Not Like Them

Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short tells the story of Traci...

Traci and her daughter entered our transitional housing in September 2008. Prior to entering the program, she had a very lucrative career in real estate and was accustomed to providing a stable home for her daughter. When the economy began to turn for the worse and the housing market bottomed out, Traci found herself without an income and the ability to maintain the arguably lavish lifestyle she had become accustomed to. Consequently, with no income, no savings and a delay in unemployment benefits, she and her daughter found themselves without a home.

Upon entering the program, Traci admits she was challenged by the structure of the program. To suddenly be held accountable by someone else after a lifetime of self-sufficiency was more than a struggle for her. Too, viewing herself as “not like them” initially prohibited her from settling in and perpetuated a sense of entitlement. But, despite her best efforts, she struggled for several months to find employment. She was fending off harassing creditors, and as a last straw was turned down for housing due to outstanding debt. She gradually discovered that she was very much “like them”—needing the opportunity to put the pieces back together.

Fortunately, Traci was able to overcome her personal prejudices and begin actively participating in the program. As a result, she was able to find employment, settle over $3000.00 in tax and housing-related debt, obtain a license to sell insurance and move to permanent housing.

- Laura Gray

Success - spdated

I wanted to update you on a family whose story I shared several months ago.

Stephanie became homeless in 2008.

She was unemployed when she came to us from a homeless shelter, but she had been actively looking for a job. She found a position at childcare center and was rapidly promoted to Administrative Assistant and Spanish Curriculum Director.

Stephanie was able to negotiate down and retire $10,000 worth of debt to become debt free by the time she left Community LINC in December. She took advantage of a federally
funded IDA program through USBank that helped her save by providing matching
funds. Her IDA funds can be used to fund her education or homeownership.

While she was here, she got up every morning at 4:30 to study for the LSAT. She wants to become a lawyer and someday a judge. She just took the test.

She also has been accepted into Habitat for Humanity housing and is currently working with NACA, one of Community LINC’s partnering agencies, to finance her new home. Her goal is to raise her son in a home of their own.

Thank you for caring about what happens after someone becomes homeless.

- Laura Gray

Success is in the Eye of the Beholder

Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short observes:

We have historically defined success by such factors as the number of life skills classes attended, the amount of money saved, the amount of debt retired, and the number of housing and economic barriers removed. While these are all good measurements of success, we are becoming increasingly convinced that success is really in the eye of the beholder.

Monique and her 3 children entered Community Linc in May 2009 after years of physical and emotional abuse and its resulting cycles of homelessness and instability. Unemployed and extremely unsure of who she was or what she wanted to do, she admittedly got off to a very slow and rocky start. However, after much encouragement and support from her coach, she was able to begin the daunting process of putting the pieces of her family’s life back together. She eventually obtained employment as a Concession Stand Supervisor and began saving money toward her future… for the first time in her life.

Although Monique hit some rough spots during her time at Community LINC and left the program prematurely, she considers her brief journey a success. In her exit interview, she expressed how thankful she was for all that she had gained—namely, her sense of value, self-worth and self-confidence. In addition, she learned the importance of setting goals, taking responsibility for her choices, and putting the needs of her children above her need for (costly) companionship--all of the ingredients for living a life of independence and self-sufficiency.

- Laura Gray

Another Family's Success Story

The end of last year marked the "graduation" of several families to permanent homes. Our Senior Director of Programming and Operations, Jeannine Short, shared one of those success stories with me this morning.

Jimi and her four children entered our program in March 2008 as a result of prolonged homelessness. Prior to entering the program, the family was living doubled up with relatives. However, when things became too crowded and chaotic, she and her children were asked to leave. With no income, a limited and sporadic employment history and several housing evictions, she was forced to move her family into a shelter.

Motivated by desperation, Jimi made application to Community LINC and was accepted into the program. Upon entering, she immediately set about the task of breaking old patterns, establishing new patterns, learning new skills and positioning herself to adequately provide stable housing and a bright future for her children. She obtained employment at Westin Crown Center, enrolled in Penn Valley’s Business Administration program and retired approximately $3500 in old debt.

More than a year later, Jimi has seen first-hand what diligence and consistency can accomplish. Not only has she successfully completed our program, but she remains employed full-time with benefits, is continuing to work on her college degree, has retired all housing-related debts, and has transitioned to permanent housing.

