Project Description
READY FOR HOME
We made it! With your help, we raised the $690,000 campaign goal for our Room to Live project. Thank you!
Ready for Home Program Description
Nelson CARES is committed to providing safe affordable housing. This includes people leaving homelessness and those who have difficulty maintaining their housing due to chronic illness and/or substance use. Sometimes people need support to maintain their housing and Nelson CARES has created a program to do just that, it is called Ready for Home.
We know that if we can support people to stay housed for a period of 2 years, re-entry into homelessness is significantly diminished and health outcomes are dramatically improved. The goal of this program is to intervene in the cycle of homelessness and work one-on-one with individuals to maintain stable affordable housing within the Nelson CARES’ stock of housing.
We first piloted this program in January 2016 at Ward Street Place and Lakeside Place to test this theory. During this period of time assistance was offered to residents who had been chronically or episodically homeless before being housed. Services were provided by a trained support worker and we documented the following:
- dramatic reduction in interactions with police (incidents were down by 50% over the previous year);
- more appropriate and effective outcomes with health professionals for tenants with chronic health diseases and disorders; and,
- improved participation in group activities organized by staff to address social isolation.
Program Principals
- maintaining safe affordable housing
- food security
- access to transportation
- life skills development
- access to income and health services
- building a positive self-image
- social inclusion
There is no public funding for this work. Nelson CARES supports this program through annual fundraising events such as Coldest Night of the Year.
Ready For Home
