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.