When “Hannah” (a pseudonym) lost her Section 8 housing voucher due to paperwork delays, her rent jumped overnight to market rate: $1,180 a month. A Cincinnati resident, she was 28, working at a fast-food restaurant earning $12 an hour. She was raising her 8-year-old daughter and caring for her 26-year-old brother, who has emotional and cognitive challenges.

The math simply did not work. She feared eviction.

After her mother died of an overdose three years ago, Hannah became the anchor for everyone else. By the time she came to Jewish Family Service (JFS) last summer, she had talked to quite a few social service agencies, and exhausted other options.

“I’ve always been the one to look out for my family,” Hannah told Emily Sievers, her Jewish Family Service care manager. “It’s always been me…. But I’m resilient.”

Emily remembers that first meeting clearly. “She was exhausted and sad,” Emily said. “She talked rapid-fire—very stressed out—but she seemed capable and steady.” At moments, Hannah was tearful, especially when discussing past losses. But much of the time she was matter-of-fact. As Emily recalls, there was an undercurrent of resolve: “Well, this is what it is.”

When Hannah described always being the one to take care of others, Emily supported her by saying that her kind of persistence requires strength. Hannah paused. Then, Emily remembers, she gave a small smile—her only smile that day.

Hannah had been referred to JFS and met with staff at the Barbash Family Vital Support Center. Her immediate crisis was housing. Without help, she would have faced eviction. JFS provided one month’s rent assistance. 

That single intervention was what she and her family needed.

With stability restored, Hannah had time to search for more affordable housing. She found a new apartment for $241 per month through income-based affordable housing—still in the same school district, which allowed her daughter to remain in her school community.

Emily also addressed Hannah’s broader picture. She offered counseling, which could have been billed through Medicaid at no cost to her. Hannah deferred for the time being, focusing first on immediate needs.

Emily also helped Hannah access groceries through the Heldman Family Food Pantry at the Barbash Family Vital Support Center, and navigate SNAP benefits. She was also concerned looming future cuts to Medicaid and SNAP would affect her. Those concerns have not disappeared.

But for now, Hannah is on solid ground again.

And she knows where to return if she needs help.

The work Emily does as a care manager can sometimes seem mired in the small details of life. It involves budgets, paperwork, phone calls, and referrals. It means helping someone apply for the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIP) to make utilities more affordable. It means explaining how Medicaid billing works. It means sitting across from someone who is carrying more than one person should have to carry, and taking them seriously. But it is these details that can keep a family like Hannah’s afloat.

When asked what stood out to her about Hannah, Emily returned to Hannah's self-description. “She said she was resilient,” Emily recalled. “And she is.”

For Hannah, one month of rent was crucial. It was the turning point that allowed her story to move from fear to hope, from falling through the safety net to returning to financial independence.