Connections' Housing Deposit Assistance Program

The Housing Challenge

After several years of watching qualified housing voucher applicants unable to obtain permanent housing owing to their lack of available funds to provide the required rental deposit, our board of directors created the Housing Deposit Assistance Program to provide assistance. Since then, we have had amazing community support from agencies like The Weld Trust.

Being able to live in one’s own home is an important part of self-reliance while also building strong communities and a growing economy. Having a home is the first step to building independent lives that contribute to Colorado’s society. We review applicants based on general eligibility, demonstrate need, demonstrate resourcefulness, and the adverse effects. Connections provides grant funding directly to apartment and housing owners on behalf of our Section 8 Housing voucher recipients. These grants generally range from $200 to $1,000 for applicants who meet eligibility requirements. Each applicant also funds a portion of their housing rental deposit.

Your generous donation will help provide funding for this important assistance program. No amount is too small.

UPDATE

To date, Connections has been able to assist 32 people with housing deposit assistance, just like our consumers, Ryan J and Blane L. 

Ryan was experiencing homelessness and living out of his truck, while living with a cognitive disability. Ryan moved to Greeley six years ago and has been unhoused for four of those six years. During this time, he had applied for our Housing Choice Voucher Program waitlist. In January of this year, Ryan applied for the Deposit Assistance Program. His application was approved by the committee and they were able to help cover his deposit so he could move into his own home. Besides continuing to experience homelessness, had Ryan not been approved for the deposit assistance, he would have had to leave Greeley.

 “With my disability, I have spent many years memorizing the surrounding area. I would be forced to leave and it would have been a hardship on my life. The fear of learning a new area, finding access to health care, transportations and learning new community agencies is stressful. Connections helped me when I couldn’t find other resources.” Ryan says. He moved into his new home in February. “Feeling safe and knowing I have my own home to come to has been everything to me.”

Blane is a 20-year-old consumer living with a traumatic brain injury. He came to Connections as a high school student in 2021. In this time, he earned his high school diploma, gained full time employment working with his success coach, and is living independently on his own. He is a housing consumer with Connections and has continuously shown that he is proud of how far he’s come. He received assistance from Connections deposit assistance program and lives in an accessible unit. Blanes’s next goal is to complete his bachelor’s degree in a field that he can give back to. In the fall of 2023, he will be attending the University of Northern Colorado.