THE
ADEQUATE UPDATE
Volume 1, Issue 1 ----- ADEQUATE HOUSING FOR MISSOURIANS ---- February 2008
WHERE
DID THE FUNDS GO? Program Overview Adequate
Housing for Missourians offers a pro-active housing assistance program as
follows: DID YOU KNOW? Adequate Housing For Missourians was
established in 1989. The new web
site was launched in 2007… www.ahfm.org
and we invite you to visit our site and give what you can afford to give
on-line today.
* Our target populations are those most in financial need.
* Our mission is to make affordable housing available to all
Missourians that qualify.
In order to create a win/win opportunity for
our applicants, landlords and the community we have implemented a community
service component to our programs. Each applicant that is not working
or attending school full time or who is currently disabled will
be required to complete an “average” number
of community service hours. The completion of this community service
entitles the rental deposit assistance to revert back to the applicant upon
moving from their unit, providing that no damages exist. This
concept allows the applicant to give back to the community as well as
promotes a buy-in for the applicant to be a good tenant.
|
Inside This
Issue |
|
|
1 |
2007 –A Year In Review. |
|
1 |
Where Did the Funding Go? |
|
2 |
How Can You Become Involved? |
|
3 |
More Ways to Make a Difference. |
collaborate with the business
community. AHFM is seeking volunteers in the following
areas: ·
Answering Telephones ·
Computer work – data entry ·
Marketing and Advertising ·
Clerical – Letter writing, filing, mailings With terms ending soon we are seeking also
to add members to our Board of Directors who have expertise in the below
fields of interest: ·
Legal expertise ·
Market Research & Advertising ·
Banking – Community Reinvestment ·
Political expertise ·
Law Enforcement background OUR GOALS
FOR 2008 We would like to increase program services
funding. The implementation of a
fund-raising campaign will be crucial to our ongoing concern and will help
bring service delivery costs in line with program costs. This much needed increase in funding
from private and public donations would also allow for a cushion in our
cash flow when we need it most during LOOKING FOR A
GREAT GIFT IDEA? Today there are families looking for
decent, safe and affordable housing.
Although they are able to afford the monthly rental, many are
turned down because they cannot save enough for the rental deposit. We help those homeless and low income
families with security deposit assistance so that they can too become
homeowners. It is hard to remember
sometimes where we come from. We
are all living the same lives; just at different moments in time. Please think of your friends, neighbors,
fellow co-workers and relatives that have counted on your help when they
needed it most…. Wouldn’t you want to count on someone when you need it most?
DO YOU LIVE ON THIS
ANNUAL INCOME; IF SO…YOU ARE LIVING IN POVERTY. Poverty Levels in 2007 for
Families with children 1
.................................................$10,210 2
.................................................. 13,690 3
.................................................. 17,170 4
.................................................. 20,650 5 ..................................................
24,130 6
.................................................. 27,610 7
.................................................. 31,090 8
.................................................. 34,570
***For families with more than 8 persons, add $3,480 for each additional person.
A
movement to end homelessness is underway. Thousands of
stakeholders—policymakers, advocates, researchers, practitioners, former and
current homeless people, community leaders, and concerned citizens—from across
the country are involved in efforts to end homelessness at the local and
national level. Today, hundreds of communities are re-tooling their homeless
assistance systems and have committed to ending homelessness through local
plans. At the federal level, the
How will we know if these efforts are
successful? This report lays the groundwork for
measuring efforts to end homelessness by establishing a baseline number of
homeless people from which to monitor trends in homelessness. We use local
point-in-time counts of homeless people to create an estimate of the number of
homeless people nationwide.
As
with all data, the counts included in this report are not perfect and have
numerous limitations, but they are the best data available at this time.
In
January 2005, an estimated 744,313 people experienced homelessness.
·
56 percent of homeless
people counted were living in shelters and transitional housing and,
shockingly, 44 percent were unsheltered.
·
59 percent of homeless
people counted were single adults and 41 percent were persons living in
families.
·
In total, 98,452 homeless
families were counted.
·
23 percent of homeless
people were reported as chronically homeless, which, according to HUD’s
definition, means that they are homeless for long periods or repeatedly and
have a disability.
·
A number of states had
high rates of homelessness, including
These
statistics show that far too many people are homeless. January
2007 publication available at: http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/1440