“When I walk through this door now, it’s my home,” Betty said with tears in her eyes.

A native to South Jersey, when Betty Smith was 19 years old, she got married and moved to West Philadelphia to raise her family. Years later, Betty and her husband divorced, and she struggled to find an affordable and stable home on her own. Without any other options, she moved into a shelter in Northeast Philadelphia.

“I don’t know why I was in the shelter. I even asked, ‘Why am I here? I don’t belong here.’ Everybody has hard times, but I did not believe I was going to be in the shelter,” she cried to her case worker saying how she had everything but that “you never know when you may have to come down and start all over.”

Betty was determined to get back on her feet, so she worked with her case worker to find a way to move on and make plans to find her own apartment.

From the start, she had her eye on Mid City Apartments in Center City Philadelphia over the other proposed apartment building in the Northeast because “everything is here. You go right out this door, and you have everything you need. This really is the key.”

Fourteen years ago, Betty moved into a single-room occupancy (SRO) at Mid City Apartments, which at the time was owned and operated by another area affordable housing provider. With an SRO apartment, residents have their own bedroom and bathroom but share the additional living spaces including the kitchen. Though not ideal for Betty, she was happy to have the opportunity to be at her preferred apartment building.

“I am proud of myself and the journey I accomplished. I had to go through a journey, I was in a shelter, then I had to go through the different phases of the shelter and then transitional housing. Then I wanted to get here.”

It was a struggle to have to share space with others including keeping her items to one shelf in the refrigerator and utilizing the kitchen appliances that others also used, so she would eat take-out or food she could prepare with a microwave in her room.

Mission First Took Over Mid City and Made Improvements to Support Residents, like Betty

Mission First acquired Mid City Apartments in July 2019 and has been working since the acquisition to secure financing to preserve and renovate the property. Betty was thrilled when she learned that Mission First had successfully secured funding and was able to move forward with plans to convert all of the SRO units to studio apartments. Betty’s apartment was in the first phase of the renovations.

When the renovations began, Betty was temporarily moved to another apartment at Mid City where she awaited the completion of her apartment’s renovation. in June, Betty moved into her new accessible efficiency apartment where she does not need to share a kitchen or living area, and she is very excited to be in her new space. “This is everything. Every day I am thankful.”

Betty is still getting accustomed to having a kitchen and slowly working towards transitioning from take-out to making her own healthy meals, something that is harder than you think to overcome. She looks at where she was and how far she has come over the years. She is happy to be settled in her new apartment and ready to host her friends, who are also very excited for her to have this new space, in her new home.

“How you keep your home means a lot. I was always a person where everything needs to be in the right place. When you are in the shelter or when you are in a small unit, I did not take care of it. This makes me feel home, because I can take care of it the way I want to. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.”

Mission First is happy to provide a home for Betty and over 4,000 residents living with us across the Mid-Atlantic region. Please help us to continue our work and make a donation this holiday season to support housing and services for our residents.