Lives Changed | Summary of 2011 Program Stats and Outcomes
Results matter. If lives do not change, we have not done our job. We take the results of the families in our programs seriously, measuring our success in achieving our goals in the changed lives of the people we serve.
The impact of the ongoing economic downturn causes us to become even more creative as we adjust and strategize so that we can continue our critical services for homeless families. As we make adjustments to our budget, form new partnerships, leverage relationships, and vigorously pursue new donors, our focus remains to respond to the growing requests from families with the same high quality programs as always.
We have seen a broader range of family needs than ever before. We have always assisted families who grew up in poverty, clients with fairly high barriers to gaining and retaining living wage jobs and consistently providing for the needs of their families. Now we are serving many more families that are homeless for the first time, clients who never considered asking for public assistance before. They are a reflection of the depth of the economic crisis in America.
We have worked for many years to help very low income families confront and overcome obstacles to housing and self-sufficiency and we are proud of the effectiveness of our programs. Recent challenges of greater need and far fewer job opportunities caused us to consider how we could accomplish more. In response to the employment crisis, we added a full-time employment specialist in 2011. She is assisted by a volunteer with 20+ years of human resources experience at Weyerhaeuser and Milgard for 30 hours a month. They have developed a wrap-around employment program available to each adult in our housing programs, and have seen exciting successes in the months since the program was initiated.
Education, employment, and financial literacy are the focus for family clients at Helping Hand House in addition to stable housing, basic needs, life skills, and intensive case management. All families receive financial literacy training, even those who come to us for one-time rental assistance. Our basic class has been in place for many years. We decided to enrich it for those families in our housing programs. Those families can now enroll in our seven month class that covers basic financial literacy as well as the more in depth information about banking, asset building, investing, credit building and repair, financing options, first time home buyer, and other topics. We are also working with two banks to begin an Asset Building program and to provide financial literacy training for the children.
All clients are encouraged to complete educations and to enroll in programs that will make it possible for them to develop a career and become upwardly mobile. In the past few years, as the competition for fewer and fewer jobs increased, we continued emphasizing the importance of education and more clients are going to school.
The following are 2011 program statistics related to the various housing and assistance programs offered at Helping Hand House.
Homelessness Prevention (Duration: 3 months, 2011 Statistics)
Total Assisted: 143 families (198 adults and 316 children)
- Rental Assistance: 109 families
- Utility Assistance: 34 families
- 84% successfully remained in their housing after 3 months
Emergency Housing (Duration: 3 months, 2011 Statistics)
Total Assisted: 26 families (35 adults and 42 children)
- 84% of graduating clients exited into permanent housing (unsubsidized or subsidized)
- 64% of families served were single mothers
- 30% reduction in families receiving TANF after program – a significant savings for WA taxpayers
- Employment doubled for families after program (from 7 at entry to 14 at exit)
- 11 adults enrolled or attended training or educational program during stay in program
- 25 children were provided with school clothes and supplies (NOTE: Remaining balance of children were not of school age)
- 8 children attended a summer camp
- 16 children participated in after-school activities
- 6 children received counseling
- Every family saved more than $150 during their time in the program, including 4 who saved over $500 towards their next housing.
Transitional Housing (Duration: 24 months, 2011 Statistics)
Total Assisted: 36 families (52 adults and 79 children)
- 80% of graduates went into unsubsidized, market-rate housing
- 61% of families served were single mothers
- 74% reduction in families receiving TANF after program – a significant savings for WA taxpayers
- 24% increase in employment for families after program
- 19 adults enrolled or attended training or educational program during stay in program
- 61 children were provided with school clothes and supplies (NOTE: Remaining balance of children were not of school age)
- 4 children attended a summer camp
- 23 children participated in after-school activities
- 7 children received counseling
- 4 children received tutoring
- Families saved between $450 and $2,300 during their time in the program, including 4 who saved over $500 towards their next housing.
Rapid Re-Housing (Duration: Varied from 3-18 months, 2011 Statistics)
Total Assisted: 21 families (25 adults and 43 children)
- 81% of families served were single parents, most of whom were single mothers
- 82% reduction in families receiving TANF after program – a significant savings for WA taxpayers
- Every family saved more than $150 during their time in the program, including 8 who saved over $500 towards their next housing.
Permanent Supportive Housing (Duration: Varied, 2011 Statistics)
Total Assisted: 14 families (18 adults and 24 children)
- 79% of families served were single parents, most of whom were single mothers
- 75% reduction in families receiving TANF after program – a significant savings for WA taxpayers
- Average income increased by 22% for families after program
- 10 adults enrolled or attended training or educational program during stay in program
- 24 children were provided with school clothes and supplies
- 6 children attended a summer camp
- 22 children participated in after-school activities
- 5 children received counseling
- 4 children received tutoring
- 5 children attended swimming lessons
- Every family saved more than $150 during their time in the program, including 4 who saved over $500 towards their next housing.
