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Meet Mark

Mark was homeless over 20 years.

He’s well-known in the community and can been seen often downtown panhandling. One of the members of our Horizon House staff worked side by side on his disability application with him. He was denied at the initial application level due to the disability examiner’s belief that his alcoholism was causing his conditions. Our staff member had to prove that without alcohol, he would still have functional limitations that kept him from being able to work.

Mark suffered from a traumatic brain Injury and dementia and now has severe physical limitations. With additional documentation that we gathered and submitted, including letters of support from several service providers, doctors’ opinions, and conversations with his mother (Diane), he was finally approved at the appeal level.

His entire process took just over 1 year. Mark was also awarded a CICOA waiver during the application process, which added documentation for his disability and provided needed living support. He was housed at Blue Triangle during the process and he is still housed; as of 6/12/20 he had been housed for 2 years.