Income, Housing & Families (Repost from July/August 2025)

Labor Day is around the corner, and we thought it would be enlightening to spend this month sharing insight into the relationship between income earning and housing, especially for low-income families. 

The contrast between stagnant incomes and soaring housing prices remains painfully acute—especially for families. According to the NC Housing Coalition, 47% of rental households in Durham County spend over 30% of their income on housing. A family would need to make a minimum of $74,880 a year to afford a 2-bedroom apartment at the fair market rental rate in Durham. This financial burden for housing especially puts single-parent, women-led families at extreme risk of eviction and homelessness. Housing costs extract so much from family budgets that little remains to cover childcare, healthcare, or build savings, eroding stability and pushing parents and children toward precarious housing situations.

Structural inequalities further deepen the crisis. Research from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that in 2023, across all workers in the U.S., women earned just 75 cents for every dollar earned by men, with even wider disparities for Black women (64¢), Latinas (51¢), and Native women (52¢). If this gap was eliminated, it could pay for nearly 7 months of housing for a family.  Even as the overall U.S. gender pay gap narrowed modestly in 2024, the “motherhood penalty” continued to compound the burden: women’s earnings drop approximately 15% due to unpaid caregiving alone, costing about $295,000 over a lifetime. For mothers who are primary or sole earners—a role held by 40% of households with children under 18—these income setbacks translate directly into higher instability and risk of homelessness.

In addition, families need reliable childcare to remain employed. And childcare continues to be prohibitively expensive. With inadequate public support, this cost disproportionately affects working parents—especially women in low-wage or informal jobs—forcing tough compromises that can destabilize housing. Unpredictable schedules or multiple part-time jobs—common among the working poor—only magnify the difficulty in securing reliable, affordable care.

Food Insecurity (Repost from May/June 2025)

Food insecurity is the household-level challenge of not having reliable physical, social or economic access to nutritious food. According to Feeding America, roughly 14 percent of residents in Durham County—and nearly 19 percent of children—have experienced food insecurity in recent years. That means almost one in five kids may not know where their next meal is coming from. Approximately 85 percent of the families we welcome to FMF's emergency shelter are food insecure when they arrive.

Children experiencing food insecurity are especially vulnerable. When they don’t get enough to eat, they often struggle with concentration, energy, and growth. Research shows that food‑insecure kids tend to perform worse academically and face more behavior and health challenges—effects that can linger into adulthood. For parents, it can make necessary trade-offs between spending on housing, food, and healthcare constant stressors on stability.

When families arrive at FMF, we work in many ways to address food insecurity. We assist with SNAP and WIC applications, connect guests to local community food pantries and food distribution assistance, work with DINE to provide nutrition education to parents and children, and collaborate with partners such as Goodwill Industries of Eastern NC to provide grocery gift cards. We invite generous volunteers to serve meals to families before evening programming activities to make participation easier and enjoyable. FMF is also conscious of food insecurity when we make grant requests, especially for out-of-school programs (like summer camps and daycare) to ensure that kids have reliable meals when not in school. 

Common Types of Shelter & Housing Programs (Repost from April 2025)

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for those experiencing homelessness. Some individuals and families need short-term assistance, while others require long-term supports. Thus, it's essential to match the needs of those served with the most appropriate shelter and housing program model to provide the best opportunity for a successful, sustainable exit from homelessness. Understanding these distinctions also makes for more impactful advocacy, promotes better community outcomes, and advances ending homelessness within our community. Here is a primer:

Emergency Shelter – This type of shelter offers temporary, low-barrier shelter. Entry requirements are generally minimal; however, the programs and services offered can vary widely depending on the community. Emergency shelters can range from immediate, night-by-night, congregate shelter, often with stay restrictions and little to no case management or supportive services, to a program like Families Moving Forward, where guests are referred to us from Coordinated Entry (Entry Point Durham) and provided with private rooms, extensive case management, skills-building programming for adults and children, and referrals to additional community resources to promote stable, thriving families.

Transitional Shelter/Housing – This type of shelter is designed to ‘bridge the gap’ between an emergency shelter and permanent housing. Guests are encouraged to stay for a longer period, often between three and 24 months, and generally have private or semi-private rooms. Residents of transitional housing often receive extensive case management and support, and funding may require guests to meet benchmarks in areas like income growth to continue with the program. Transitional programs are designed to serve people who need additional structured support to stabilize.

