Marion family finds a home, with help from Willis Dady center

MARION — The Corey family has been relishing a life of normalcy this month.

At the beginning of March, Kathy Corey and her two adult sons moved into their Marion apartment, ending half a year spent between an extended-stay motel and a Cedar Rapids homeless shelter.

Throughout the six months of transition and homelessness, the non-traditional family — Kathy, 65, cares for her adult sons, Michael, 35, and Anthony, 38 — maintained their strong bond and stuck together, thanks in large part to aid from Linn County's housing crisis network.

'They understood we were a family and that was important,' Kathy said. 'They allowed us to stay a family and that I appreciate so much.'

Out of options

Last fall, the Coreys left Las Vegas — where the Minnesota natives had lived the last six years to care for a sick friend — to return to the Midwest. After a 36-hour bus ride later this past October, they arrived in Cedar Rapids and moved into the extended-stay motel until they found permanent housing.

But with limited funds, the family of three soon found themselves on the verge of homelessness. Short on options, Kathy turned to Waypoint Services, the central contact point for Linn County families experiencing a housing crisis.

'You don't imagine it's going to happen, it can just happen,' Kathy said. 'We had nowhere to go, we didn't know where we would be the next day.'

Cedar Rapids has a network of homeless shelters, each with criteria for those who can stay. The Madge Phillips Center, for example, provides transitionary housing for women and children, while the Willis Dady Emergency Shelter offers space for single men and has four units for families.

Shelters typically allow parents with children under 18 years old in their family units.

But the Coreys have a somewhat unique living situation.

Michael suffered a traumatic brain injury 17 years ago and takes daily medication for migraines, arthritis and depression.

Sometimes he forgets to take his medication, Kathy said.

'He needs to take medicine every day, and I need to make sure I'm there to help him,' Kathy said.

Anthony is developmentally disabled.

'In a lot of ways, I'm their caregiver,' Kathy added.

But while Kathy's sons are dependents, they do not fit the criteria for family units in the local shelter system.

A special exception

Out of funds, it looked as if Kathy was heading to one shelter and her sons to another.

However, officials with Willis Dady — which served 266 single men and 33 families last year — decided to make a special exception for the Coreys.

'Once we sat down and actually got to meet them, we saw how well they worked together, you just saw the importance and the need that they stick together,' Willis Dady Shelter Manager Denine Rushing said.

Phoebe Trepp, Willis Dady's executive director, said making a special exception for someone who doesn't meet the facility's criteria isn't rare.

'I would say, definitely within any given month we are making an exception in order to accommodate someone who would not traditionally fit the program criteria,' Trepp said.

The Corey family's specific situation is less common, said Betty Daniels, housing specialist with Waypoint Services.

'That's really rare with a woman with adult sons,' Daniels said. 'In the 16 years that I've been here, I've never seen an adult woman with adult sons go into the Willis Dady shelter. I'm just not aware of any. It was just really wonderful to hear that they would take them in.'

One day at a time

The Coreys moved into one of Willis Dady's four family units at the end of January.

But it was only temporary — shelter clients are given about 30 days to find permanent housing. Trepp said that allows for quick turnover so the shelter can serve as many people as possible.

Programming can be aggressive, so it's important clients are motivated to find permanent housing, she said.

'It was tough, but the people there were so nice,' Anthony said.

Those who enter shelter programming work with a case manager to acquire any needed documentation — the Coreys needed to get updated birth certificates — and ultimately find a housing that fits their financial situation — Michael and Anthony receive assistance through their Social Security Insurance.

For the Coreys, there was no lack of motivation to go through the programming and find a home.

'I thought, 'This is great, we appreciate it, but this is not our life,'' Kathy said. 'They give you the tools, but you got to use them.'

It was unlikely another special exception would be granted, so the Coreys were determined to take advantage of the help they had received.

'I was scared, I thought we'd get separated if we didn't get out,' Michael said.

With a small extension on their stay, the Coreys made it through the city's shelter program in 35 days. On March 1, they moved into a three-bedroom apartment on Marion's Bentley Drive.

Settling in

With the burden of homelessness lifted, Kathy and her sons are getting into a normal routine — they've been attending church, are getting familiar with their Marion neighborhood and are keeping in touch with their case manager.

After clients find housing, case managers will continue to work with them for up to a year to help them accommodate to the new living situation and get involved in their community.

'For Kathy and her sons, it's really about making sure they get settled into their community,' Daniels said, adding that former clients are encouraged to participate in local groups or organizations. 'You've got to figure out where you fit in.'

They've received donated pots and pans from Immanuel Baptist Church for their kitchen, picked up some clothes at area thrift stores and, a few days after they moved in, the Coreys adopted two blue parakeets, named Fancy and Blue.

'It's nice to have some normalcy,' Kathy said. 'it's hard when everyone is in a stressful situation.'

Michael, who didn't complete high school because of his injury, is taking online classes through Penn Foster High School. He plans on receiving his diploma next April and wants to go to Kirkwood Community College for computer science classes.

Anthony, who loves music and dancing, said he'd like to teach dance some day.

On this Easter Sunday, Kathy and Michael will be baptized at Immanuel Baptist Church, where they began attending service and Bible study back when they lived at Willis Dady.

Willis Dady Manager Rushing credited the family's close bond to their ability to get back on their feet.

'We never accepted a family like them before, we were actually taking a chance on them,' she said. 'I think if they would have had to split up they may not have been a success story ...

They work really well together as a family, as a whole, kind of keeping things together.'