Success Story: Employment is the Key
Ed and Sarah came into Emergency Housing in April. Ed had been the sole breadwinner for the family, and lost his job due to an illness. With no income, it was not long before the family had lost their home and were desperate for help.
During their time in the program, they took hold of every resource that was available, including budgeting, employment assistance, and options available through partners of Helping Hand House. They enrolled their 5 year old daughter in school for the first time. Ed is taking parenting classes through the Sumner Family Support Center. Both Ed and Sarah now have 2 jobs, and their household income went from $1,600 per month upon program entry to over $2,500 per month at graduation. Ed is working as an employment counselor for people with developmental disabilities, and part-time at Target. Sarah was hired as a customer service representative at Virgin Airlines, and has part-time work through a temp agency.
They saved $750 during their 3 months in the program. These funds, along with a cleaning bonus provided by HHH to assist families upon move-out, allowed them to move into an apartment of their own. They are completely self-sufficient, and are no longer receiving housing assistance of any kind. Not only are they getting back on their feet, they now have the dignity of providing for their own family, important life skills, and a story to tell.
ARTICLE: Efforts under way to increase emergency shelters for homeless families
Helping Hand House featured in article from the Puyallup School District, a key partner in serving homeless families in east Pierce County.
Efforts under way to increase emergency shelters for homeless families
Peggy, a parent of two Sunrise Elementary students, lived in a motel with her children for more than a month last fall after being evicted from her apartment on South Hill.
The single mother said she tried diligently to find an opening in one of the area’s emergency shelters, but was repeatedly turned away because of a lack of space.
“I called agency after agency,” she said. “It was shocking to me the number of people who need help. I would call the emergency shelter and be told there was a six-month waiting list. That was a real eye-opener.”
Efforts are under way to increase the amount of emergency shelters in Eastern Pierce County to meet the needs of the growing homeless population, especially families with children.
While many of these efforts are in the talking stage, advocates for the homeless say they represent a starting point toward finding solutions to the growing shortage of emergency shelters.
New centralized phone number
As of January 31, 2011, there is one centralized phone number — (253) 682-3401 (or 211) — for homeless persons to call about shelter availability in Pierce County, complete an assessment, and get help finding services targeted for their needs.
Associated Ministries, in partnership with Pierce County Community Connections, launched the new phone number to help people like Peggy avoid having to make numerous calls for help.
Barb Pope, the school district’s director of student services, said she is excited about the new centralized intake phone number, which took effect on January 31.
“It is so disheartening for a homeless person to pick up the phone and be told there isn’t an opening for them,” she said. “These people are already in difficult situations, and the last thing they need is rejection after rejection.”
Puyallup Homeless Coalition
The Puyallup Homeless Coalition, which is in its tenth year of advocating for the homeless, is made up of community groups, organizations, and individuals working to find more short- and long-term living spaces for the homeless.
During a meeting last month, the Coalition discussed plans to survey area churches to gauge the interest in helping the homeless, including the willingness to set up temporary encampments or — for those living in their cars — temporary safe parking areas.
The Puyallup City Council, following the state Legislature’s passage of House Bill 1956, approved an ordinance last September allowing religious groups to host tent cities and other types of temporary encampments that meet certain conditions.
The Coalition is also trying to find a more long-term solution to sheltering the homeless. The group has held roundtable discussions with community leaders this past year and hopes to meet with city officials this spring to discuss developing a citywide strategic plan to help the homeless.
Freezing Nights
Freezing Nights, which formed in 2004 in Puyallup, is exploring how it can expand its emergency housing program for adults to include families with children.
The volunteer program, which operates nightly from November through March, uses churches in Puyallup and the surrounding area to provide a clean, safe, warm place for homeless men and women to spend the night. The program is set up as a traveling shelter, with cots and bedding moved daily to each church that participates in the program.
The hope, organizers say, is to develop a Freezing Nights for Families program with the goal of finding churches that can keep a family sheltered for up to a month at a time.
The need is great
Local agencies that provide direct services to homeless people report that requests for help have increased anywhere from 30 to 50 percent or more in the last two years, said Ted Brackman, co-founder of the Puyallup Homeless Coalition.
Between January and October 2010, Helping Hand House reported turning away more than 3,000 people in Pierce County who were seeking shelter or rent and utility financial assistance. The organization provides emergency housing and homeless prevention services.
Open Hearth, an all-volunteer organization that provides immediate short-term housing by giving motel vouchers to homeless families in eastern Pierce County, also struggles with having more requests for shelter than there are beds and money available.
The organization, founded by the Puyallup Homeless Coalition and financially managed through Associated Ministries, provides emergency housing for homeless families for as long as one week in a Puyallup or Sumner motel. During that time, a family can use the phone and shower, have a place to sleep, and have up to seven days to try and arrange a more permanent housing situation.
Bev Cascio, chair of the Open Hearth Board of Directors and a former Puyallup School District counselor, said volunteers meet with families once they are placed in a motel to provide them with resources and, often times, emergency food.
“We remind them, ‘you have each other. It’s not hopeless. This is not the rest of your life. It’s just a moment in your life.’”
Original article at: http://www.puyallup.k12.wa.us/ourdistrict/news/newsdetail.cfm?NID=1007
Tent city just 1 mile from Microsoft
Fascinating video of a tent city in Redmond, Wash., that filling up with the newly homeless who are forming a makeshift community. Anyone here may as well be one of the families that we serve here in Pierce County – but it is shockingly close to Microsoft (1 mile away). This contrast – and the paradigm shattering realization that homelessness is uncomfortably close to home – caught national attention and was featured in the New York Times in a short documentary piece. Well worth watching – and imagine your neighbors and family in this situation. We need services to help folks in this situation…
Click here to see the video.
A terrible sight for families living in their car
This video, from the Wall Street Journal, shows a bank demolishing new homes in southern California. They determined it was cheaper to demolish them than try to sell them at this time. The heartache is what could have been done for the many families who have no home at all…
Click here to view the video.
How do people become homeless?
A few years ago I was having lunch at a spa and a woman asked to join me. Steamed and soaked into blissful states and wrapped in soft terry robes, we chatted while we ate. She was a physician and I worked for a non-profit. As I shared what my work was like, she asked me a question that shocked me, “How do people become homeless?” When I explained, of course she caught on quickly and I reminded myself how normal it is to be blind to issues that do not confront us directly and how difficult it is to imagine life situations so different from those we experience. Neither she nor anyone close to her had ever been homeless.
Even in this prolonged recession when job losses and foreclosures dominate the news, the facts of life for low income Americans are probably still not clear to most of us. Nationwide, many people in the workforce regularly spend more than 50% of their income on their housing, making them extremely vulnerable and ‘just a paycheck’ away from homelessness. For example, in Pierce County, Washington where Helping Hand House is located, rental vacancies fell to 4.3 percent in February, nearly 2 percentage points lower than the historical average of 6 percent. In the summer quarter of 2008 the cost of rentals rose 2.3 percent and is expected to rise another 6 or 7 points by this summer. (source: Central Puget Sound Real Estate Research Committee, v.59 n.2, p.46-47) When you pair higher rental costs and fewer units available with current unemployment figures, the chief reason for family homelessness becomes vividly clear.
Even when the economy is flush, workers at minimum wage still have to work 81 hours a week to afford the standard two-bedroom unit in Pierce County ($845) and 117 hours for a three-bedroom ($1231). The average income for renters is $11.70 an hour, making decent, safe housing still out of reach for so many families.
There was a time in our country when anyone who worked was pretty much guaranteed a safe, decent place to live. Let’s take a good look at the situation in our communities and do all we can to make that true once again.
