Homelessness is not hopelessness

The face of homelessness often is seen as a solitary individual living on the street, yet nearly half of all shelter residents in our state are families with young children. With more than 8,000 individuals each night in Seattle living without a home, homelessness is real. But homelessness does not have to equal hopelessness.

Sound Families, an innovative public-private partnership to end family homelessness, is attempting to add 1,500 new units of affordable housing in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, with each unit supported by human services. The University of Washington School of Social Work has found that the average homeless family in the program is a 32-year-old woman with one or two children. She has a high school diploma and some college education.

Experts agree that the best way to move a homeless family back to permanent housing is to pair a family in affordable housing with dedicated support services, typically in the form of a reliable case manager willing to coach a family on any variety of life skills, such as job training, budgeting, parenting skills, or more effectively dealing with trauma and stress. Services also can include treatment for chemical or substance abuse or domestic violence counseling. It's called supportive housing, and it's a simple, yet proven remedy: Link housing with services and a family has a strong chance of achieving stability.

Over the past three years, we've seen the power of this approach firsthand in the Puget Sound region. Through Sound Families, we've demonstrated that providing these families with new affordable housing, paired with support services, creates positive results. Early evaluation results show that 49 percent of families increased their income levels and 89 percent of families moved from transitional housing to fair-market, public or subsidized housing.

Hundreds of non-profit organizations across Washington such as Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs, Catholic Community Services and the YWCA faithfully provide these critical services to homeless families, or families on the verge of becoming homeless, every day. But few of these organizations have access to stable funding streams, which forces most to limit their services and their ability to help families most in need.

A new public-private fund, the Washington Families Fund, has been created to provide a reliable source of funding for housing-based services to homeless families. Established through a $2 million appropriation from the Legislature, along with private grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Medina Foundation and the Seattle Foundation, the Washington Families Fund could grow to more than $5 million this year. It's all targeted for homeless families.

While this is an important step for our state, it is not enough. In the few short months that the fund has been discussed, already 70 service organizations across the state have expressed a need for funding.

We know that supportive housing is not only the most effective way to combat homelessness, it also is the most cost-efficient. This new housing services fund -- the first of its kind for Washington -- is a powerful new partnership and resource for families across our state.

Sometimes social change happens not with fanfare or a national bill signing but rather in the midst of quiet conversations between dedicated social service providers and parents grappling with poverty. Every once in a while, leaders from the public and private sectors dedicate themselves to ending a seemingly intractable social dilemma, once and for all.

Not since the Great Depression have so many families -- mostly single moms with young children -- been without a home. But fortunately the future looks a little brighter today. And thanks to thousands of dedicated case managers, affordable housing providers and social service agencies, heroes among us who are not deterred by the notion of intractability, families across our state -- quietly, simply and profoundly -- will make their way back to stability. They'll make their way back home.

Ruth Kagi, D-32nd District, is chairwoman of the House Children and Family Services Committee. Greg Shaw is director of the Pacific Northwest program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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