SAFE at home
The Self-Sufficiency Assistance for Ex-residents (SAFE) at Home program was developed to help support recently-homeless families. When families come to Mercy House, they have often been living at risk of homelessness for several years. When families move out of Mercy House, they are still very much at risk and research shows that the families who are most likely to become homeless are those who have been homeless before. Up until five years ago, Mercy House often served as a revolving door for homeless families. They would move in, save their income until they had enough for the first month's rent and security deposits and then move out. After three to five months, the families would come back to reapply.
We realized that the impact of the organization was not sufficient to the needs of the families we were serving. We determined that we needed to be able to accommodate longer residency for families and educate them on how to maintain stable housing upon their departure from Mercy House. That is when we began the SAFE-at-Home aftercare program. Through this program, we have achieved a 98% success rate of helping families to find and maintain housing. SAFE-at-Home is funded by a grant from the Harrisonburg/Rockingham United Way. All services are dependent on participants maintaining a job and taking part in weekly meetings.
Once a month, the case manager meets with families in their homes to discuss and observe needs. There are a number of factors she examines, including that the family:
· is living in affordable housing by spending less than one-third of their income on rent
· feels safe in their neighborhood
· has sufficient food, utensils and appliances to prepare three nutritious meals every day
· is meeting medical needs
· has no drug or alcohol abuse in the immediate family
· is earning income that is sufficient to meet their basic needs
· children are attending school and making passing marks in all subjects
· children are physically and emotionally safe
· is becoming a part of the community in which they live
Once a month, the families come to the case manager's office to work on budgets, training, savings, paying bills and debt reduction. Every week for the rest of the month, the families call the case manager to report on their progress. This is a critical element to the program as it allows for early intervention if a poor decision has been made. When SAFE families hit a rough spot, the case manager is there immediately to provide assistance and prevent them from spiraling into a crisis or back into old habits.
The types of financial assistance available in an emergency are:
· gas and cab vouchers
· bus tickets
· rental assistance*
· utility payments*
· car repairs and insurance
· prescription or over-the-counter drugs
· dental needs that are causing absenteeism
· tuition
· needs related to children's medical needs, education, extracurricular activities and childcare.
*Mercy House will assist with rent and utilities only 3 times. This helps to promote self-sufficiency of the family and discourage dependency on Mercy House.
Occasionally, a family will come to Mercy House seeking shelter and after interviewing them, we determine that, with some financial assistance and guidance, the family could remain in their current home. In this case, we offer the family the option of joining the SAFE-at-Home program. They must follow all the guidelines that families who have lived at Mercy House must follow and they must agree to work on a service strategy plan to help them get their finances in order.