Bethany House Services Inc

Bethany House provides emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness those living on the streets, in their cars, or other places considered unfit for human habitation. Shelter services include safety, meals, case management, life skills classes, children's programming, mental health assessment and connections with community service providers. Bethany House strives to meet not only the immediate physical needs of every family member while they are in shelter, but also to provide the family unit with the skills, knowledge and support needed to establish a stable home. Each family works with a social worker who supports them through identifying their needs and barriers, then provides connections to appropriate community resources. All staff are trained in trauma informed care, considered best practice by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)and the National Stabilization on Family Homelessness. Trauma-informed care promotes a culture of safety, empowerment, and healing. Children's programming provides group sessions; assisting with enrollment in childcare or school; developmental assessments for children under 5.5 yrs.; socialization outings into the community; referrals for mental and physical health issues. Families who have exited from shelter are followed and provided with post-shelter stabilization services as needed to avoid repeated episodes of homelessness.In 2024, 274 families received comprehensive shelter services: 1050 individuals, 689 of whom were under the age of 18. Outcomes remained very good despite the challenges presented with increased rental rates and shortage of affordable housing; 93% of the families who exited from shelter during the year moved into a positive housing situation; 51% of families who exited did so with increased or maintained income.

Bethany House offers two types of Housing Stabilization programs. Housing Stabilization includes a combination of Rehousing upon exiting shelter and Prevention to help maintain housing and avoid homelessness.Rehousing programs are funded by the local HUD Unified Funding Agency and includes:Rapid Rehousing - This programs provides case management to assist families in identifying appropriate affordable housing as quickly as possible to minimize the trauma of the homelessness experience. Housing social workers guide the parent through a process of recognizing and overcoming their barriers to obtaining housing, connect them to mainstream benefits, identify ways to increase income, provide referrals to community mental health and other service providers, and stabilize the family in housing. The program includes short-to-medium term financial assistance to utility assistance payments and rental deposits. Children in high-risk families are followed by housing case managers to ensure they are enrolled and attending school. Permanent supportive housing - programs are available to homeless families when at least one member has a permanent disability or serious, persistent condition. Permanent supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help all people live more stable, productive lives. Case management services are more intensive in this program to meet the greater needs of the families and although rapid rehousing program assistance is time-limited, permanent supportive case management and financial assistance services are not. In 2024, BHS served 259 families, 943 individuals, and 621 of them children across all rehousing programs.Prevention programming is funded through federal, state, local, and private funding and includes:Shelter Diversion identifies immediate permanent housing and provides case management and rental assistance for families at imminent risk of homelessness. Shelter Diversion is more cost-effective than entering an Emergency Shelter, plus the family avoids the trauma of homelessness. In 2024, BHS served 89 families, 240 individuals, and 143 of them children. KEYS is a different shelter diversion program for youth age 18-24. BHS works with parenting youth as our specialty in the national youth homelessness project, working with individuals in the age range who are often doubled up and at risk of becoming fully homelessness if not for our intervention toward housing stabilization and increased income. In 2024, BHS served 20 families, 48 individuals, and 27 of them children.Aftercare provides a safety net for families who have left shelter but experience an emergency situation that threatens their housing stability. No matter how long it has been since the family experienced homelessness, Aftercare provides landlord mediation, emergency financial assistance, connections to relevant community agencies - whatever it takes for the family to keep their home and prevent another episode of homelessness. In 2024, BHS served 89 families, 359 individuals, 252 of them children.In 2024 BHS Housing Stabilization programs combined served, 457 families. These families included 1,582 individuals, 1,030 of whom were children.