Rapid ReHousing – This program is designed to quickly end homelessness through a permanent housing solution with temporary supportive measures, such as short-term rental assistance and case management to assist in stabilization and ongoing self-sufficiency. In 2024, FMF’s Rapid ReHousing program helped 28 families secure housing and move toward thriving futures.

Permanent Supportive Housing – This model is designed to quickly end homelessness through a permanent housing solution and provide needed ongoing supports. These can include long-term rental assistance and/or wraparound services such as onsite case management, connecting individuals with healthcare and social services, job training, and financial literacy education. 

At FMF, we recognize that adults and children experiencing homelessness—and the families they represent—have unique circumstances and barriers to overcome. Addressing these concerns in a non-judgmental, personalized way gives families the best chance to break the cycle of homelessness and thrive in safe, stable homes. Thank you for supporting that approach!

Breaking the Cycle: Evictions (Repost from March 2025)

Eviction is the legal process by which a landlord removes a tenant from a rental property, typically due to non-payment of rent or violations of the lease agreement. This process can be swift; in North Carolina, for instance, tenants may be served court papers one week and be in court the next.

The consequences of eviction are profound, leading to immediate housing instability, disruptions in employment and education, and adverse health outcomes. Moreover, eviction filings are public record. So even if there is no judgement in the case, the record remains. Having an eviction record can severely limit a family's ability to secure future housing, as many landlords and tenant screening services consider such records in their rental decisions.

In Durham County, North Carolina, the eviction crisis is particularly pronounced. In 2024, 6,918 families faced eviction filings, placing Durham 18th in eviction rates among North Carolina counties. Notably, women of color-led households experience the highest eviction rates in the area, reflecting broader national trends where Black and Latina women are disproportionately affected. In 2022, Black tenants made up approximately 43.5% of Durham’s renting population, however, they comprised 75.8% of tenants facing eviction filings. This disparity exacerbates existing social and economic inequities, making it even more challenging for these families to find stable housing and break the cycle of poverty.

Families Moving Forward works to support families with eviction histories and prevent future housing instability. FMF provides families with eviction prevention resources, including financial literacy workshops, tenant rights education, and connections to rental assistance programs. Additionally, FMF helps families secure stable housing by working with landlords willing to rent to tenants with eviction records and by offering aftercare case management services to ensure long-term success. Through workforce development programs, FMF also equips parents with skills for higher-paying jobs, reducing the risk of future eviction due to financial hardship. By addressing both the immediate and systemic challenges of eviction, FMF helps families regain stability and build a foundation for a secure future.

Breaking the Cycle: Understanding ACEs (Repost from February 2025)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that happen during childhood (0-17 years) that can have a lasting impact on a child’s health and well-being. Abuse, neglect, housing instability, violence, poverty, discrimination, and parental/familial mental illness, incarceration, substance use, and attempted self-harm or death by suicide are all examples of ACEs, but are in no way a complete list. Studies have shown that ACEs can impact brain development, lead to chronic health problems like asthma, stroke, obesity, and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, and risky behaviors, e.g., unprotected sex and substance misuse, in adolescence and adulthood.

ACEs are common—about 64% of adults in the US report that they have experienced at least one type of ACE before age 18, and 1 in 8 adults report having experienced four or more. Anyone is susceptible to experiencing ACEs; however, vulnerable communities tend to have greater (or continued) exposure to them. Studies have also shown that ACEs often repeat in families over generations.

It is important to note, ACEs are not destiny. When children experience or are exposed to trauma, it does not automatically mean that they will encounter increased risk later in life. With proper intervention and care, children can build resiliency after adverse childhood experience. Helping parents and children navigate and access resources to identify, address, and overcome ACEs is at the core of FMF’s multi-generational approach. Breaking the cycle of ACEs is a necessary step in breaking the cycle of homelessness.

Point In Time (PIT) Count (Repost from January 2025)

The Point In Time (PIT) Count is an annual, nationwide effort to measure homelessness by conducting a single-night census of individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Organized by local Continuum of Care (CoC) programs and required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the count includes people staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and unsheltered locations, such as streets, parks, or encampments.

