Imagine Housing Blog

Meet Courtney

The support and stability made possible by affordable housing can be years in the making, but it is always worth it. Courtney lives with her family at Johnson Hill, an Imagine Housing community in Issaquah.

Courtney’s childhood was not easy and she struggled to find stability and security after fleeing from her abusive family at the age of sixteen. She overcame many challenges over the years. She welcomed her first child into the world, but when her partner relapsed into hard drugs, she knew she needed to get away from the situation for the safety of her son.

For two years, Courtney and her son lived in a transitional housing shelter, and began searching for a safe, permanent home. Then our staff at Johnson Hill called and told her an apartment was available.

For Courtney, affordable housing means more than a place to stay, it means being able to plan for the future. The Imagine Housing supportive services staff assisted Courtney with applying for a scholarship for school, and out of a worldwide submission, she was one of three chosen. “I loved school growing up and I was so happy to get the scholarship,” she says. Courtney earned an AA degree in software development, has a great job, and is now saving money to pursue her goal of owning a home for her family. She says that affordable housing has given her a second chance to give her family everything she didn’t have growing up: stability