Valley agencies collaborate to fight homelessness

MAT-SU — As awareness of homelessness in the Mat-Su becomes more prevalent, there are several agencies working in the background to help keep families in their homes. As the lead agency, Valley Charities Inc. was awarded a $770,550 grant in July from Alaska Housing Finance Corp. to prevent homelessness in the Mat-Su.

The Homeless Assistance Program grant will be implemented by seven Valley organizations that share like clients — Family Promise Mat-Su, Access Alaska, Blood-N-Fire ministries, Daybreak Inc., Alaska Family Services and new this year, Salvation Army of Palmer.

The new grant surpassed last year’s Homeless Assistance Program grant by $220,000. Some of that has to do with the addition of a new partner in Salvation Army. But even more significant is the number of people the group helped during 2012-13. After all is said and done, the group assisted more than 900 individuals with shut-off and eviction prevention and transitioning residents from their cars or tents into stable housing.

This year’s grant calls for a person to travel as far north as Trapper Creek and east to Chickaloon. This is a result of trying to reach populations that are at risk of being homeless. It is a catch-22 when at-risk clients have to spend what little money they have to get money that will keep them in housing. It affects their long-term sustainability.

Here are some success stories.

We brought one young new mother into our Family Promise shelter for homeless families. She was a hard worker, a great mom and our volunteers loved her and offered her support. With BHAP rental assistance, we were able to move this family into housing as soon as they had saved up enough if her wages to sustain them. They are ecstatic.

Valley Charities recently helped a family of five that was facing utility shutoffs and possible eviction as a result of medical problems. The family was slowly getting back on its feet thanks to the mom finding work while the dad was recovering. However, they had gotten so far behind that, despite their best efforts, they could not keep up with the bills and were at risk of losing their home. Thanks to help from the BHAP grant, they were able to catch up to a point where they can now sustain themselves.

One of my highlights as director of Blood-N-Fire was being able to help a disabled man get into a hotel and help him get permanent housing. He is now doing well, but in this process I was able to get help from Family Promise for transportation to help this client, also Valley Charities and Access Alaska helped me help him. This is great example of what collaboration can do for our community. Blood-N-Fire has also been able to build a strong partnership with Pioneer Hotel and Alaskan View in helping shelter families in need.

Access Alaska was contacted by a 39-year-old female in April who had recently relocated her family of five from Juneau to the Mat-Su to seek medical treatment. She had been diagnosed with cancer, which forced her to leave her home, as necessary treatment facilities were not available in Juneau. They were dealing with multiple struggles as her husband was disabled from a previous stroke, and her two youngest children had both been diagnosed with developmental disabilities. The family was forced to stay in a small motel room while searching for permanent housing.

Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in their search for a home, which in turn caused them to run out of funding to continue their stay in the motel. A partnering agency provided them with an emergency shelter voucher and then contacted us for assistance. We were able to secure emergency shelter funding that would provide them an additional week at the motel, and during that week were able to assist the family in finding permanent housing that suited their needs, as well as provide funding to assist them with the first month’s rent. This is one of the many examples of how Access Alaska is able to collaborate with partnering agencies to support our community members in their time of need.

Jon Rozzi is the chief executive officer for Valley Charities Inc.