Crystal Smith was living in a shelter for quite some time, but she was eager to start her housing journey. The shelter is in Floyd County, but she wanted to reside in Bartow. With no means of transportation, Crystal was determined to find an apartment. Not only did she locate two apartments of her choosing, she also scheduled an appointment to meet with both apartments to introduce the RISE program. Crystal was able to find someone to bring her to these schedule appointments. Neither apartments accepted the program, but she didn’t give up. She was given the opportunity to view Ivy Mill Apartments. Crystal viewed the property, completed her rental application, and signed her lease independently. She also saved enough money for her rental application. Crystal completed the entire process with minimal assistance from her Case Manager. Once, her lease was signed, she brought it to her Case Manager. Crystal is also in the process of completing a job transfer from Home Depot in Floyd County to Bartow Home Depot.
RISE currently has 6 successful Realty and Property Management partnerships in 3 of the counties we serve. One of those companies were adamant about not working with a program. As the Case Manager, who needed landlords, continued to contact them as each new listing was posted on their website, the answer was always no. After speaking at Floyd’s Collaborative, The Case Manager received an email stating that a Realty Agency was interested in our RISE Program. The interested agency turned out to be the companies who were adamant about not working with programs. After scheduling and meeting with them, the Case Manager was given 10 sets of keys to the properties they had available. They will waive all application fees, credit checks, and background checks for those enrolled in the Rise Independent Housing Program.