Home First Williamsburg program moves in first 3 families
Three Williamsburg families are now living in stable housing thanks to the Home First Williamsburg Program.
The program, which is a collaboration between the city’s Department of Human Services, Bacon Street Youth & Family Services and 3e Restoration, helps families that are experiencing homelessness find stable housing. The three families are the first to benefit from this program.
One mother, who went from living in a hotel to a housing unit provided by the program, said that it “feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
“Being in this program has honestly been the biggest blessing of my life,” she said. “Not having to worry about rent and utilities means I am able to work and buy what I need and still have a savings. I feel like I can set goals for myself and my three children.”
“Parents and children who are faced with homelessness experience trauma and chronic stress caused by the instability,” Human Services Director Wendy Evans said in a news release. “Families face so many barriers to obtaining or maintaining stable housing.”
Evans said the program is there to provide stabilization and support to families as they address those barriers.
Ultimately, the goal is to “end homelessness” for people in Williamsburg “using a housing-first, trauma-informed approach to address individual social, emotional, physical and cognitive well-being,” the release said.
The support team includes a social work case manager, clinician and housing specialist, all of whom will work with Home First families to address their needs and the barriers they’re experiencing specifically.
The program is supported by a one-year $87,000 grant from Sentara Cares, which the city’s Human Services received earlier this year to pay for the rent and utilities of five units in the program.
“We are excited to see this initiative come together,” 3e Restoration Executive Director Tammy Harden said.
3e Restoration is a Christian Community Development Agency whose mission is to “equip and encourage faith communities to empower neighbors living through social displacement to holistic sufficiency,” its website reads.
Harden added that 3e’s curriculum, which identifies social displacement as a combination of physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and social effects, will be utilized so “our neighbors in need can be equipped to make trauma-responsive decisions, leverage their strengths and be empowered toward resilience.”
Sian Wilkerson, sian.wilkerson@pilotonline.com, 757-342-6616
