How to Be Successful in Housing

A Graphic Guide

Coming into housing after a period of homelessness can be overwhelming. Navigating local resources, finding documents, understanding lease and subsidy requirements, managing a budget, taking control of physical and mental healthcare, and settling into apartment life in a new community all take focus, support, learning, and often, emotional processing. How to Be Successful in Housing will help readers to set priorities and take care of themselves through the process.

This guide will guide the reader through:

  • Physical health

  • Diet & exercise

  • Mental health

  • Important documents

  • Caring for your space

  • Managing chores

  • Navigating a lease

  • Building community

  • Working with a case manager

  • Education and work opportunities

And more topics that those newly returning to housing may be struggling with!

ABOUT THE PROJECT

How to Be Successful in Housing started as a collaboration between coLAB Arts and Mission First Housing Group. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, these two nonprofits banded together to install Lane Michael Stanley as the 2023-2024 Resident Artist at Mission First Housing Group in Edison, NJ. Over his nine-month residency, Lane identified the needs of residents to overcome emotional hurdles and set priorities as they entered housing after long periods of homelessness. Lane hired illustrator Kennedy Ketcham to create accessible drawings to accompany stories and advice sourced from residents of Mission First, service providers, and the Middlesex County Consumer Participation Committee.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

Our goal is for this guide to be as accessible as possible. That’s why you can print your own PDFs directly from this website! If you would like to order copies of the book, commission adaptations for specific subsections of housing (such as veterans, recovery, or domestic violence housing), please get in touch with us.

On this site, you’ll find:

  • Printable PDFs in English & Spanish

  • Audio and Video Versions

  • Companion Worksheets for Case Managers

  • Order Placement Instructions

  • Info on Booking Consultations & Commissioning Adaptations

WHO WE ARE

How To Be Successful in Housing was written by Lane Michael Stanley and illustrated by Kennedy Ketcham.

Lane Michael Stanley is a transgender filmmaker, writer, and playwright whose work explores queerness, class, restorative justice, grief, and healing. He has worked with housing insecure and returned citizen communities since he lived in transitional recovery housing when he first got sober in 2016. Lane’s films and plays have been presented by 31 film festivals and 20 theaters in 22 states and four countries, as well as in soup kitchens, meditation gardens, addiction treatment centers, and San Quentin State Prison. His writing has appeared/is forthcoming in Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Brevity, and HowlRound. Lane was the 2023-2024 Resident Artist with coLAB Arts and Mission First Housing Group, and the 2024-2025 Artist-in-Residence for Pathway Home of Los Angeles County. He holds an MFA from UT Austin.

The work was produced in collaboration with Mission First Housing Group as part of the 2023 coLAB Arts Artist Residency in Edison, NJ through a commission by coLAB Arts. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The project also received support from Coming Home of Middlesex County.