The PIT Count provides vital data about the scope and demographics of homelessness in each community, helping to identify trends and assess the effectiveness of local programs and policies. Volunteers, service providers, and community organizations collaborate and go directly into the field to engage with individuals and collect information to ensure as accurate a count as possible. 

In Durham, our annual PIT Count was held the night of Jan. 27th. Tasha and Tierra volunteered for the count and additionally, FMF provided PIT Count volunteers with resource bags for families experiencing homelessness they encounter. We look forward to the data highlighting any gaps in services and giving the community guidance on how to better support families experiencing homelessness. 

Trauma-Informed: In Practice, an FMF Lab (Repost from November 2024)

The objective of being a trauma-informed organization is to ensure that every family — and each individual — receives the right support to feel safe, heal, and thrive. To that end, FMF employs the 4 “Rs”:

Realize: Understanding the impact of trauma and how it affects people

Recognize: Identifying the signs and symptoms of trauma

Respond: Design, create, and implement policies, practices, and procedures with the knowledge of trauma and the goal of helping people feel safe and heal

Resist re-traumatization: Actively reduce situations that are stressful, harmful, or degrading to avoid re-traumatizing people

Families Moving Forward staff work diligently to ensure that the policies, procedures, and practices we use are trauma-informed. First and foremost, we try to provide guests with as much choice and agency as possible. This helps build trust, community, and empowers people who might otherwise feel they have diminished power. For example, we provide each family with their own private room. This personal space has proven vital in limiting the stress of families who might be uncomfortable or re-traumatized in a congregate space. This also allows the family agency over their space — they can choose the décor (often via our partnership with the amazing A Lotta Love team). In addition, they are able to leave their belongings to go to school & work with the knowledge that they are secure and will be there upon return. And they can stay together as a family.

We also prioritize keeping our facility safe and secure. We employ several security measures to limit access to our buildings, and we work to provide simple references — like a staff photo board and photo IDs — for guests to easily recognize staff and their roles.

Since we try to ensure that everything we do is trauma-informed, there is a lot to share with you! We look forward to sharing more about our trauma-informed practices and care in the future.

Trauma-Informed: An Introduction - What is Trauma? (Repost from October 2024)

We often refer to our services and approaches as trauma-informed, but what does that mean and why do we employ such an approach? Great Questions! Let us step back and talk about what trauma is first.

 Definition:

Trauma is an event, a series of events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual's functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. 

 Explanation:

To put this definition of trauma into context, let's use the framework of the 3 E's of Trauma:

· Event: This can be an event or situation, real or imagined, that threatens physical, emotional, or mental harm.

· Experience: The response to the event and the assigning of meaning and emotion to the event.

· Effect: The short- and long-term impacts and outcomes of experiencing the event. 

This framework helps us understand that what is traumatic and why it is traumatic is up to the individual. Each person can have different events, experiences, and effects that they define as trauma. 

Because trauma can have such a profound impact on so many aspects of an individual, providing care and services to someone who has experienced trauma calls for special awareness to ensure that they feel safe, receive support, and avoid re-traumatization. 

 Next time, we'll focus on what trauma-informed looks like in practice. 

FMF Seminar - The 2Gen Approach

As briefly mentioned in our piece on the types of poverty, we often see families cycle through poverty and homelessness generationally. To break these cycles, FMF strives to provide support and resources to the entire family. By employing a two-generation model (2Gen), we hope to reinforce and build on the strengths of both guardians and children and provide access to resources and support to improve outcomes for the entire family. This model looks different for each of our guest families. While we provide age-appropriate skills and informational programming to all, we also work 1-on-1 with each family member to offer relevant and vital referrals, support, and guidance. This comprehensive and collaborative approach to providing tailored support fosters stability and resilience. 

For Children

We strive to have all our kiddos undergo age-appropriate screenings soon after entry into our program. This enables us to create custom interventions for specialized services to ensure that children are at the developmental and educational level of their peers not experiencing homelessness. We work closely with community partners to offer referrals to services like occupational, behavioral, and speech therapy. We also provide educational support, centered around our volunteer-led Study Buddies program, where students can get homework assistance, tutoring, and additional reading and literacy enrichment. In addition, our teen guests can participate in our Teen Fellowship program, consisting of college and workforce readiness programming – college tours, leadership development, and career exploration.

