“I used to be the poster person for welfare,” Christy Milburn said Friday. “Now I'm the face for welfare reform. It's a lot of hard work, but if you want things different, you can do it.”
The Milburns also spent seven months living in a two-bed motel room in 2005, one of 20 different places they tried to call home in a single year. Last February, they were approved to move into Maclay Commons. The brand-new housing project was taking on 16 families who had no other place to go. On Friday night, they said goodbye.
Hastings said most of the residents are single mothers, although there are two two-parent families and one single father. A few moved over from the Joseph Residence, one of Missoula's original transitional housing programs.
But that facility held just six families in a former nursing home. Maclay Commons offers multi-bedroom furnished apartments. It also has a community center where residents hold meetings, take classes and this Friday night, celebrate the departure of one of their own.
The Milburns lived at Maclay Commons for a year and three weeks. There's already a six-month waiting list for replacements.
If getting into Maclay Commons was hard, so was staying in. Residents must attend classes in parenting, financial management and other life skills. They follow strict rules on household activities and keep the apartments in top shape. Despite being a self-confessed “neat-freak,” Milburn said the pressure was almost too much.
“I personally don't believe my children needed all that supervision,” Milburn said. “But I understand that families in crisis require that. You're dealing with people in crisis who will sign anything to get a place to live, a place for their kids. There's been a lot of turnover - people just saying ‘I can't take it anymore' and leaving. It's a matter of how much security do you want for your child? Are you willing to go the extra mile? I knew if I quit, I'd have to start over.”
Milburn did not quit. She completed the classes, kept the microwave spotless, and made sure Kelsey and Kasey didn't let clothes get lost under their beds. She traded one full-time job for a better one, which she says she loves. And step by step, she turned off the assistance programs she's depended on for years.
“I'm losing the security blanket,” she said. “It's scary to know I'd no longer receive food stamps or TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families). Even though I wanted to let it go and hated to be in the system, it was scary.”
Her children will remain on the state Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and her successful year's residence at Maclay Commons qualified the family for a government rental subsidy known as a Section 8 voucher. It helps her pay the lease of an open-market home.
The Milburns also found a community able to help them through. Christy got help to find an affordable car. When it broke down, someone provided $200 to help get it repaired. Big Brothers and Sisters of Missoula has found a buddy for Kelsey, and Kasey is on a waiting list. They've found friends through the South Hills Evangelical Church, where Kasey recently took first place in his age group's BMX bike race.
“The whole focus of my success is I owe it all to God,” Milburn said. “I quit fighting it all and put it at His feet. He's abundantly provided since then. The blessings just keep coming.”
The latest blessing is a brand-new, three-bedroom duplex near Franklin Elementary School where the Milburns will move into Saturday. Christy had already narrowly missed one good rental deal, and was resigned to a long search. After all, no landlord comes knocking to find a renter in Missoula, right?
“That's exactly what happened,” Milburn said. “He even offered to fill out the Section 8 paperwork. I plan to rent it for two years and then apply for Section 8 homeownership. Homeownership is looking me right in the face. That's an awesome feeling to experience in one year.”
Those experiences may become more plentiful. Following the success of Maclay Commons, the Missoula Housing Authority is now developing a new project known as Market Square at the former Russell Street Intermountain Lumber Co. site. Its first phase will add 70 low-income apartments to the community.
The key to affordable housing and families like Christy's is we have to have enough inventory of housing - we have to keep building it,” said project manager Geoff Badenoch. “The 70 units will be for families making 50, 40, or 30 percent of the median income for Missoula. But then there's another 200 units that will add to the rest of the community's inventory. More inventory means more choice, and hopefully we'll stay far enough ahead of demand to keep the prices affordable.”
At the Friday going-away party, 9-year-old Tyler Hill marched up to Christy and said, “Can I get a hug? I heard you're leaving.” He got one. Six-year-old Sarah VanWoerkom presented Christy Milburn with a unicorn picture she'd colored. Her mother, Regina, said the gathering was sad for her children, but good for her family.
“Christy did it,” VanWoerkom said. “That gives us inspiration.”
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