Jesse Tree was created in 1999 out of direct conversations with people experiencing homelessness. Our founders asked members of the homeless community how they ended up there, and they heard the same story over and over again: people had a difficult, unexpected circumstance come up and got to a place where they couldn’t pay their rent, got evicted, and became homeless. Our founders pooled together funding to give it to people when they needed it most, to keep them in their homes.

When our founders came up with the idea to prevent homelessness, they did national research to see if anyone else was already doing the work. They found an organization called Jesse Tree in Galveston, Texas, visited them, and brought their programs back to Boise, Idaho. Although Jesse Tree is a secular organization, “Jesse Tree” is originally known as the genealogical tree of Jesus in the Bible.

Over 20 years later, Jesse Tree remains true to our original mission: to prevent eviction and homelessness by supporting our neighbors at risk of housing loss, empowering them to stay in their homes.