MAKING A DIFFERENCE : One Shelter’s Approach: Help Women, Children Find Permanent Homes
On any given night, 15,000 parents and children are homeless in Los Angeles County. And finding permanent housing for homeless families can be even more time consuming and arduous than it is for an individual. Founded by the Sisters of St. Jospeh of Carondelet in 1978, the House of Ruth has provided women and their children with the long-term, temporary shelter, comprehensive support and skills they need to obtain and keep safe, secure and permanent housing.
The group operates two houses in an East Los Angeles neighborhood that shelters eight women and their children. Residents spend the first two months adapting to rules that include a 6 p.m. curfew, learning how to bank and budget income, attending house meetings, helping with cleaning and cooking and meeting personal goals like re-enrolling in school or continuing drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs. Residents then spend several months working with staff to find permanent housing. More than 1,500 women and children have found permanent housing while staying at House of Ruth.
RANGE OF SERVICES
Basic care:
Shelter and food
Health screening
On-site child care
Bus tokens
Education:
Parenting classes
High-school equivalency, English as a Second Language and community college classes
Money management
Case management:
Alcohol and drug abuse counseling and referral
Intervention and security planning for domestic violence victims
Permanent housing placement
Move-in assistance and supplies
ONE PARTICIPANT’S EXPERIENCE
MARY VALENCIA, 19
Lives with her daughter, Genevieve, 3, in Highland Park.
I had no place to go. At my mom’s house, there were too many people and if nobody left we were all going to get kicked out. I found out about the House of Ruth from a friend. My daughter and I moved in in October of last year and moved out in April.
I learned how to budget my money. Before I used to spend my money and think “Where did it go?” They helped me learn how to buy not just the things you want but the things you really need.
You have goals you decide for each week. One goal for me was getting to a doctor. After the baby was born she had her doctor, but I never went back to get checked.
On Saturdays, there was a parenting class. House of Ruth gave coupons for a taxi so everybody in the house could go, and we would talk and sing and play with the kids, then we would go to a class. You let your feelings out and talk about what to do. You learn how to control yourself. Before I used to yell a lot to my daughter. Now I can talk with her. It’s much better.
They helped me get Section 8 housing. There’s a lot of paperwork. They helped me fill it out. I got my electricity, my gas, my phone installed. Then I bought some small things for the house like spoons, dishes, then I bought my sofa. Little by little. I made it nice here.
I go to school and take my daughter to day care there. I have to wake at 5 and leave my house by 6:40 to get the bus, but I want a better life. I want to become somebody. It’s hard work, but I’m happy.
When I lived at my mom’s house I was raised that you finish school, you find your husband and you live in a house. You will usually be a housewife. At House of Ruth they said you can do other things if you want like work and go to college. I’ll be done (with high school) in early spring. My plan is to get myself enrolled in college so I can be a nurse, maybe with newborn babies.
THE NEED FOR MORE
JEFF SCHAFFER
Associate director for Shelter Partnership Inc., a support agency for groups developing homeless shelters and services in Los Angles County.
We have less than 10,000 shelter beds in the county and as many as 77,000 people homeless on any given night. Chances are--because of the way funding is coming--we’re not going to see a significant growth in that shelter system. We need to help more programs do (what) I think House of Ruth does quite well: providing shelter for homeless people and equipping them with the tools that will allow them to move on to a stable, permanent living situation so that those spaces in the shelter are opened up for other people to come and get those services.
Coming up with innovative parenting co-ops or other ways to provide child care short of having access to licensed child care is, for homeless families, one of the most difficult issues to deal with. House of Ruth has gone to some pains to ensure quality child care support. It’s a nurturing situation for the children, and the women can feel comfortable going out and dealing with other issues in their lives knowing that their children are safe.
We constantly get this question: “What’s the answer to homelessness?” My response is we don’t have to find something new. We have a lot of House of Ruths out there that know how to assist homeless people get out of homelessness. What we need to do is to focus on the reality that we do have solutions, offer these agencies the support they need so they can do the job they’re trying to do, and, to the extent it makes sense, see that additional services are brought on line.
TO GET INVOLVED
For information about volunteer, donation or support opportunities with the House of Ruth, call (213) 266-4139.