For Adults

We also offer a range of programming and resources for our adult guests. In addition to creating goals for housing and self-sufficiency with their case managers, we encourage guests to attend offered workshops on financial literacy, parent/child attachment and development, workforce readiness, tenant/landlord rights & relations, art therapy, community support, and more.

Importantly, these offerings and referrals are at no cost to our guests and are often provided by incredible volunteers from the community. We know that investing in the whole family helps build a stronger and more resilient foundation for success – and works to build skills and resource networks for families to move towards thriving.

Intro to Poverty: Situational Vs. Generational (Repost from June 2024)

There are many ways to define and categorize poverty. We can reasonably agree that poverty is "a lack of sufficient resources to sustain a socially acceptable standard of living." That said, there are different types of poverty. Let's take a look at the difference between situational and generational poverty. As we begin, it's important to note that here in Durham, we have families experiencing each type of poverty—and oftentimes, both. 

 Situational Poverty

 This type of poverty is often brought on by a single crisis or closely grouped series of events (sudden job loss, divorce, environmental disaster, health problems, etc.), causing a family or individual to lose access to or deplete financial resources and assets. This type of poverty is often traumatic and challenging to overcome, requiring both social and community investment for those affected to regain stability and support growth.

 Generational Poverty

 This type of poverty is systemic and lasting, affecting at least two generations of a family or closely related group of people. Generational poverty negatively impacts social determinants of health, such as education, employment opportunities, nutrition, healthcare services, and infrastructure and community. Because of the intersectional nature of generational poverty, it is also often associated with complex trauma. Studies have shown that children born into poverty are more likely to be poor as adults, and this likelihood increases the longer children remain impoverished. Social and community investment are essential to overcome generational poverty but can only go so far to lift a generation at a time out of poverty. Systemic changes to social structures are needed to break the cycle across generations.

What is Case Management? (Repost from May 2024)

We are quick to assert that we offer intensive case management (rightfully so!), but what is case management?

Case management is a collaborative, client-centered practice that involves a professional social worker assessing a client's needs and coordinating services to help them achieve positive outcomes. The process involves planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating progress. The goal is to improve the client's overall well-being and help them access the resources and support they need. 

At FMF, case management is provided to each family starting with intake. Our trained, professional, and experienced staff spends time with each family – working collectively to forge a personalized plan to secure permanent housing, a steady income, and a stable, self-sustaining future. Our case managers support families by referring them to community resources, advocating for them, offering space for them to share their experiences, and celebrating their successes. Once our families are ready to leave The NEST at FMF, we offer them the opportunity to continue to receive the benefits of case management by participating in Branching Out, our aftercare program.

We are fortunate to offer case management to our guests and so incredibly proud and thankful to have an amazing case management team in place! Our community owes a lot of gratitude to this team, and we, in turn, thank our donors for allowing us to support them and this incredibly impactful work.

Winning the Lottery (Repost from April 2024)

Hello again! In honor of National Volunteer Week & Month wrapping up, we wanted to take a moment to share a bit about FMF’s generous volunteers. It has been said that having a dedicated volunteer force is like winning the lottery. In 2023, FMF benefited from more than 5,100 hours of volunteer service – that's a monetary value of over $162,000!

Nearly all our enrichment and health programming is made possible by dedicated volunteers. We rely on community experts to facilitate programs in financial education, mental health resources, medical services, health education, legal services, and empowerment workshops to support our guest families. Volunteers also provide dinners and childcare during evening programming, assist us in fundraising, serve on our board of directors, and help us keep our facilities safe and welcoming. Volunteer groups host fun events for our families such as birthday parties and family fun nights.

We have dozens of valuable partnerships including A Lotta Love, Legal Aid of NC, groups from Duke and NC Central University, Durham Chapter of the Links, MGB Foundation, and There is a King in You, just to name a few. We'd also like to recognize and honor all of our faith partners. Many were the heart of Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network, and they continue to support FMF through donations and dinners.

Volunteers are important links to our Durham communities. We work with groups from a variety of backgrounds, interests, and skill sets, who in turn learn more about family homelessness, FMF, and how to become more involved and engaged in our mission and vision.

