The Home Connection
When Tim Shanahan, executive director of the Home Connection, considers the past year’s most significant accomplishment of his agency, the answer comes fast: “Getting four families who were homeless into home ownership.”
That’s quite a feat, considering that people can go from living on the streets to owning their own home. But it is the role The Home Connection has chosen to play in the Des Moines area since 1989—to provide transitional housing and supportive services for homeless families with children. In addition, it advocates for increased production of safe and affordable housing for low-income persons.
The Home Connection pioneered transitional housing in Polk County. It is the only program with single-family homes and duplexes—a total of 21 in all—located in various Des Moines neighborhoods. While the Home Connection clients live in those homes, they work with a counselor who helps them identify the causes of their homelessness, and assists them with developing a plan, with goals, to remedy those causes and attain economic self-sufficiency.
In the last year, The Home Connection has served:
20 Households (3 of these new households)
26 Adults (4 of these new)
61 Children (9 of these new)
Family incomes: Households
15 < 30% MFI ($0-$20,450) (4 of which were $0 income)
6 31-50% MFI (20,451-$34,050)
0 51-80% MFI (34,051-$54,500)
Sources of Income: Households
15 Employment
1 Soc Sec/SSI/SSDI
17 Public Assistance/Other