Partners In Housing Helps Homeless Families and Individuals Improve Health

Many homeless families and individuals are dealing with health problems that have contributed to or resulted from their homelessness. Weather it’s a physical disability or a mental illness, or just a lack of preventative care, these problems can be very difficult to address when someone is homeless.  Homeless people face multiple impediments to accessing health care.  These individuals are most often uninsured, they have no address at which to receive medical correspondence, and they have limited transportation options to travel to appointments.   Perhaps more importantly, they are often expending their time and energy trying to find food and shelter, rather than on obtaining medical care. 

Partners In Housing is a local non-profit that helps homeless families and individuals become self-sufficient.  Our two-year program provides housing, case management, life skills training, budget counseling, and therapy to homeless families and individuals.  We can help homeless people improve their health by helping them stabilize their situation and meet their immediate needs, thus allowing them to focus on long-range goals like health improvements. 

Our program can help improve health outcomes in many ways.  Housing gives people a reprieve from the hardships of homelessness, and allows them to focus on other issues like their health.  It also gives them an address to use for medical paperwork, and PIH can provide emergency transportation assistance to help households travel to medical appointments.  Several of our life skills classes focus on health-related topics, such as basic nutrition, healthy relationships, stress management, and quitting smoking.  Additionally, we offer therapy to our clients (called “Partners”) to help them overcome domestic violence trauma, mental illness, and other obstacles to self-sufficiency. 

To qualify for our program, households must be verifiably homeless.  Adults in the household must not have a violent or habitual criminal history, or any on-going substance abuse issues (adults in recovery who have received formal treatment are eligible to apply).  Applicants must be willing and able to hold a job, and motivated to improve their self-sufficiency by participating in supportive services.   Due to high demand, space in the program not always available.  For more information, please contact Partners In Housing at 473-8890 or office@partnersinhousing.org.