- Laura Gray

Success is Relative

Just recently, Community LINC had the opportunity to work with a young mother of three who faced some relatively unique challenges. Although she met the basic criteria for acceptance into the program and successfully fulfilled all of the steps for entry, it wasn't long before we realized that success for Ashley would look different.

True to our mission, we set out to assist her with removing barriers to housing and employment, establishing a savings account, managing her finances, learning new life skills--all of the things necessary for attaining self-sufficiency. But, for some reason, she wasn't moving forward. Despite pep talks and promises to try harder, she just couldn't make any head way. However, during a particular conversation, Ashley stated that she only wanted two things--to feel better inside and to get an apartment for her children.

As a result, Ashley was connected with the necessary services to address her major depression, tormenting fears and significant distrust of people. Within a relatively short period of time, she started to feel better inside and found the motivation to search for and obtain permanent housing.

Though there are many success stories of those who have settled mounds of debt, purchased homes, and realized educational goals, Ashely is equally successful. Why? Because success is sometime relative to the individual. rather than the whole.

- Jeannine Short, Director of Programs

Pulling a Share of the Load

We’ve long been proud of the unique success of our program in ending homelessness for families – over the years an average of 80% of our families leave our transitional housing for a permanent home. About the same percentage DO NOT become homeless again for at least our two year follow-up period.

We always felt that tracking those results was a measure of the independence our families achieve after they have completed our program.

Jeannine Short, our Senior Director of Programs and Operations, just completed a study that revealed another measure of independence and our success in addressing the root causes of poverty. The study covered all of the families that left our program from 2005 through August of 2009. She compared the sources of income at entry and exit.

The results were gratifying.

On average, our families decreased their dependence on public assistance by 46% and increased income they earned by 109%. By becoming taxpayers themselves, our residents are saving the government more than $15,000 per month. That savings will total $180,000 every year.

The increase in income from private sources like wages and child support was even more gratifying. Our families increased the tax base by almost $55,000 per month, or $660,000 per year.

- Laura Gray

Interventions for Homeless Families

A couple of us just left a meeting with a researcher from a company engaged by HUD to study the effectiveness of the various methods of moving homeless families from emergency shelter to permanent housing.

They will evaluate several approaches to ending homelessness for families:

1. Housing subsidies and no other services
2. Transitional housing with intensive supportive services
3. Rapid re-housing (placement in housing with temporary rental assistance) followed by services focused on keeping housing
4. Assisting families in finding their own solutions to their housing problem.

The study will attempt to answer several questions:

1. What is the relative effectiveness of the different approaches?
2. Are the same interventions that give short-term housing stability effective for the long-term?
3. Are there interventions that are more effective for some categories of homeless families than others?

Fortunately, when they measure effectiveness, they will be looking at more than ending homelessness for a family for a few months. They want to know if an approach will be effective in keeping a family stable – i.e. in permanent housing for at least 18 months. They also will be looking at how well the approach keeps families intact, because family dissolution is a significant side effect of homelessness. They will consider the well being of the adults and children, and finally, the impact on self-sufficiency – employment, earnings and dependence on public assistance.

I’ve mentioned some of our successes by these measures in previous blogs: 83% of our families remain in permanent housing for a minimum of 24 months; we routinely reunite families with up to six children; the earnings of our residents increase by more than 50% and their dependence on public assistance decreases by more than 30% by the time they leave.

Kansas City may or may not be chosen as one of the sites for the study. We were invited to the meeting as one of the agencies that are likely to participate. Even if we aren’t one of the cities in the study, it will be fascinating to learn from the results when they are reported out from 2011-2013.

- Laura Gray

Why Our Programs Are Successful

Yesterday at our staff meeting, we had a conversation about what makes both our Transitional Housing program and our outreach programs successful.

I’m very clear about what makes our Transitional Housing program uniquely successful (8 out of 10 families will not become homeless again). It’s the selection process that identifies the people ready to do the work to break old patterns, all of the services (family coaching, mental wellness counseling, budgeting & life skills training) working in concert, and the community of support that grows within residents, staff and volunteers.

So I asked the outreach staff to tell us why their outreach is successful. It made me realize just how much outreach the staff of Transitional Housing program are doing, much less those staff in purely outreach jobs.