To everyone who has volunteered with us, THANK YOU!

Affordable Housing (Repost from March 2024)

Hello again!

This month, we want to explore an important term: affordable housing. We have mentioned (repeatedly) that a lack of affordable housing is a major reason why many of our families experience homelessness and struggle to move out of shelter. But what do we mean by affordable housing?   

According to HUD, affordable housing is housing in which the household is paying no more than 30% of gross income for housing costs, including utilities. For context, in Durham, 46% of households that rent have difficulty affording their homes.

When housing costs exceed the 30% threshold, even a minor financial setback can result in a family losing their home. This happens all too often. And once a family has an eviction or foreclosure on their record, it becomes even more challenging to secure future housing.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, communities that provide access to and invest in affordable housing can generally see higher wages and related economic boosts, reduced childhood and intergenerational poverty, and increased economic mobility for all.

What is Entry Point Durham? (Repost from Feb 2024)

Hello and welcome back! This month we are going to shift focus a bit and introduce & explain a partner of ours, Entry Point Durham. As you might be aware, FMF is part of a larger system of homeless service providers in Durham. This system is known as a Continuum of Care (CoC) and is part of HUD’s program to “promote community-wise commitment to the goal of ending homelessness.” The CoC is designed to coordinate funding, best practices, and access to services within a specified geographic area. Find out more about a CoC here.

 To ensure this access, an evidence-based coordinated intake program is mandated by HUD. Entry Point is the "front door" to Durham’s coordinated intake, ensuring equitable and easy-to-navigate access to the homeless services resources of the Durham community. Entry Point is staffed by a trained team who are available to listen to and assess households facing or experiencing homelessness. Staff evaluate a household's strengths, needs, preferences, and barriers to housing.

 These findings may result in diversion efforts to help households retain existing housing or identify safe, temporary alternatives to being unsheltered; this is accompanied by referral to resources to address permanent housing needs and other areas, such as healthcare, transportation, and public benefits. If a household cannot be diverted, they are placed on the waiting list for shelter.

 At FMF, we welcome Entry Point as a valuable partner. They are the first point of contact for members in the community and ensure that people in need of services are fairly and equitably prioritized. This enables FMF to create the greatest impact possible—for our guest families and the Durham community.

 If you or someone you know is in danger of or experiencing homelessness, please contact Entry Point directly: 

 Entry Point Durham

Hours: M-F: 8am-5pm

Weekends & County Holidays: 4pm-8pm via phone only

Phone: 984-287-8313

Location: Durham Human Services Building, Aging & Adult Services, Lobby 27, 2nd Floor and ask about Entry Point

413 E. Main St, Durham, NC 27701

Website: https://www.durhamnc.gov/4990/Entry-Point

Defining Homelessness (Repost from Jan 2024)

This is a new section of the newsletter to share with you all some of the terms, phrases, policies, and other details about homelessness & serving our families that you may not be familiar with. We value your partnership and participation in helping the Durham community end family homelessness, and we pledge to support you in being the best ally that you can be. We are starting broadly – defining homelessness – and will be moving through different terms, topics, and subjects as we go. If you have questions, have requests for our next topic, or would like more information about the featured topic, please submit them here.

 Homelessness: in the simplest terms, it is the state of having no home. But the reality is that homelessness is multifaceted, and a simple or single definition fails to capture all the ways a family and community may experience homelessness.

 To begin with, there is not a uniform definition of family homelessness in terms of policy (federal, state, and local) and qualification for services. For example, HUD (US Department of Housing and Urban Development) uses a 4-category scale to define homelessness, and this scale is designed to prioritize need and access to services. However, the McKinney-Vento Act, passed in 1987, essentially broadened the definition of homelessness to include all four categories for children and youths, again, to prioritize access to services.  

 While it is understandable that different qualifiers may be needed to try to ensure equitable distribution of resources, we also know that these qualifiers make it confusing or difficult to quickly access services and opportunities for our guests. Moreover, none of these definitions speak to the systemic inequities that underpin the experience of homelessness, nor the impact of experiencing homelessness. We’ll look at both soon, so that together we can craft a more complete definition of homelessness.