What’s on hold in your life?
September 15, 2020
Doesn’t it feel like everything just continues to be on hold? Some of us have put family vacations on hold, conferences are on hold, even in-person church for some of us is on hold. We are not used to this level of disruption in our lives and it just feels like too much.
Imagine now what it would feel like to put your housing on hold. Stability and safety for your family – on hold. Hope – on hold.
Bridge of Hope families, typically single moms and their children, know what it feels like to be homeless. It feels like everything else in your life is on hold until you can secure housing. Being unhoused can mean a space on someone’s floor with your daughter while your two older sons stay with your aunt. It can mean a shared room at a homeless shelter. It can be the stress of an impending eviction and no sense of where you’ll be in five days.
These days we are seeing a dramatic increase in calls for help every day and an increased desperation in the stories that accompany each call.
If you’ve recently looked for affordable rental housing in almost any corner of our country, you know the struggle is real. Over the past 30 years, rents have gone up faster than income in nearly every community.
One of our goals is that 80% of families served move into safe and sustainable housing within 60 days. This past year, our network housed families at 77%, and they averaged just 49 days to housing. I’m grateful for the connections staff and Neighboring Volunteers are making on behalf of families so they can move into housing sooner.
Finding affordable housing for homeless moms and children is hard work! Overcoming homelessness is hard work. And in these continued pandemic days, the trend is less hopeful than even a year ago.
Let’s reverse that trend. Let’s remove the obstacles. Stability – now available. Housing – now available. Hope – now!
Let’s declare together that hope is no longer on hold!
Edith Yoder
Chief Executive Officer
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