I had support in place, I was fortunate that our organization has sleeping rooms on site. For the first two weeks I was hired, I stayed in one of them and was given access to the kitchen area associated with this sleeping area.
During the apartment search, I relied heavily on word of mouth and online searches. I was fortunate to be in town for this length of time because I was able to visit some apartments. I was looking for two bedrooms and one bathroom. I went to look at a place at the end of my first week in town which I really liked. The problem I faced was getting in touch with the property manager who is the only staff to contact on site. The following Monday, I tried reaching out to this individual over a dozen times using two different phone numbers with little to no success. The next week I mentioned to a friend who lived there that I couldn't reach the building manager and he gave me an email. I learned during the visit to the building and meeting with the property manager that it is income based and would need a cosigner since I was newly hired to my position. It ended up not being a good fit for me, so I ultimately decided to pass on this location even though it was directly across the street from the office.
During a meeting I had with one of the organization's department heads, I mentioned my frustrations and after asking my price range, suggested a different apartment complex that I really liked. I called this time and they answered the phone so I set up a tour of one of the units and highly liked what I saw! My mother agreed to cosign thankfully as my credit wasn’t great. I was told if I put in the application the next day, the latest I could move in would be three weeks from then. I was a new employee and it would be almost a month to when I would get my first paycheck. Everything else was fairly accessible in the process except for signing the lease. I needed the help of a sighted person to do that part. Once I was approved, there was a lot to do before I was able to move in but I got it all done.
As far as the moving process, because I wasn’t local we had to find a moving company. They came out and quoted us nearly $4500. Once we finally got to the appointment and I started getting settled in, I found that the door lock wasn’t functioning so I had to go back and forth with the maintenance team to get it fixed because that’s a safety issue.
I was lucky, I had some support to get all this done but it would have been very different if I hadn’t. I honestly don't know what I would have done if my organization didn't have living quarters, my parents willing to pay for the moving expenses, help find furniture/supplies for the new apartment, and have the organization reimburse the almost $4500 moving costs. That’s why we need organizations like Disability Moving Assistance to take away some of that financial burden and stress of moving. If the supports I mentioned I didn't have, I joke that things probably still might be in boxes.
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