Housing, Benefits and Support Services Changes Life Trajectory
In addition to our own housing and employment services, Pioneer also offers support in these areas for anyone who is Medicaid-eligible through our Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program. The FCS program is a part of our Community Integrations division.
Curtis Paramore, an FCS supportive housing specialist, shared a story on Michael, one of his client’s that he has been working with for over 11 months now. When Michael first came on to Curtis’s case- load, he was living in a shared room in transitional housing and was just beginning drug court with a 40% Veterans service-connected disability and $60,000 in debt. Michael had severe PTSD, hypervigilance and an anxiety disorder. At the time, he was struggling to maintain sobriety from his amphetamine addiction. Michael had gone through treatment at the North Sound Behavioral Health Treatment Center in Everett that Pioneer operates, but was finding recovery to be a continuing challenge.
Curtis was assigned to work with Michael and stated by helping him to apply for a VA rating increase back in the first or second week of meeting him. At the same time, they applied for Michael’s VASH voucher. Curtis said, “When I met Michael, he didn’t even know he qualified for these VA benefits and he was worried about even talking to the VA in fear that his last arrest, drug court enrollment and addiction history would impact the small benefits he did have already.”
Curtis continued, “A few nights ago, Michael was so excited that he contacted me at 12:00 AM to share the VA rating increase finally came through after all this time. I'm not accustomed to getting good news in the middle of the night, so this was a pleasant shock.”
The rating increase came right on time because Michael had just lost his very lucrative job as a lead loss prevention officer because of his past criminal justice involvement. Washington state revoked Michael’s Washington security license (after initially issuing it earlier this year). However, with the VA allotment increase, Michael’s base income moved from a 40% rating to an increased 90% rating! This VA allotment is based on his service in the military as a Marine.
Curtis added, “Michael’s new rating and increased income will not remove him from his VASH voucher, and he now has access to a plethora of benefits that would otherwise be out of his reach. We are discussing his desire to return to school under the VA Vocational Rehabilitation in order to gain additional skills. The education will better position him to gain competitive employment. Eventually, we will also work on getting his record vacated so he can seek employment in a field more accepting of a lived justice experience."
Today, Michael’s bankruptcy has been completed and he is totally out of debt. Washington state released his driver’s license back to him and his car is registered in his name with the payments almost completed. Michael now lives in a market-rate independent living apartment with a VA housing voucher and he just celebrated 15 months of successful recovery. Meeting all of these milestones is an example of his determination and shows the strength in his personal health and wellness. Now that he has full stabilization, he will be graduating from our FCS program soon, but taking with him a new sense of hope, freedom and inspiration.
Michael told Curtis, “Brother I would never have made it here without you. It feels like I can breathe again.Thank you Doc, Semper fi (always faithful).”
Curtis concluded, “All too often, we measure success in this field by inches gained because it tends to be only small victories we can celebrate - but Michael’s success is huge. The entire trajectory of his life changed, and he is no longer part of any negative statistics. I am proud to say that Michael has broken the cycle of recidivism and addiction he was spiraling on for years.”