IHN of Greater Gainesville

Each night in Gainesville more than 1,000 people have no place to call home. Approximately one third of these are members of families with children. Families with children are the invisible constituents of homelessness. Families live double- or triple-upped with friends and family until tight living quarters become untenable. They frequently live in cars or sleep in the emergency rooms and waiting rooms at hospitals, where they are at least ensured access to bathrooms and shelter from the elements. IHN of Greater Gainesville has even sheltered families who were found sleeping on park benches or in the woods. We believe no family should have to live in conditions such as these.

IHN of Greater Gainesville, an affiliate of Family Promise, is a volunteer-driven organization that unites communities of faith
in a collaborative effort to assist homeless families with children. While in IHN care, families are sheltered in participating houses of worship, with each host congregation providing shelter for
one to two weeks at a time up to five times per year. Congregations turn their educational rooms into
accommodations for the families, and the families
move to a new church “home” each week.

An IHN Case Manager works extensively with the adults in each family, linking the families with financial services, employment possibilities, education and job skills training, health care, day care and/or educational services for the children, and ultimately housing. Families continue to receive the services of the IHN Case Manager after “graduation” from shelter, to ensure that the problems which influenced their becoming homeless do not recur.
Program components include:

•	Host Congregations - Area churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship provide three meals a day, private sleeping space, and volunteers to create a "home away from home" for the families. Congregations host on a rotating basis approximately four to five times per year.

•	Support Congregations - Area churches, synagogues, and other houses of worship provide volunteers to assist the host congregations.

•	Day Center - Serves as a home base while adults look for jobs and apply for services. Also provides laundry facilities, showers, telephones, a mailing address, computer facilities, and a children's playroom. The IHN Case Manager is located at the Day Center.

•	Transportation – Families who do not have their own vehicles are transported to work, school, or the Day Center each morning, then back to the congregation facility each evening.

•	Schooling – Children already enrolled are transported to their home school or day care and back each day. The Case Manager helps find day care, aftercare, and appropriate schools for those children not already enrolled when the family enters the network.

•	Case Management – A skilled social worker assesses each family upon entrance into the program, determining those factors that contributed to the family homelessness. The Case Manager links families with services and resources and helps them find affordable housing.

•	Support Services – Families are provided with such support services as money management and parenting classes. Additionally, staff from the Alachua County Crisis Center facilitate a support group for the adults in the family.

•	Aftercare – To help ensure stability, families are offered the services of the case manager indefinitely after graduation

Many families who enter IHN shelter subsist on minimum wage, a take-home income of approximately $900/month. The cost of housing, day care, and other necessities of life are such that families frequently must move into subsidized housing, i.e., homes and apartments for which partial rent is paid by HUD. However, the waiting list for subsidized housing has been increasing in recent years. It is not unusual for families to wait eight months to a year and half for subsidized housing to become available.

In an effort to decrease the time spent by families in shelterwhile they await their slot on a housing list to come open, IHN has developed a TransitionalHousing Program. Funded by anonymous donors in the community as well as a grant from the Gloria Dei Foundation, we have partnered with Gainesville Real Estate Management Company,Inc., to place families in apartments in the community. After the adults in the family have obtained employment and applied for housing, eligible families are moved to apartments in the community. They pay one-third of their income for rent – as they will do when they move into subsidized housing. IHN pays the remainder of the rent and continues to provide case management services for the family. Families who are working hard to help themselves move forward are rewarded with private accommodations, and we are able to open up slots in shelter more quickly.

IHN Brochure
Pastor Testimonial Letters
The Stories Behind the Homelessness

Interfaith Hospitality Network
P.O.Box 880
Gainesville, FL 32602-0880

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