A recap of a busy year
With 2019 winding down, we're sending you the warmest wishes from the Jesse Tree team. During Avenues for Hope we've raised over $10,000 to keep our neighbors housed. This will allow us to keep an additional 11 families in their homes this winter. Thank you for your support.
Over 75% of Jesse Tree's overall budget goes directly to people at risk of losing their housing. More donations allow us to help more people avoid eviction and homelessness. By donating, you also free up our staff's time to serve more of our neighbors with quality services.
Our 2019 annual report will be released within the next few months, but in the meantime we've listed some of our accomplishments from this year below.
Housing Crisis Line. In August we launched our housing crisis line, where we offer support and information to anyone experiencing an eviction. We've served over 600 Treasure Valley households so far. We collect detailed (anonymized) data on households who call and we will be publishing our initial findings early next year.
Triage for homeless prevention resources. Through the housing crisis line, we assess households' level of vulnerability using an objective algorithm and process. We use this information to ensure our Emergency Rental Assistance goes to households who need it the most, and to identify households who can stay housed with other community services so we can make appropriate referrals.
Emergency Rental Assistance. We helped 191 households with rental assistance and case management so far this year, and 17 additional households with case management. That's 208 households who would have been evicted and likely become homeless without our support.
Collaborative with other providers. We established a Homeless Prevention Workgroup involving ten agencies to streamline access to homeless prevention services. The ultimate goal of this group is to work towards a system where people don't need to call ten different phone numbers and fill out ten different applications to receive help during their housing crisis. Thank you to Our Path Home, Health & Welfare Navigation, West Ada Schools, Boise Schools, El Ada, International Rescue Committee, St. Vincent de Paul, Economic Opportunity, and Ada County Indigent for being a part of this effort!
Campaign to End Family Homelessness. This year, we embarked on a journey with the City of Boise and CATCH to end family homelessness in Ada County by 2025.
Eviction Court Support. With Concordia Housing Clinic, we can now offer people supportive services as well as a connection to a pro bono attorney prior to eviction court. In partnership with the Ada County Court mediators, we all work together to prevent more evictions in court.
Neighbor-to-Neighbor Eviction Prevention Funds. We have a new partnership with the North End Neighborhood Association through a fund that assists anyone in the North End being evicted. We hope to establish similar partnerships with other neighborhood associations, churches, corporations, and clubs around the Treasure Valley in 2020.