Louison House

Transitional housing - the Louison House provides a transitional housing shelter that has been in existence since 1990. As a congregate living shelter, Louison House can House both families and individuals for up to two years but aims to get people out to affordable housing as soon as possible. The average stay at our shelter has increased to 5-6 months due to higher rents and longer wait lists in our area. Entrance to the shelter is prioritized according to federal hud guidelines: by level of homelessness (length, etc. ), weighted by other federal priorities (domestic violence, safety, disabilities, etc.). All residents work on an individual service plan with staff with the major goal of overcoming any barriers they may have to successfully obtain housing. A range of supportive services are offered, including case management, budget/financial counseling, education/career planning, job/housing search assistance and life-skills training. The purpose of the transitional housing program is to help our residents obtain affordable housing with the income necessary to at least meet their basic living needs and to assist them to reach their personal goals. Most of our residents secure permanent housing upon exit and either maintain or increase their income by the time they leave our housing.

Preventative outreach support - preventative outreach support aims to help people secure housing before reaching homelessness. Additionally, outreach to people who have left Louison houses programs can help them retain their housing. This program provides supportive information and referrals to area resources to help prevent shelter housing. Emergency assistance - emergency beds assistance, especially during winter months, provides help to secure emergency housing through referrals and placement. Food assistance is provided to help people in crisis to secure food until they can access local food resources. This is offered on limited basis to Louison House program participants.

Permanent supportive housing - the psh program houses families and individuals that fit the federal hud standards for chronic homelessness. Louison House has 6 individuals and 3 families in scatter site leased apartments that are subsidized through Louison House. People in this program can stay in their unit for as long as is needed to ensure their later housing success. To support our clients progress, Louison House staff provide budgeting and other supportive services to help meet the needs and individual goals of each person, in addition to developing service plans for housing success.

Representative payee program - the representative-payee program is designed to help social security recipients who are required by the social security administration (ssa) to have a payee manage their finances. Louison House, Inc. has one staff person assigned as a rep-payee to work part-time with these clients on an individual basis. The representative payee receives the ssi/ssdi benefits for enrolled clients and works with the clients to prioritize and pay for the current and foreseeable needs of the beneficiary. Move forward - move forward is centered on the participants goals to move forward and into affordable housing. Working with Louison House staff, program participants engage in workforce development, financial planning, and other educational or life skills development in order to obtain and retain housing. Bns initiative - the bns initiative provides basic needs for food and shelter to those households moving into new apartment housing. To live safely and comfortably in a new apartment, people need furniture, household items, supplies and food. Louison House works hard to provide for basic needs by coordinating donations (furniture and household items), often also offering pickup services for the donations. Basic supplies such as kitchen tools, cleaners, paper goods, etc., are purchased and distributed, along with food in a welcome basket to the new apartment residents. When available, funds are utilized for costs associated with moving the household goods and possessions and/or rent deposits on the new housing. The bns initiative supports successful housing by lowering initial costs and enabling residents to concentrate their funds on rent and other essential costs.