Our Transitional Housing Family Coaches are case managing all of the walk-ins, including an estimated 35 families per month who will never become residents of Community LINC. They refer them to services, help them face the reality of their situation and understand their options. As one of the Transitional Housing Family Coaches said, understanding what caused our residents to become homeless helps the coaches quickly identify the key issues for the walk-in families. They also case managed the 113 families who are now on our waiting list.

The staff who are exclusively doing outreach under the Community Work Support contract believe they are successful getting better outcomes for their clients for a couple of reasons. One is their tenacity and another is because they go to where the clients are – their homes. All of our outreach clients have case managers for the Temporary Aid to Needy Families and many other government agencies. Our staff teach them how to work within the system that frustrated them to the point of giving up and becoming noncompliant.

- Laura Gray

Graduation Stories

Some success stories about families graduating next Tuesday from Community LINC's transitional housing program...

Kenya came to Community LINC with her 3 children. Because she had been incarcerated, it was difficult for her to find employment that would pay enough money to support her family. Having a felony eviction also kept her from applying for public housing. When she went into a homeless shelter, she was unemployed and had moved from family member to family member. Kenya was a hard worker when she was at Community LINC, but because of the felony conviction, everything she did took extra effort. Kenya got a job with Aim for Peace, a program that assists families of convicted felons. Through this program, she is able to give the services she once needed. While at Community LINC, Kenya eliminated the debt that kept her from finding housing. She and her children now have a permanent home.

Caroline, a single mother of a little girl, came to Community LINC after a long stint of substance abuse, homelessness, and chaos. While in our program, she maintained her hard won sobriety, became gainfully employed, retired a significant amount of debt and began work toward an undergraduate degree. She more than doubled her wages and no longer relies on public assistance from food stamps. Today, Caroline and her daughter live in a quaint three-bedroom home.

Shirley and her son became homeless after her health made it impossible to run her home day care. She found it difficult to get back into the work force after so many years providing childcare. When she lost her income, she and her son not only became homeless, but her foster children were removed from her care. She and her son eventually ended up at the Forest Avenue Shelter. After she came to Community LINC, she found and maintained permanent employment which prepared her to apply for a Section 8 housing voucher. She and her son now live again in permanent housing.

Desiree is a mother of three daughters who had a stable job, but didn’t earn very much working in a drugstore. She couldn’t afford to provide housing for her family, so they had lived with several relatives. She wanted something more stable for her children, but her credit problems and the legal issues they caused kept her from finding housing. During her time at Community LINC, Desiree paid off all of her legal debt and was able to move her children to permanent housing.

Mario, Ayeshia and their daughter came to Community LINC from the reStart homeless shelter. Mario and Ayeshia had lived with family members, but space was limited, so they had to go to a homeless shelter. Mario’s felony conviction and legal issues arising from traffic warrants made it very difficult for him to find a job. He couldn’t afford legal counsel, or pay the tickets and fines. Ayeshia had been downsized at her company and found it difficult to focus on finding employment without stable housing. After coming to Community LINC, both parents found permanent employment, they paid all housing related debt, they resolved all legal barriers that kept them from working and obtaining drivers licenses. Ayeshia and Mario are residing in permanent housing in South Kansas City.

Cynthia is a single mother of four children who entered our program in April of 2007. Due to complications arising from a high-risk pregnancy, she was unable to work after her short-term disability ran out. Consequently, Cynthia’s employment was terminated and the family was evicted from their apartment within two months. In addition, she had mounds of old debts, significant barriers to housing, and had been forced to postpone plans to obtain a secondary degree. In April 2009 Cynthia and her four children moved into a four bedroom ranch-style home. Adding to her success, she has more than doubled her income, retired most of her debt, amassed over $3000.00 in savings and no longer relies on any public assistance.

Virna had served in the Air Force and was honorably discharged. Like many others, she lost her job at Sprint, which eventually made it impossible to keep her apartment. She and her daughter moved from family member to family member until she was forced to go to an emergency shelter. Virna and her 15 year old daughter were referred to Community LINC by City Union Mission. While in the program, Virna found a full time job that tripled her income. She also connected to veterans benefits for herself and her daughter. She was able to remove all housing related debt, as well as some of her outstanding credit debt. Virna also achieved her goal of returning to school to finish her degree. When she left for a permanent home, she had accumulated enough savings to create a cushion for her family in case of emergencies.