My Vault: Planning for housing

Learn about each of My Vault's seven Housing paths and the  activities they contain:

I Get to Decide — How do I get started?

This path helps you get started on creating a housing plan. There are four activities in this path.

Activities in this path include:

• I Get to Decide
  In this activity you can learn about your rights to choose the place you want to live. You'll watch a short, animated video on rights and then answer questions about informed choice.
• My Housing Ideas
  In this activity you will think about where you live now and set goals for your future housing by answering questions about your preferred living arrangements.
• Build a Housing Team
  In this activity you can identify the members of your housing support team. The team can include members such as family and friends, case managers, landlords, and transition support.
• My Communication Profile
  This activity is designed to help you identify the best ways to communicate with you. You can share it with professionals that support you so they can understand how to best provide information to you and what formats are best for you.

Housing Budget — Does the money add up?

This path helps you understand your benefits and explore your income and expenses to make the best decisions about your housing. There are three activities in this path.

Activities in this path include:

• Get a Benefits Lookup
  This activity lets you fill in a simple request form to verify your benefits, so you know which benefits you get and the amounts of those benefits. This activity sends a request to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). When DHS gets your request, they fill in the information about your benefits and send it back to your My Vault account within two business days.

  Do this activity if you aren’t sure what benefits you get, have concerns about your benefits, when you’re thinking about going to work, or need to understand what would happen to your benefits if you take a specific job.

• Options for Paying for Your Own Place
  This activity allows you to compare budget options for getting your own place. It is designed specifically for people with disabilities who receive public benefits such as Social Security and Medical Assistance. You can choose different scenarios (such as adding a job or getting a roommate) to see how your income and expenses may look.
• My Full Budget
  The full budget activity shows you how you get your money, how you spend it, and what options you may have. It is a detailed outlining of income and expenses.

Housing Needs and Wants — What do I want in a new place?

This path can help you explore your needs and wants when it comes to housing settings. You can explore the physical characteristics of housing that are important to you.

Activities in this path include:

• Needs and Wants
  This activity helps you get a sense of your general housing needs and wants. This includes factors such as location, parking and garage, and amenities.
• Accessibility Needs and Wants
  This activity helps you understand what accessibility features (such as ramps and grab bars) you need and how you can get them.
• Services Needs and Wants
  This activity helps you understand what services you need due to your mental or physical condition and how you can get them in your housing.

My Day, My Life — What help do I need?

This path helps you develop a checklist and contact list if you need help doing things and want to live in your own place. The activities walk you through things you do everyday, things that make life fun, and things you need to be prepared for emergencies, and helps you identify contacts and important information to keep in mind.

Activities in this path include:

• My Regular Day
  This activity explores what you do each day and, if you need help, who helps you. Activities include getting up, bathing, eating, household chores, etc. It is divided by time of day (things that happen in the morning, afternoon, etc.).
• Make Life Fun
  This activity explores what you do for fun and, if you need help, who helps you. It is divided by location (at home, neighborhood, area, and far away).
• What If?
  This activity helps you develop an emergency preparedness plan. It walks through various issues that can arise when you live alone (the fire alarm goes off, dangerous weather, locked out, etc.). It will help you identify who you can turn to if you need help. It is divided by different categories such as weather, health, home or apartment, financial, services, etc.

Present Yourself — How can I make a good impression?

This path can help you if you’ve had problems in the past such as a criminal record, eviction, or poor credit. It can help you if you’re meeting new people and need to make a good impression.

Activities in this path include:

• My History: A Guide for Dealing with Past Problems
  This activity helps you find strategies to get past problems you may have had that make getting housing difficult. It walks through strategies for people who have a criminal record, rental history problems, and credit problems.
• Presenting Myself
  This activity helps you prepare things you can talk about that show how you are succeeding despite your past problems. It also helps you create a list of personal references.

Live with Someone — How can sharing a place work for me?

This path helps you if you want to live in the community and are open to living with others to help with rent and bills.

Activities in this path include:

• Does a Roommate Make Sense?
  This activity walks you through questions to help you see if sharing a place with another person (a roommate) is right for you.
• Roommate Profile
  If you've decided to find a roommate, this activity helps you develop a profile for yourself to share with potential roommates. It also helps you explore what characteristics you want in a roommate.
• Roommate Agreement
  When you have a roommate and you are discussing living together, this activity helps you make an agreement about the responsibilities and rules in your shared place. You can your roommate, or roommates, can print and sign the agreement.

Housing Sustaining Plan — How do I keep my place?

This path can help you if you need help staying in your place and keeping your housing.

Activities in this path include:

• My Communication Profile
  This activity is designed to help you identify the best ways to communicate with you. You can share it with professionals that support you so they can understand how to best provide information to you and what formats are best for you.
• Get a Benefits Lookup
  This activity lets you fill in a simple request form to verify your benefits, so you know which benefits you get and the amounts of those benefits. This activity sends a request to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). When DHS gets your request, they fill in the information about your benefits and send it back to your My Vault account within two business days.

  Do this activity if you aren’t sure what benefits you get, have concerns about your benefits, when you’re thinking about going to work, or need to understand what would happen to your benefits if you take a specific job.

• Housing Sustaining Services Plan
  This activity helps you make a plan of action steps you can take to keep living in your current place. It is designed to help people on Housing Stabilization Services who receive housing sustaining services.
• My Full Budget
  The full budget activity shows you how you get your money, how you spend it, and what options you may have. It is a detailed outlining of income and expenses.
• What If?
  This activity helps you develop an emergency preparedness plan. It walks through various issues that can arise when you live alone (the fire alarm goes off, dangerous weather, locked out, etc.). It will help you identify who you can turn to if you need help. It is divided by different categories such as weather, health, home or apartment, financial, services, etc.