By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Finding affordable housing in Sunnyvale can be a difficult task. The Carroll Inn, the only single-room-occupancy dwelling in Sunnyvale, has a long waiting list, and the Hotel Sunnyvale can only accommodate so many people in its lower-cost rooms.
Yet Catholic Charities, a San Jose-based nonprofit organization, has another option to offer those in search of an affordable place to live.
The group, which targets single parents and their children, matches those who have rooms to rent with those who need a place to live, but can't afford their own quarters.
"A single person looking for a single person has success looking for housemates, but if someone is too poor to advertise and had a couple children, finding housemates is much harder. They don't say any more that people with children need not apply, but it's implicit," said Chris Block, division director of housing development and neighborhood services for Catholic Charities.
Block attributes the success of Catholic Charities' matches to the program's reliance on the actual people who are seeking and providing rooms. Catholic Charities matches about 600 families a year throughout Santa Clara County, with 50 matches in Sunnyvale. He acknowledges that about 10 percent of the matches are unsuccessful.
"We don't find the matches for people. They find them for themselves," Block said.
Clients go to Catholic Charities, either as seekers or providers, and come out with names of people with whom they might make a match. The computer's database is cross-referenced so a client can request a smoker, a nonsmoker or to live in a particular ZIP code.
"We will help, but people make their own matches. They can check each other's references," Block said.
Susan Schwartz (names have been changed), who moved into an apartment with two other women, said shared housing comes with many benefits, including shared childcare and friendship. After living in a battered women's shelter, Schwartz took the opportunity to move in with Sunnyvale resident Ruby Stringer a year ago in order to get her feet back on the ground. She said Stringer and the other roommate, Cheryl, help her out by staying home with her 11-year-old son, Joel, while she works the graveyard shift as a drill operator.
"Ruby's really been there for me. We work together. When we need each other, we're there," she said.
Schwartz conceded she has moments when she would rather live on her own, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The three roommates go to church together, go to the movies, cook and exercise together.
"I like having people to share conversation with," Schwartz said.
Schwartz has come a long way from the shelter. She now has a checking account, a job and a greater amount of self-esteem. She is currently on a waiting list to move into the Carroll Inn.
Block said the vast majority of people come to Catholic Charities for financial reasons. "Most of the people make less than $1,000 a month and have one or two kids and their concern is keeping a roof over their heads," Block said. He added that average rent is $350, much lower than the market rate.
"It's affordable housing for the seekers and a source of income for the provider," he said.
Ruby Stringer went to Catholic Charities because she wanted to save money to help her daughter through college.
"I thought it would give me a way to help her out," Stringer said. The organization impressed her because it provided a rental agreement, and tips on setting up appointments and what questions to ask.
"They suggest that the first meeting be in a public place so you can sit down and talk with no distractions and not to bring children to the first meeting," Stringer said.
Over the past two years, seven people have moved in and out of Stringer's three-bedroom apartment. "Different people move in and out for different reasons. One of my roommates moved in with her boyfriend," she said.
Stringer has established ground rules for her apartment concerning visitors, smoking and quiet hours at night.
"We all cook together on Sundays and go out on Friday nights," she said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 29, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.