Samantha Johnston remembers a time when she was living in shelters with her five kids, filling out job applications and paperwork for welfare assistance at the park while they played. As soon as she got a lead on housing or a job, she would jump on it.
“I’m one of those people who, the day you tell me to get something, I’m already getting it for you,” Johnston said. “I like to get it done. My to-do list never ends, it really doesn’t.”
As organized as she is, Johnston has spent years fighting an uphill battle toward financial stability. Now, she’s nearing the crest.
Johnston lives in public housing in Concord and enrolled two years ago in the Resident Success Program offered by Concord Housing & Redevelopment. She sought to secure coaching to find a job, boost her credit score and whittle down the roughly $140,000 in debt she said she was saddled with after leaving her marriage.
The program aims to help people living in low-income, public housing developments build their savings and meet their financial goals. It’s structured through the federal housing authority, but Concord started its chapter two years ago and currently has 85 participants.
On Wednesday, Johnston became the first graduate of the program. She received her diploma and celebrated with a small gathering at Concord Housing’s Resident Success Office. The building was decked out in decorations, down to graduation caps resting atop the cupcakes.
The program runs for five years, but Johnston met her goals early. She has a job in behavioral health and is working toward a bachelor’s degree in social services. Her credit score has gone from the 400s to the upper 600s, and she’s within spitting distance of paying off the last of the debt. She can even afford to pay for her kids to play soccer.
She couldn’t have done it alone, she said, but she also recognized her own hard work to get where she is now.
“I have plenty of reasons I could have used as excuses,” Johnston said at the graduation. “I was a single mother raising five children. I was rebuilding after domestic violence. I had bills, responsibilities, work, school and days when I was completely exhausted, but I kept going. Your circumstances do not have to determine where your story ends.”
Along with her new financial savvy, Johnston will receive a sum of money.
Typically with income-restricted housing, as a resident’s earnings increase, so too does their rent. Participants in this program get an extra boost — they pay the increase, but instead of it going toward rent, it’s set aside in a savings account that accumulates over the time they spend in the program. Upon graduation, they receive that money back tax-free.
Housing is often viewed as the foundational step toward improving a person’s life. The idea behind this “housing-first” model is that if someone can get — and stay — in a place to live, they can then make strides in other areas like employment and education.
Etta Hyde is still working her way through the program.
She moved into public housing downtown a year and a half ago after spending over a year at domestic violence shelters and transitional housing. She’s currently living on disability and Social Security checks while searching for a job. She has no car and a credit score in the 400s.
She dreams of financial stability: being able to pay the bills on time, see her grandkids and splurge on the little things, like going to the movies. Mostly, it’s about lowering stress and just being “able to breathe,” Hyde said.
Achieving that stability has proved difficult, but the program is helping her find her footing. Hyde has met with her coach and experts at Ledyard Bank, who are helping her build a savings account and a budget. After writing down her expenses — she listed bills and needs, but left out the “wants” section, she said — Hyde is preparing to bring it back to them for feedback.
Through the program, Hyde said she’s also aiming for more independence.
“I was looking for … somebody to help reinforce my budgeting and stuff like that, and help me live more independently than I was, because I was relying on other people to do things for me — not only provide, but help with my life,” Hyde said. “It’s a really good program. I’ve actually come a long way on it.”
