A Special Message from Kimberly Vinson, Housing Clerk for the Helping Hoosier Homeowners Program

Housing Clerk Kimberly Vinson

When I first came across the job listing for Housing Clerk at Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, I was immediately drawn to the Clinic’s mission of providing a path to justice for those who may otherwise be left without it. The position stated explicitly that the Housing Clerk would be a point of contact for those who are on the brink of losing their home. To state it plainly, my job is in home foreclosure prevention.  

While applying for the job, a memory of my own childhood re-surfaced. During the recession, around 2007-8, one early morning, I was getting ready for grade school. I was shivering, and brushing my teeth with cold water. For a few months, we did not have heat or hot water. I would boil pots on the stove to take baths in the mornings, and double up on socks at night. This was life. Unbeknownst to me, my parents were receiving sheriff sale letters. As I left the bathroom that morning, I briefly saw my dad down the hall. He was in my brother’s room, and the door was cracked. He was knelt over, praying, tears falling. He was softly crying over a cheap space heater that stopped working.

I did not understand how much worry and suffering my parents were going through as they tried to provide for us through the recession. What I do remember, though, is how the tension and heaviness lifted in my home after we received a letter informing us that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 would be able to assist our family. Things changed for the better after that, and we were ultimately able to stay in our home. I knew, when I saw this position for Housing Clerk, that applying for this position was my way to give back.                

Being a major point of contact for homeowners who are on the brink of losing their home is a demanding, stressful, and emotional position. You are meeting people in the lowest moment of their lives, though you are offering them a glimmer of hope. With each family’s situation that comes across my desk, I can personally resonate with their story. I collect their paperwork, which will then be organized and sent off in request for state assistance. Their path to peace is my everyday priority. I love my job, despite the difficulty, because I am returning the work that was done for me.