We work with families at risk of losing their housing to prevent homelessness. We help stabilize families through services, financial assistance, and connection to mainstream resources so that they do not need to enter the shelter system.
Community of Hope's Homelessness Prevention Program works to stabilize families at risk of becoming homeless through specialized services and connection to other community resources.
All families must be referred from the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center. Clients are usually living temporarily with a friend or relative, and have often moved frequently. Clients find themselves on the brink of homelessness and come seeking any assistance available to stay stably housed.
Community of Hope helps prevent clients from losing their homes and entering the shelter system through effective targeting of resources. We recognize that different families require different solutions.
Our case managers serve as supporters and advocates for clients – helping them think through their goals and create detailed plans with a realistic timeline. These wide-ranging supportive services include:
- Comprehensive case management
- Mediation services
- Financial assistance
- Budgeting and financial management
- Rental and utility assistance
- Referral for legal services
The Homelessness Prevention Program, through expert case management and mediation services, helps families stay stably housed and allows them to remain connected to their natural systems of family and community.
Access to these services comes through referrals from the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, the central intake for DC’s coordinated homelessness assistance system for families. If you know a family encountering a housing crisis that they cannot resolve on their own, they can access homelessness prevention advice and program assistance referrals exclusively through the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center.
*Community of Hope’s Homelessness Prevention program is provided in large part through a partnership with the DC Department of Human Services Family Services Administration
Of the families who have received homelessness prevention services, 89 percent have not had to enter the shelter system.
Our program served 653 families with prevention services in 2019.
Jamey Burden, Vice President Housing Programs and Policy at Community of Hope
