Steve Allen remembers the first time he heard of Family Promise. He was pitching his African mission work to a church in North Idaho, when he saw church members carrying bedding supplies and food in the back of the sanctuary. He asked them what they were doing, and they told him they were setting up to host homeless families for a week as part of their work with Family Promise, an organization that operates 180 affiliates in 41 states.
Allen was immediately intrigued by the operation, which cuts down on operating costs by using local churches as weekday homeless shelters. The churches agree to be “hosts,” housing homeless families during the week. As part of the agreement, churches provide space for families to sleep and volunteers to provide services like meal preparation.
“It takes a lot of work to host a family for a whole week,” Allen said.
Allen was impressed by the organization’s efficiency and the interaction between homeless clients and service providers.
“I remember [thinking], ‘that’s exactly what we need,’” he said.
A few years later after returning from Africa, Allen saw Spokane’s Family Promise had an opening for an executive director position, and took it.
He now heads the local branch of the organization that works with 31 local churches — 19 as support churches that provide finances and materials for families, and 12 that act as host churches, and actually provide space, volunteers and food for a homeless family (or several) for a week. About 20 percent of the program’s funding is also donated by the churches, in addition to in-kind goods and services.
The ministry lets a family stay as long as they need to, and provides three meals a day, as well as use of the day center, which has a place to shower, a computer to job search and play areas for kids. The day center also serves as a place for the families to get mail — an address is something families need but don’t realize they miss until it’s gone.
Allen and Renee Norris, the organization’s caseworker, and the other volunteers spend plenty of time with the families during their stay with Family Promise. Allen believes that’s one of the strengths of the program that sets it apart from the others.
“It’s not appointment-based. We’re able to spend a lot of time with a few families. There’s time for mentoring, guidance, budgeting,” Allen said.
Another reason Family Promise stands out from the sea of nonprofits offering similar Spokane services is its low overhead cost — because homeless families stay in churches and volunteers feed and clean up after them, staff and facility costs are low compared to other organizations, Allen said, about one-third less than traditional shelters.
Despite the fact that the organization operates out of a church, Allen said clients aren’t required to attend any service or be a member of a particular denomination to use the services.
“We believe in unconditional love with no strings,” he said. “We never want a family to feel at all judged.”
However, since so much interaction happens between the families and church volunteers, they often end up forming relationships that are good for both parties, Allen explained. Since both are often coming from different backgrounds and viewpoints, he thinks both the families and the program participants get something out of being there.
“It helps the middle and upper class really understand the poor…it helps the homeless too, to get a perspective outside of their own,” he said.
Family Promise is successful on paper as well. Families who stay with the Spokane branch are back in permanent housing at a rate of 82 percent, Allen said, and in 2013 it was even higher, at 91 percent.
Allen thinks they can do more. Although they provide more extensive services than some traditional shelters, he’d ultimately like to see a mentoring director hired, one that could work long-term with families after they’re returned to housing. Getting someone a house is only part of the equation, he said, because many families still need long-term help with things like budgeting to stay out of poverty for good.
