Travelers Aid Society of R.I. provides a hand up, not a hand out.
The non-profit social service agency recently released the results of a two-year study of 47 families enrolled in its Crossroads program, which offered subsidized housing and a variety of support services designed to get homeless families back on their feet. Other organizations that collaborated with Travelers Aid on the project included the Rhode Island Foundation, the United Way of Southeastern New England, the state Department of Human Services, the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, two private funders, and the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.
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Michelle Wilcox, director of transitional housing at Travelers Aid, said the purpose of the study was to find out what impact intensive services along with safe, affordable housing made in the lives of children and families who were homeless. They set up 57 transitional housing units in former Naval housing in North Kingstown.
The group then engaged Dr. Thomas Kochanek, a professor in the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development at Rhode Island College, to complete the study, which is called The Impact of a Service-Enriched Model on the Independence and Well Being of Homeless Families. After families completed the program, Dr. Kochanek interviewed them, and representatives from the partner agencies met to review the study’s progress.
Wilcox said the program was set up in part because of the flawed way in which transitional housing is normally used. She said most people stay in transitional housing for 24 months, the maximum amount of time allowed by federal law, and when that time is up, the people just go somewhere else without addressing their problems.
This program is different, she said, because of the services-enriched aspect. Participants also must pay program fees, ranging from $175 to $300 per month, depending on the size of the family.
And the results?
Twenty six families completed the program, 12 families were asked to leave the program, and nine remained in the program by study’s end.
Wilcox explained the latter two groups.
“They were asked to leave because of non-compliance,” she said of the 12 families, “which is sort of a broad term that can cover any manner of their unwillingness to participate in the program.”
The nine remaining families began the program a little bit later than the others because of the application process, a four-step process which generally lasts about a month.
The participants were families in which the parents’ average age was 29. Eighty- four percent had two or more children and 69 percent were unemployed at the beginning of the program.
During the program 24 percent of those who completed the full two years received employment assistance, 33 percent received child care, 32 percent received alcohol treatment and 29 percent received drug treatment.
At the end of the two years, 65 percent of the participants who completed the program were employed when they left.
Bernie Lessard is one of the 65 percent. Before applying for a spot in the Crossroads program, Lessard, his wife Liz and two of their children were staying in campgrounds. He said it started to get cold around the end of October and he had heard about Crossroads through a shelter in Warwick so he applied. An early graduate of the program, he is currently property manager for the Crossroads facility in North Kingstown.
Liz Lessard, who was formerly unemployed, is working at Home Goods in North Kingstown.
Bernie Lessard said the program is helpful if you let it help you.
“It’s not a hand out,” he said. “They help you out as far as getting back on your feet, but if you’re not going to do anything to help yourself, it doesn’t work. I’ve seen people come in here and they don’t want to do anything, so they’re not going to get anywhere.”
He said the enriched services component of the program was quite useful. And the staff was comforting in tough times.
“The staff has been a big help as far as moral support,” he said. “If you need somebody to talk to they’re there.”
Jan Hall-Stinson, director of development for Travelers Aid said she is pleased with the results of the program, and that it proved what they always assumed, that with enriched services a person struggling to get back on his or her feet has a better chance of making it. Although the study has come to a close, the program has not.
“The folks that complete the program are far better off than when they started,” she said. “The next step is to look at those who did not complete the program and figure out why we weren’t able to engage them.”
And although the study was a success there are some things that need improvement.
“Although the families we have helped are much better off, they’re still primarily in poverty,” she said.
She said this is largely because of the lack of affordable housing available in the state.
