Our Transitional Housing programs provides below-market rental units to homeless and low-income families for up to three years. Once in our program, families work intensively with our professional support staff to identify and break down personal and external barriers to success. We mentor parents and children in their journey from homelessness to permanent housing, from educational failure to success in school, and from instability to stable and nurturing family life.
We rent our inventory of 18 2-,3- and 4-bedroom apartments to low-income, homeless families with income 30 percent at or below the Area Median Income (“AMI”). They are located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood and are professionally renovated and maintained.
Families may reside in our housing for up to three years – longer than most DC-area housing programs. This longer stay makes it possible for children to become established in good schools and for their parents to build strong relationships and acquire the skills that foster long-lasting change.
We support parents through:
- Working with case workers: weekly in-home meetings, quarterly goal-setting meetings, and annual progress evaluations;
- Individual counseling by a licensed psychologist, when appropriate;
- Coaching to be responsible tenants and assistance to move to permanent housing;
- Requiring personal monthly budgets that include mandatory savings as well as bonuses for living within one’s budget and/or saving extra money;
- Training in financial literacy using Hope and a Home’s workbook, Our Dreams and Our Money:
- Setting Goals about Money, and intensive one on one credit counseling, in collaboration with
- Housing Counseling Services; and
- Peer group support in monthly family workshops.