Transitional Housing Brings Hope (Winter 2001 newsletter)

Carolyn James, director of Buckhead Christian Ministry's Transitional Housing Program, wore a broad smile. "If you could have seen the excitement of those two when they saw their apartment," she says of Crissy Marks* and her son, Dan.* "I'll never forget Dan shouting, 'I have my own room!' He and his mom had lived on the streets and in hotel rooms for years, and now they had a real place of their own."

Chrissy and Dan were among the 10 families that moved into apartment homes this fall as part of BCM's new transitional housing ministry. The Transitional Housing Program seeks to end the cycle of homelessness that many of BCM's repeat clients face. Participating families are provided with a temporary apartment home and nine months of intensive training in budgeting, financial management, goal-setting, and other life-skills needed for independent living. All the families are carefully screened and selected. At least one member of each household works full-time. Each family pays a monthly program fee. Some of the monthly fee goes toward paying the rent (much of which is subsidized by BCM), while the remainder goes into in a savings account for the family. At the end of the nine-month program, the savings will be used to move each family into even more permanent housing.

BCM choose to concentrate on helping homeless families because they are underserved in our community. Although the stereotype of a homeless person is that of a single person, in fact over 40 percent of the people who become homeless are families with children. And most shelters turn away couples or individuals with children. To put a face on the statistics, we have to turn no further than the Joneses, one of the first families to move into an apartment as part of BCM's Transitional Housing Program.

Homeless with a Child

Anthony Jones and Tina Montague-Jones were living with Tina's parents in Wilmington, North Carolina, when Tina was pregnant with their child. But the night that Tina went into labor, they were kicked out of her parents' house. Proud parents of a gorgeous baby boy, they were shocked to find themselves without a place to stay.

The job situation in Wilmington was bad, and Anthony and Tina had heard that jobs were plentiful in Atlanta. Hoping to find a better life, they packed up and moved to Atlanta. They stayed in a motel for a few nights, then in a boarding house. "We thought we'd have jobs right away," Anthony explains. "We looked for work for days on end, from seven in the morning to seven at night. But we didn't find work, and our money ran out, so we became homeless."

The only shelter that would accept families was full, so for a month Tina and the baby stayed in a women's shelter while Anthony slept on the street. Anthony got day jobs through the labor pool, but money wasn't enough to lift them out of their situation.

Through the help of Love Thy Neighbor Ministry and Project Connect, the Joneses were able to get into a hotel for several weeks, where they stayed until they moved into a BCM transitional housing apartment in September. Anthony has found a steady job, and he and Tina are focusing on their goals of earning college degrees. Short-term, they dream of getting a computer for Tina, and getting some winter clothes for themselves and their son, Pharoah.

"Being homeless was really painful," Anthony recalls. "We had to do a lot of things we never thought we'd have to do. At first it was humiliating. We really had to humble ourselves and ask for things. We're not lazy, we're not uneducated. It just happened. But right now it just feels so good to be together, the three of us. We're making each other happy every day, we're making it as a family, and that's the most important part."