WEBVTT

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My name is Tong Kou Thao.

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I live in St. Paul on the east side.

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I bought a house in Frogtown.

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I lived there since 1995 until 2006.

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I was living in Frogtown until I had my stroke.

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After I had my stroke, I lost my house.

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My son said I will find somewhere for you to live, but until I do,

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you 'll have to live in a hotel first.

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When I lived in a hotel, my PCA brought food for me and

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he came to get my clothes and do my laundry.

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Then there was someone who came to help me find housing.

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Her name was Cindy from Housing Access Services and Arc.

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The house that I recently moved into is really nice.

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Moving there, Cindy also told me that the deposit

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would be paid for from Housing Access Services.

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At the same time, they helped with the application.

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They also helped with finding additional money for rent and

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to help supplement my other expenses.

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Housing Access Services helped me move into my home and

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they also helped find furniture for me.

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I want to thank everyone involved for helping me find my home.

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This program was able to find me the home that I was looking for.

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I am very happy.

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My name is Karli Harguth and I am 22 years old.

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I am from Eitzen, MN which is at the very southeast corner of MN.

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I have a seizure disorder. I was born with metabolic disorder.

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I was living with my parents.

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Mom and Dad weren 't ready to let me go.

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It got to be where they seemed too over protective.

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I mean I am supposed to be independent.

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My friends were going off to college.

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It 's like, why can 't I leave the house?

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There was a major issue with health and of course there was the money

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and I didn 't want to live in a group home and

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have somebody watching you all the time and checking in on you.

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That' s what my parents do. If I wanted to live in a group home,

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I might as well have just lived at home anyways.

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There are apartments that have people that check in on you but I didn' t want that either.

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I want to be on my own without anybody coming in

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or people checking on me or

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telling me to do this or telling me to do that.

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I want to be free. It was just a matter of getting there.

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Grandma and Mom were the ones that went along with me.

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It was mostly garage sale furniture that we got.

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So it was used but yet it was really good.

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We had bought it ahead of time too.

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I mean we didn't know where I was going to stay

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so it was always stored in grandma 's basement

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so until I found a place to stay.

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My grandma, she knew I could do it.

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I had a county case worker who helped me get a CADI waiver and

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that helped with some of the expenses.

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Housing Access Services was an answer to my prayers. It really was.

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It helped make my dream come true.

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My mom got an Arc newsletter and had found it.

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And she had told me about it.

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And we knew for sure that we should give them a call...and wow!

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Things moved so quickly after we got in contact with them.

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They helped me find my own apartment.

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So they were there when I signed the lease.

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And they helped and even got to the point where

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they helped me move everything in and

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helped me to get on programs for like

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energy assistance which helps a lot with bills.

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And they check in every once in awhile.

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They 're always there if I need them.

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But nobody comes in and checks on me other than my meds.

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So I 'm living independently that way,

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which makes me feel really good.

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This whole process has changed my life completely.

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I haven 't been able to experience a college setting.

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But I mean I' m out on my own...before my brother and sister!

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So that' s really exciting.

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And I guess if other people can get on this process,

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maybe they will feel the same way.

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My mom does still call every night and just to check in.

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She wants me to call saying that I 'm in bed and I 'm OK.

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She still does worry about me but she knows that I 'm happier now and

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she knows this was the right move.

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I told them I could do it.

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Right now they feel really good about it too

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knowing that I 'm happy and I 'm out of the house.

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My dream has come true.

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My name is Adrianne Harper.

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I was living in a group home for a year and a half.

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And I didn' t like that because, you know,

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it took so much for them to take care of each client.

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So I just wanted to live on my own.

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I moved into an apartment.

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The PCAs there, they felt that because it was in their agency' s name,

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that I had to do whatever they wanted me to do.

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When they wanted me to get up, I had to get up.

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When they wanted me to eat, I had to eat.

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When they wanted me to go to the bathroom, whatever,

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I had to go to the bathroom.

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I felt that I didn t have any rights of my own and

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I didn 't like that.

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Housing Access Services, they shocked me.

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I was really impressed.

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When they came out, they said all of the right things.

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We would get you in a place when your lease is up.

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And they did.

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They gave me a list of places.

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And I went to see these lists of places.

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And I chose the one I wanted to move to.

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Now I live in Maple Grove,

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and I 'm in my own apartment.

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The lease is in my name so I live under my rules.

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They have been checking in with me periodically.

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Of course I still have PCAs but, it 's like,

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I get to do whatever I want to do now which is excellent.

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Housing Access Services helped me tremendously.

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They stepped up to the plate when I needed them the most.

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They' re really awesome.