Meeting Community Needs in Valdez

This summer, the Valdez food bank received an email inviting its personnel to the upcoming Alaska Housing board meeting being held in their town.

The food bank’s board president confirmed she was already planning on attending the meeting. In fact, she’s an AHFC employee, the Asset Supervisor managing public housing in Valdez for the last 15 years.

AHFC’s Valdez office is a one-woman show run by Michelle.

Managing Multiple Roles

It is common to juggle multiple titles in a small town like Valdez and Michelle said she sees a good deal of crossover between food bank customers and public housing clients.

Living in a small town also means Michelle gets to know all of her tenants and voucher participants. She has known many of her clients since they were born.

Understand Community Needs

The public housing office in Valdez administers 50-60 vouchers and operates seven public housing units. Michelle observed that much of Valdez’s population has at one time been part of the voucher program, lived in public housing or knows someone who has.

Having worked in public housing for so long, Michelle knows her community’s needs. It’s why she got involved at the food bank five years ago. In addition to ordering food, taking donations and providing meals, food bank staff also write grants and work closely with the city and other local agencies. They even offer emergency financial assistance.

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“I like helping people. I’m drawn to that – meeting their basic needs.”

– Michelle, Asset Supervisor, Alaska Housing

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Growing Need for Support

The need for support grew during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everything got more expensive,” Michelle said. “People were counting on these programs more than ever. AHFC and the food bank just kept going, kept meeting needs.”

Navigating Challenges

Despite not being able to offer in-person assistance due to COVID-19 precautions, Michelle kept the public housing numbers up throughout the pandemic and kept people housed. Michelle said it’s her job to deal with challenges, even the unexpected ones. It’s what she signed up for. The most memorable part of her work is when someone says thank you.

She recalled one public housing participant who called her late one night and left a voicemail. He had left the program and moved away, but he wanted to thank her for all the help that she gave when he was living in Valdez.

Feeling Supported

Prior to joining AHFC 15 years ago, Michelle worked for the City of Valdez. She shared a building with a full IT team and her supervisor’s office was down the hall. It was a leap giving that up and moving to a role where she was the only worker in the office, but Michelle said she still feels that sense of support.

To new AHFC employees or those considering a career in housing, Michelle said, “Alaska Housing is a great place to work. You feel like part of a team even if you’re isolated. A lot of good things can be accomplished together.”

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Want to join an inspiring team making a difference in people’s lives? AHFC is the right place for you. See our available jobs and come join our team. 

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