Front Door – Permanent Supportive Housing

The Front Door Program provides families with the tools and experiences they need to be self-supporting, to earn a living wage, to succeed in school, and to provide for their households.

The Front Door program is a permanent supportive housing program launched late in 2007 as a pilot partnership with Sumner public schools, Bates Technical College, and Washington Women’s Education and Employment (WWEE).

The purpose of the Front Door program is to provide rental assistance and support services to homeless families so they can stabilize in their own leased housing and can gradually assume full financial responsibility and support their households. As the participant’s income increases, they assume more and more of the support costs and eventually pay full rent (at 30% of income) in their current housing and provide full support for their household.

Eligibility requirements include:

• homeless or nearly homeless
• low income
• at least one child attending Daffodil Elementary in Sumner
• reside in the catchment area of Daffodil Elementary
• able and willing to work

Helping Hand House provides intensive case management to assist adults in upgrading their skills and becoming self-reliant by completing education and training that result in living wage jobs and financial independence. Our partnerships with the agencies mentioned already make is possible for every adult in this program to improve their chances of being successful. In addition to tuition and funds for books and supplies, we help to purchase work tools and equipment, clothes; we help with childcare and transportation and reduce emerging barriers whenever possible. Adults also enroll in Helping Hand House life skills classes, especially those that teach budgeting and financial literacy.

We also focus on the children in the Front Door program by requiring consistent attendance at school and improvement in academic and behavioral areas. Case managers discuss the status of the children with the parents each week and check in with the children as well. We also receive reports from the participating schools. By focusing on education for the whole family, even the very young children, we believe that everyone in the family is impacted and their opportunities to succeed are greatly improved.