VIDEO: “My Story: Nola from Helping Hand House”
ED Nola Renz shares her story of growing up homeless, and how this impacts our work with the families we serve at Helping Hand House.
VIDEO: Hard Times Generation (6 months later from 60 Minutes)
ARTICLE: We can expect a dramatic rise in Pierce County’s homeless population
From the Tacoma News Tribune:
We can expect a dramatic rise in Pierce County’s homeless population
Last updated: November 1st, 2011 12:18 AM (PDT)Imagine for a minute that a tornado hits Sumner and does extensive damage. Afterward, people will be displaced until repairs can be accomplished over a period of several years. The 2010 Census listed Sumner’s population as 9,541 persons.
Now consider that in Pierce County as a whole, an estimated 9,030 persons will lose their DSHS financial assistance by the end of this year. As a result, they will lose – or be at severe risk of losing – their housing. More than 5,000 of those persons will have exhausted their Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. At least 3,300 will be children.
DSHS will terminate 3,930 adults from Disability Lifeline (DL) today. Some (maybe half) of those persons will be eligible for housing assistance vouchers worth an average of $200 a month for those already housed on DL and $450 a month for those unhoused.
The median rental price for a one-bedroom apartment in Pierce County currently is around $700 per month. Median rental for a two-bedroom apartment is around $900 per month. Neither price includes the cost of background checks and damage deposits. Given those rental costs, all former DL recipients will be at very significant risk of homelessness.
In addition, foreclosure filings are now averaging around 600 filings per month. We are not certain how many people will lose their housing because of foreclosure, but let’s just guess 1,000 per month or 12,000 per year. Many of those people will move to rental housing, thus driving up the rental rates, and driving down the already very limited supply of available and affordable rentals. Some will become homeless.
AccessPoint4Housing (AP4H) is the central place to call for housing assistance in Pierce County. AP4H reports that it received 3,403 unduplicated requests for housing assistance during July, August and September of this year. It was able to help attain or preserve housing for only 378 of those callers, because resources are so limited. Of the requests, 1,340 came from single parents with children (reflecting the end of their TANF benefits).
A group of people equivalent to the population of Sumner probably will be homeless in Pierce County by the end of this year. Maybe equivalent to the combined populations of Sumner and Orting.
We need to consider how each of us will help our neighbors, because there are not a lot of official options. Our homeless shelters are already full. Government will do what it can, as will the social services organizations. The religious communities will do what they can. But it will not be enough. Displaced people will “double up,” “couch surf” or share housing. People will live in their cars. But it will not be enough.
Despite our best efforts, many people will not find shelter. Even though we do not tend to think of it this way, they will become refugees. They will need both our help and understanding just to survive.
When things get so bad that just trying to survive is the only real choice available to displaced people, local governments will need to accept encampments and tent cities, also insisting that they maintain sanitation, safety and prohibitions on drug abuse.
Al Ratcliffe is a community psychologist who serves as the volunteer chairman of Pierce County’s HUD-mandated housing Continuum of Care Committee. The opinions expressed here are solely his own.
VIDEO: Taylor and Mike (InvisiblePeople.tv)
From Invisible People:
Mike and his 6 year-old daughter Taylor live in a homeless shelter in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mike was hurt at work and without income they lost everything.
I work helping homeless families in Los Angeles and it’s extremely hard to find services for single dads. Most shelters are setup for single females or two-parent families. When I was introduced to Mike and Taylor I was so very glad to see they were being helped.
Taylor is very mature for being six years-old. Before I took the camera out she was talking nonstop, even giving us all instructions on the interview. Once the camera started she became quiet except when I asked her for her three wishes.
Taylor only had one wish and that wish is still messing me up.
Elections are coming…
…and as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, we’re unable to suggest who you should vote for (other than imploring you to exercise that glorious right as a citizen). But we wanted to give the following tools to our thoughtful supporters, as a way to enhance their ability to advocate for vulnerable families in our communities.
This tool is the easiest we have seen to find the relevant legislators and contact information, using your home address. There are few things as powerful as citizen advocacy – simply picking up the phone to let your legislator know that need them to remember the most vulnerable families in this environment of budget reductions at all levels of government.
VIDEO: New Faces of Poverty
Johnson House
Dear Friends,
We have heard from a few of our partners with questions regarding our decision to sell one of our properties, known as the Johnson House, on the corner of 7th and 2nd in downtown Puyallup. This was a difficult decision that was made based on the age of the home and the expense of its upkeep, as well as the fact that one of the units is a very small one-bedroom unit, not really appropriate for the majority of our families. The funds from the house will go into an account that will help our organization as we develop new housing programs for homeless families in our community.
Thank you for your care for the families of Helping Hand House!
Best Wishes,
Nola Renz
Executive Director
