Client Story: Elizabeth

Elizabeth lives in Ada County and was born and raised in Idaho. She was employed, but lost her job due to staffing cuts. She was quickly able to find another position, doing all she could to make sure she was staying ahead of her finances. However, once she started that new job, life threw another curveball her way. Elizabeth was hospitalized with pneumonia for two weeks. The missed income led to her falling behind on rent. In addition to these missed payments, her rent was expected to increase by more than ten percent. Elizabeth's challenge is two-fold– first, she lost her job and had to find a new position. Although the new position pays well, she had to wait for her first paycheck to make up for the time she did not have a job. 

A woman sits in front of her window in a grey sweater, contemplating.

Elizabeth tried to make payments as she could and pay off as much of her balance as possible. However, since she was facing a difficult and multifaceted situation, she wasn’t able to get ahead of the combination of missed rent, the ongoing monthly rent, and the late fees. Since Elizabeth doesn’t have support, like family or friends in the area, these expenses were beyond what she could afford. In the best case scenario, she would have been able to move in with her adult daughter. Otherwise, she would have been evicted and become homeless. 

After she contacted Jesse Tree, Elizabeth’s assigned case manager jumped into action. Jesse Tree was able to provide $2,000 to her outstanding balance, as well as a household kit and hygiene kit. Elizabeth was already working with other organizations to cover her utilities and was accessing food pantries as needed, but the rental assistance from Jesse Tree allowed her to stay safely housed and focus on healing.