HOPing for a new lease
Adam Mitzelfelt was given the lease to his own apartment on Oct. 18, and with it, a rekindled chance at a better life.
Mitzelfelt and his family were leasing an apartment in Bellevue through The VA Housing Opportunities Program (VA-HOP), which provides up to 12 months of transitional, community-based housing for veterans and their families who are struggling with homelessness. The goal of the program is that they overcome barriers and secure permanent housing.
Mitzelfelt had moved to Omaha from Utah in 2020, moving first into his wife’s grandmother’s house, then in with her parents. The Army National Guardsman had found a job in Maryland and was getting ready to move when he and his wife discovered they were expecting a third child. At that point, they made the decision to stay in Omaha, one that ultimately ended with them unable to rent a home, but Mitzelfelt maintains it was the right decision because he was worried about support for his family if he was deployed, as he was scheduled to within months.
Mitzelfelt had long served in the military, as an active-duty Air Force enlistee working on F16 fighter jets from 1999 to 2001, then in medical with the Army National Guard. He became a biomedical equipment technician in 2012. With Maryland out of the picture, he began working at a gas station until he found a job in his field.
He needed reliable housing for his family. Mitzelfelt looked into programs for homeless veterans through the V.A., but did not qualify, in part due to a bankruptcy and eviction on their credit history.
“I ended up not deploying, because shortly after that I found out I was diabetic, and so, I saw my doctor, got medication, and went back and forth with drill and diabetes,” Mitzelfelt said. His health, the health of his pregnant wife, and the threat of homelessness weighed heavy on him.
The VA recommended him to VA-HOP, which was able to find him an apartment in September 2021. The program requires work and dedication during the year to help families like Mitzelfelt stabilize their finances and point them towards independence. The Salvation Army paid part of the rent, and the Mitzelfelts paid the utilities. Mitzelfelt said that helped tremendously with getting caught up on bills and establishing credit.
“We help veterans with bad credit scores, evictions,” VA-HOP Case Manager Elsie Cardona said. “Adam worked so hard.”
Mitzelfelt worked two jobs to afford the apartment and pay down as much debt as possible, but he encountered health issues due to his diabetes and missed some work. After one year, he and his family were still unable to afford an apartment on their own. Cardona helped Mitzelfelt ask for an extension on the VA-HOP program, which was granted. With the additional time, Mitzelfelt worked even harder to pay of any remaining debts while trying to find a job in his field and taking care of his health. In June 2022, he got a full-time job with CHI as a biomedical equipment technician and was able to quit the second job.
In summer 2023, Mitzelfelt was nearing the end of his eligibility in the VA-HOP program, and sat down to look at his housing options. If he wasn’t able to take over the lease, his next plan was to move into a hotel, and if that didn’t work, he and his young family were going to move into the home of his wife’s parents.
Fortunately, plan A worked. His mother-in-law co-signed the lease, and today, Mitzelfelt and his family live in their own apartment, where they pay the rent and utilities without help from The Salvation Army. That doesn’t mean his relationship with the organization has ended.
“It was a great program,” Mitzelfelt said. “The ladies I worked with were all wonderful.”
“Once in a while he’ll text and ask how things are going with me,” Cardona said. “He texted wishing me a nice Thanksgiving recently.”