Public housing success story
Published 7:44 am Tuesday, January 11, 2005
By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Christine Sherene, the new director of the Dowagiac Housing Commission, considers herself a "public housing success story."
The Benton Harbor resident joined Dowagiac Housing Commission on May 1, 2001, as Section 8 housing manager after 13 years with the Benton Township Housing Commission in Berrien County.
She officially became housing director Dec. 21, 2004, at the commission's regular monthly meeting.
The five-member board is led by County Commissioner Minnie Warren, president, and Fred Kirsch, vice president.
The extent of the city's affiliation is to appoint commission members.
Dowagiac Housing Commission has 86 public units - 60 at Chestnut Towers and 26 at Parkside Townhouses. "We administer 115 Housing Choice Vouchers, the renamed program better known by its former name, Section 8, a rental assistance program for low- to moderate-income individuals.
Sherene said the Housing Commission has three fulltime employees and two part-timers. She's in the process of hiring two more fulltime individuals - her assistant and a maintenance technician.
The facility is converting from cable television to satellite dish.
There is a waiting list for the townhouses and a smaller list for Chestnut Towers, which is not entirely senior citizens anymore.
There is a greater demand for an assisted living facility.
Younger people with developmental disabilities are applying, plus people coming out of prison are between public housing's "one strike" rule if caught engaging in drugs or criminal activity that bars occupancy for three years and not being able to afford private-sector housing.
A self-described "Jane of all trades," Sherene said of her job, "I like helping people - and the fact that they helped me to get back on my feet from my divorce. I learned the real purpose of public housing was for as a stepping-stone for those who may have fallen on hard times to get into public housing to move up in public housing and to move out of public housing back into the private sector - which is what I was able to do."
Sherene started as an inventory clerk in 1988 and added to it residence services coordinator and other responsibilities, including maintenance.
The Housing Commission's Christmas party for both developments brings together families from Parkside with the seniors.
Sherene applied for the director's position in the fall of 2002, but that October she missed three months of work recuperating from a car accident when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant.
Her only exposure to Dowagiac prior to the Housing Commission was driving through it with her mother on their fishing trips to Stone Lake.