A single mother and three young children are no longer homeless thanks to the support of Catholic Charities of South Jersey. When they sought support from the agency, Aimee Brown, Housing Stability Coordinator, helped the family determine they were eligible for a Rapid Re-Housing program that Catholic Charities of South Jersey offers. This made securing an affordable rental possible for the family. Knowing the poverty rate of single mothers though, the work of Catholic Charities didn’t stop there to ensure the family’s continued success moving forward.
SINGLE MOMS AT HIGH RISK OF LIVING IN POVERTY IN NEW JERSEY
In the United States the average homeless family consists of a single mother with two or more young children. Making more than 2.5 million children homeless each year. During 2022 in New Jersey, over 30% of families with children under the age of 5 years old were living with a single mom experiencing poverty. Resulting in almost a third of single moms in New Jersey living in poverty, struggling to provide basic needs for their families.
Single moms and their children particularly have the odds stacked against them. That’s why it was so critical that Catholic Charities of South Jersey intervened to get the family off the streets. As the Catholic social teaching tells us, every human life is deserving of dignity and support.
HOW THE RAPID RE-HOUSING PROGRAM HELPS THE HOMELESS
The Rapid Re-Housing program temporarily mitigates high rental costs for those facing homelessness. It provides a housing subsidy on a month-to-month basis for up to a year in order to help the family afford housing. This remains available to them so long as they continue to meet the eligibility requirements for the program. That is, paying 30% of the family’s gross income each month towards the rental property throughout the year.
The program also allowed Catholic Charities to provide the family with a security deposit and first month’s rent for their rental. This support helped the family through one of the most difficult hurdles of securing affordable housing. Since housing alone rarely solves homelessness though, the support from Catholic Charities did not stop at the Rapid Re-Housing program.
HOW SELF-SUFFICIENCY IS ACHIEVED THROUGH INTENSIVE CASE MANAGEMENT
The biggest hurdle after getting a family re-housed is making sure they maintain their housing. Especially independently from the program, as most programs are temporary. For this particular case, it was also important to ensure the mother would be able to support her family as a single parent moving forward beyond just housing.
Brown is working with the client to achieve overall self-sufficiency through intensive case management. This includes, but isn’t limited to, helping the mother learn how to improve her credit score, understand more about budgeting, how to secure a better paying job for her family, and becoming more educated about other critical life skills.
“Our client is seeing a lot of success by receiving intensive case management needed to become self-sufficient in the near future,” says Brown.
This is just one of many families in South Jersey that Catholic Charities is assisting through their housing programs. With inflation on the rise, the housing market in flux, and lasting side effects from the ongoing COVID pandemic, housing is sparse.
As a result, the team at Catholic Charities is increasingly finding that there is a lack of affordable rentals available for struggling families in South Jersey. Nonetheless, the team continues to work tirelessly to provide support to everyone who comes through their doors.
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Once family at a time, since 1936, Catholic Charities has been providing help and creating hope for those in need. Generous companies and individuals are an essential part of fulfilling our mission.
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