A Path to Stability:
New Program in 2025

Over the past year we have been working on a partnership with another local nonprofit to provide Tenant Based Rental Assistance (or “TBRA”) to a handful of families in our programs who were already homeless or facing inevitable homelessness. This project has been a major focus of the past year, and it’s changing lives.

Through this collaboration, we’ve been able to help eight families secure apartments they can call their own. The goal is simple but powerful: give families time to build stability so that, when the subsidy ends, they can remain housed independently.

But finding a landlord willing to rent to a family with a subsidy isn’t easy. Landlords often carry deep-seated biases, even when rent is fully covered. Our team spends months searching for units that will pass inspections and meet subsidy standards, while advocating relentlessly for families who deserve a chance.

The first family we housed through this new project had been sleeping in their car. One year later, in September, they moved into their permanent home. This transformation was possible because TBRA gave them the bridge they needed. Without it, they would still be living in their car while they waited for permanent housing to come through.

Each of these cases requires more than 10 hours of case management per week during lease-up, and several hours each week for the year or two that the family has the subsidy. We believe the quality of our work matters more than the quantity. For these eight families, this program means a chance to rebuild, to dream again, and to see what stability truly feels like. Your support makes that possible. Every gift ensures more families can cross that bridge from homelessness to home.

Letter from Our Executive Director,
Rachel Hand

Another year has passed, but it feels like a lifetime has gone by.

The work we do as advocates keeps evolving as the needs grow and families’ situations become more complex. It is no longer possible to take a call, offer a resource, and call it a day. Families reaching out to us have no access to the help they need. Sometimes, the resources no longer exist. In other cases, the rules have become impossible to meet. It can take years of weekly meetings before we see a family stabilize into permanent housing.

We often talk about how we “fill the gap,” but what does that really mean? It means we see the families who have truly fallen through the cracks. Families who are ineligible for assistance but still cannot afford housing. Many agencies turn them away and say there is nothing they can do. Our response looks different. We say, “Your situation is impossible, but we will take a look and see if we can come up with a miracle together.”

Our staff walks alongside families, keeping people from being alone as they face the crushing weight of every door closing around them. Sometimes, when it feels like every door is shut, one waits to be opened that was simply hidden from view. We help uncover those doors.

This work can feel impossible, and it is exhausting. But nothing is more exhausting than sleeping in your car with your children, waking up, and going to work, all while trying to find a home. If the families we serve can do that, we can wake up each morning ready to help them feel less alone and more hopeful.

Your donations keep our small, unique nonprofit running. You make it possible for us to keep our doors open to families who are used to finding doors shut in their faces. Help us start 2026 with our doors and hearts wide open, and with the creativity and compassion needed to meet families where they are.