We want to build a second Family Stabilization Hub!

---

Families in poverty face daily challenges in meeting basic needs, including substandard housing, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare and unsafe neighborhoods.  Families in poverty struggle to pay bills, to navigate the medical and mental health systems to get the help their family needs, they are limited by bad debt, they feel stuck in low-paying jobs. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population in Erie County is families.  

Family Promise of WNY is very good at working alongside families to help them stabilize.  We do the basics, like making sure everyone has shoes that fit, a cell phone that works and all their identifying documents.  And we do the big things, like removing bad debt and helping families build good credit, working with teens on paths to independence and helping families find jobs that promote upward mobility. 

The need is great and we want to help more.  We are seeking to expand our services to reach more families in need.

We only work with families and 75% of the people we serve are children.  We serve all kinds of families, no matter if they are led by single moms, single dads, two-parent families or are multi-generational. 

Our clients are referred to us by different service providers, but our primary partner is the Erie County Department of Social Services.  We accept self-referrals for our Eviction Prevention program.

Due to our regulations as a family stabilization program, we can only work with families.  That means we cannot work with the following people:

• single adults
• children without parents
• people seeking legal status in this country
• people with untreated mental health conditions
• people with untreated substance abuse disorder
• people with a violent criminal background
• people fleeing an active domestic violence situation
• sex offenders

EVICTION PREVENTION

Our Eviction Prevention program allows us to work with families in the community who are at risk for eviction and help them overcome barriers so that they stay housed and stable. 

SHELTER DIVERSION

Our Shelter Diversion program allows us to work with families imminently facing homelessness.  We engage with them for a brief, intensive 30-day period to offer targeted interventions to keep them out of the shelter system. 

TEMPORARY HOUSING

 We offer temporary housing to families who have become unhoused and need more wrap-around support to stabilize and find their way back home. 

STABILIZATION

Our Stabilization Program helps newly housed families build resilience through targeted work on employment, education and finances in order to help their family find stability well into the future. 

Across all our programs, we don't just do housing.   We help families get jobs, build their credit, connect with medical and mental health providers and get children enrolled in school or daycare.  Our Stabilization program helps families work on long-term education and career goals.

 The stress of a housing crisis hurts families:

• Housing instability leads to families separating in order to survive.
• Housing instability leads to dangerous environments for children due to constant transition and fewer options.
• Housing instability disrupts a child’s education, increases levels of anxiety and depression and heightens contact with the criminal justice system.
• For children under five years old, the chronic stress of housing instability can interfere with critical early brain development.

That is why we are so passionate about getting families housed a quickly as possible. Family Promise can usually resolve a housing crisis in less than 60 days.  Over half of our work we do is done out in the community, often in the homes of the families we work with.  The only on-site program is our temporary housing program, which can accommodate 12 families or around 50 people at a time - almost 40 of whom will be children.

We staff our facility 24/7, meaning we are always awake and alert and will provide a level of vigilance to any neighborhood we are in.

We understand homeowners are worried about their property values.  Our research shows that small projects of around 50 or less people like the one we are proposing do not impact property values because they lack density.  Nonetheless, we are seeking to locate our facility at some distance from homeowners to reduce impact. 

We strive to be good neighbors!  We will bring the following benefits to our new community:

• Expertise - As an expert in the field, we will help neighbors triage questions regarding how to help unhoused people in need.
• New Development - We are projecting our project will add over $10 million dollars of value to the neighborhood.