Beginning in January of 2015, United Way of Alamance County, Allied Churches of Alamance County(ACAC) and DeBoer & Gabriel Properties entered into a partnership to address the issue of affordable housing in Alamance County with an innovative solution. ACAC’s Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) Program seeks to house individuals and families in stable, safe homes; assisting the new tenants in case management and rental assistance for the first four months. As the largest and only emergency shelter of its kind in the county, ACAC has taken the lead to work towards ending homelessness as we know it today. United Way of Alamance County seeks to serve as the supportive agency and help to fill the funding gap in this program.
The existing Rapid Re-Housing Program, a federally funded program that subsidizes rent for eligible homeless, called for an expansion that required community partnerships. Property owners Jason DeBoer and Jeff Gabriel joined an ongoing conversation on affordable housing, and together with ACAC created an innovative housing concept.
"We wanted to join in and help. We're Christians, so we believe that we need to give to others as we can," said Jason DeBoer.
A memorandum of understanding between DeBoer & Gabriel Properties, ACAC, and United Way now exists to guarantee rent stabilization for qualified RRH clients. This agreement ensures that monthly rent will not increase as long as the RRH client is in a lease. Federal funding allows for ACAC to pay a predetermined number of months of fair market rent for each client in order to establish them as a tenant, after which the clients are responsible for that cost.
“The lack of affordable housing in Alamance County is a critically important issue. It is our hope that this innovative collaboration will spark change and inspire other property owners to get involved,” said Kim Crawford, Allied Churches Executive Director.
Despite the offer of rent stabilization for those leaving the ACAC Shelter, there remained a gap between fair market rent and what DeBoer & Gabriel could offer. United Way of Alamance County and Allied Churches of Alamance County met early in the fall of 2014 to discuss this proposed expansion of the Rapid Re-Housing Program and the issue of the gap in funding. Ultimately, United Way stepped in to fill the void, ensuring a new solution to the lack of affordable housing in Alamance County.
“It was a natural and easy fit for United Way to help complete the puzzle. Allied Churches has done an incredible job in addressing the homeless and hungry population of our community. It is the job of United Way to support those efforts in respective communities and that is exactly what we did here. The program could not exist without this mutual public-private partnership among all three parties.” said Heidi Norwick, United Way of Alamance County President.
“Indeed, that is what truly makes Alamance County unique. We recognize that in order to succeed we must all work together to address these issues in our community. Beyond simply recognizing and shining light on the issues, we actually do something about it, together.” continued Norwick.
Fox 8 featured the story of Lee, one of the first to move into Oak Pointe Apartments from ACAC. Click here to view the video.
May 2015