of this extravaganza.

Love Lots,

Jeremiah

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Poetry

A few weeks ago Alan, a resident in our new apartment building, shared this poem with me that he had written and told me that I could share this poem because he wanted to help raise awareness around the issues of poverty.  This poem reinforces to be the fact that people don't grow up dreaming about being homeless- they dream the same dreams that we do; travelling the world, falling in love, starting a business, going to school or having a family.

Sleepy Angel

By Alan

I watched her quietly sleep with a slight smile on her face.

Maybe she was dreaming about when her mother threw her a birthday party when she was just six.

Or when she dreamed about being married to a Prince when she was a little girl.

Away she laid quietly sleeping on a cold winter night on a sidewalk downtown Edmonton.

The Future of Community

Hi there,

I'm Ty and I work as a Team Lead in The Mustard Seed's Housing department in Calgary. I spend a lot of time in Transitional Housing on the third and fourth floors of our oldest building, 102 11 Ave SE.

It has been through many changes over the years of its existence, but after all of those, nothing has been cooler than what is happening now through community building.  The residents are creating safe home for themselves, partly with the help of Resident Advisors (RA). Essentially, I'm talking here about peer leadership. I'm talking about residents in the midst of life recovery voted into a leadership role by their peers. One for each floor, and I'll tell you what - it's empowering. Why?

It is representative of the community you live with recognizing your gifts and talents, much like becoming a member of the board of a community association. The coolest thing was when one floor embraced a true campaign spirit! We saw posters, conversations, and a victory by only two ballots to achieve a majority as a slate of four candidates were whittled down to two and then one. I saw a great sense of fun, community and the importance of one’s voice when living in a healthy community.

The RA is there as a first point of support for their neighbours, to help brainstorm solutions, host social events, mentor new residents in the culture and welcome new residents, etc. Beginning this process was a powerful step, not just for our guests, but for our staff as well. It was a sign that we were throwing out the charitable model we know best, to simply say, this is our community: staff, volunteers and residents.

We're getting ready to live in the future of community. Are you?