As I’ve mentioned before, in the first six months of this year, twice as many two parent families have been part of the program than have ever been here over a whole year. We also have had fairly rapid movement in families during the last six months. We wondered first if there was a correlation between rapid turnover and two parent families. Second, if there is, does it mean our program is not effective for fathers or two parent families?
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with rapid turnarounds. We want families to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.
However, our program is built on life change, not just the removal of barriers to housing. A few weeks isn’t long enough to repair badly damaged credit, pay down debt or accumulate savings that will create stability after the family returns to permanent housing. It also isn’t long enough to build the supportive relationships that are key to permanent life change, to adopt life skills, and to change lifelong behaviors that contributed to homelessness.
So we were concerned that if two parent families leave more quickly than single parent families, our supportive services may be less effective for two parent families.
It turns out that a greater percentage of single parent families than two parent families left during the first six months of the year. Half of the single parent families left during the first six months and only a third of the two parent families left. However, the single parent families who left had been here for an average of nearly seven months. The two parent families that left stayed only about a month and a half and were among our least successful families.
Happily, none of the families that exited in the last six months became homeless again.
The program is clearly working well for two thirds of our two parent families. Our challenge is to keep our eyes open for signs that we need to adapt as things change.
- Laura Gray
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