Opportunity House has announced a new initiative aimed at addressing family homelessness in Berks County.<\/p>\n
The program, called Supporting Transitions through Empowerment and Progression,\u00a0or STEP, combines transitional housing with rapid rehousing to help parents and children move from homelessness to permanent, stable housing.<\/p>\n
Funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, STEP is designed to provide short-term housing and intensive support services for families experiencing homelessness, Opportunity House officials said in a release.<\/p>\n
\u201cSTEP provides more than just shelter,\u201d said Alyssa Bushkie, CEO of Opportunity House. \u201cIt offers families the time, space and support they need to rebuild their lives and work toward lasting housing stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program is designed to serve parents with at least one child. Participants can stay for\u00a0up to 24 months, though most are expected to transition to permanent housing much sooner, Bushkie said.<\/p>\n
Each family enrolled in STEP will work closely with a dedicated case manager to set and achieve personal goals related to housing, employment, education and overall well-being. The program also connects families with community resources such as health care services and job training and budget counseling.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransitional housing allows families to take a breath, stabilize and begin preparing for long-term success,\u201d Bushkie said. \u201cOur goal is to empower each parent to make progress toward independence while ensuring their children have a safe, supportive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twenty-five individuals are enrolled in the program and seeking a path toward permanent housing, she said.<\/p>\n
The STEP facility\u2019s location is kept confidential to protect the privacy of its residents.<\/p>\n
The program serves as an essential part of Opportunity House\u2019s broader mission to reduce homelessness across the county.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opportunity House has announced a new initiative aimed at addressing family homelessness in Berks County. The program, called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,857,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-30063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-essential-reading","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-reading","14":"tag-reading-city","15":"tag-reading-city-headlines","16":"tag-reading-city-news","17":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}