HomeAid’s Role in Ending Homelessness
When I am explaining HomeAid to people unfamiliar with HomeAid’s mission, a common response is "Oh, so you are like Habitat for Humanity."
While both HomeAid and Habitat for Humanity are construction-based non-profit organizations working to provide safe and dignified housing solutions for people in need, the two processes and outcomes of each organization do differ.
Habitat Humanity focuses on utilizing a community of volunteers alongside, donors, and future homeowners through sweat equity to eliminate substandard housing and homelessness by building and providing safe, dignified, affordable home ownership housing to those in need. HomeAid’s primary focus is providing individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness the opportunities to gain the tools necessary in safe and dignified housing and programmatic facilities, to help empower them to find a path out of homelessness. HomeAid builds or renovates these projects that range from resource centers to tiny homes to multi-unit buildings for non-profit service providers by significantly reducing the cost of the project through its relationships and partnerships with the building industry.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness describes the Continuum of Care (CoC) as “a community plan to organize and deliver housing and services to meet the specific needs of people who are homeless as they move to stable housing and maximize self-sufficiency. It includes action steps to end homelessness and prevent a return to homelessness.”
The United States Housing of Urban Development (HUD) identifies four necessary parts of a continuum:
Outreach, intake, and assessment to identify service and housing needs and provide a link to the appropriate level of both;
Emergency shelter to provide an immediate and safe alternative to sleeping on the streets, especially for homeless families with children;
Transitional housing with supportive services to allow for the development of skills that will be needed once permanently housed; and
Permanent and permanent supportive housing to provide individuals and families with an affordable place to live with services if needed.
HomeAid works across the entire CoC and addresses the many phases of homelessness, from prevention to permanent supportive housing nationally and across the country through its 19 affiliates in partnership with hundreds of non-profit community-based organizations nationwide.
Homelessness is a complex issue, and I am very glad to be a part of just one of the many organizations that are trying to solve this issue and to build a future without homelessness.