Mercy House held the 2012 Annual Report to the Community at the end of January. The entire report can be found here.

The Virginia Promising Practices Program (VP3)

Last fall, the Mercy House added an additional grant to its resources of financial assistance. The Virginia Promising Practices Program (VP3) redirects a portion of the State Shelter Grant funds and makes it available to provide rapid re-housing services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

The immediate goal of the program is to minimize the amount of time that individuals and families remain homeless. This includes individuals and families who are living on the streets, in shelters, or in transitional housing. This is accomplished through a screening process in which the best candidates are selected. Candidates are selected based on their individual situations and how their current crisis affects their income and other potential barriers, such as their ability to maintain a monthly rent payment. An individual or family with minimal barriers and a relatively steady income would be more likely to be approved by the program, and immediate permanent housing would be established. Candidates who may have recently started a new job or who have lost their housing previously may be eligible for Transition-in-place which provides support services and a longer period of case management than the rapid re-housing. Expenses that are eligible for VP3 include program participant rent subsidy, rent and utility deposits, rent and utility arrears in the case where payment is necessary to secure permanent housing, and staff and facility costs associated with the provision of the rapid re-housing and case management.

The ultimate goal of the state and federal government is that no one will be homeless ( which includes living in the streets, in emergency shelters, or in transitional housing) for more than 30 days. This goal is also upheld in the ten year plan to end homelessness. Strides are being made every day towards these goals and only our continued efforts and cooperation will lead to them being attained.       

The Face of Homelessness in Harrisonburg
by Kim Pistell 

Having been raised near Washington, DC, there was a time in my life where I would have described all homeless people the same way. Dirty old men with drinking problems that have burned every bridge leading them back home.  As harsh as it may sound, there is a large population of our society that sees homeless people in the same light. During my studies at James Madison University and the subsequent time I spent in the Harrisonburg community, I was quick to realize how drastically wrong I had been.  

Though addiction and mental illness have long been noted as causes of homelessness, these issues are only a small example of some of the barriers faced by individuals who are threatened by homelessness.  The vast majority of the homeless population in Harrisonburg is made up of people who have encountered a set of circumstances that they were not equipped to handle. Single parents who had to flee from abusive partners, teen mothers whose own parents cannot (or will not) offer support, individuals and families whose finances have been ravaged by the recent economic down-turn. These are the real faces of homelessness in our community, and in many cases, their struggles would go completely unnoticed if they did not take the first step of asking for help.

In 2009, an estimated 200 people were homeless in Harrisonburg alone. In addition to this number, countless others go unaccounted for who would technically be considered homeless if not for being fortunate enough to have friends or family to stay with. The difficulty in eradicating homelessness in our community becomes obvious only after the recognition of the multitude of possible scenarios that can lead an individual or family to becoming homeless. The idea that homelessness does not have to be a life sentence is exemplified through programs like The Mercy House. Giving families time to heal while also offering educational programs on essential life skills (such as financial management and interviewing skills) has been shown to drastically improve the likelihood that individuals and families will once again reach self-sufficiency.