The Housing + Opportunity Initiative increases NHA’s ability to provide effective support to struggling families. At a time when affordable housing is difficult to find, our ability to keep families in stable housing and prevent homelessness is more crucial than ever.
Many struggling families need a responsive guide to help navigate often complicated systems to find solutions. Trusting relationships help people feel empowered and confident to ask for the support that will help them move forward. Without a supportive advocate, families often fail to access available services in the community, perpetuating housing instability and poverty. With personal support, families have greater success remaining stable in their homes, keeping kids on track in school, meeting health needs, and creating opportunities for the future.
NHA has achieved strong results for families by combining this trusting, professional guidance with access to emergency funding and/or shelter as families work through economic crises that can result in homelessness. By leveraging our capacity as a leading non-profit provider of affordable housing, we can reach families where they live. With a solid foundation and a trusted advisor, changes that may have seemed out of reach become possible. Struggling families begin to recognize and seize opportunities to improve their circumstances.
Donations to NHA’s Housing + Opportunity Initiative create a stable funding base for:
- Full-time, professional staff dedicated to supporting families to move from poverty to independence.
- Direct support to bridge periods of crisis, when families often find themselves on the brink of losing stable housing.
- Specialized programming to keep kids stable in school and address barriers to learning.
The Housing + Opportunity Initiative is designed to reach a baseline of 800 families across ten Oregon counties annually. Over 1,000 children under age 18 are served each year. Based on historic service data, 73% are Portland Metro families; 27% live in rural and smaller communities; and 40% are people of color. The project increases access to essential services while also establishing a wealth of data to drive innovative programming that is shared with other affordable housing and social service nonprofits.
