Bringing hope to people experiencing homelessness

There are a lot of social service agencies, but none like Catholic Charities. Here, I live my faith. I walk in the door, and I love what we do every day serving people who are experiencing homelessness.

At Catholic Charities, we are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. When people come to us in time of need, it’s our job to help them to the best of our ability. We do our best to make life a little bit better. I want people to leave with a smile on their face. I tell my case managers that most working people are just one paycheck away from homelessness.

We meet people where they are, we see them as human beings, we see Christ in their faces, and we do the job of Christ and help them in their time of need. We provide comfort, dignity and compassion in their lives.

Catholic Charities currently ensures that over 3,000 people every month in Chicago, and in suburban Cook and Lake counties, are stably housed through our New Hope Apartments and Bridge programs. We work with thousands of landlords throughout the city and suburban Cook and Lake counties to make this happen.

In our New Hope program, we work with people who are referred to us for help to determine what neighborhood they want to live in. Once we match them with an apartment and a landlord, we offer them the wraparound services they need to be successful.

In our Bridge program, we work with care managers from mental health agencies by inspecting the units they locate for people we serve to make sure the units meet quality standards before the lease is signed and keys are given to the new residents.

Our New Hope program provides families with 24 months of rental assistance and intensive case management services so they can achieve stability and independence; 85% of our families successfully maintain their housing after they complete the program.

The Bridge program provides people who experience mental or physical health challenges with rental support as they transition out of long-term care facilities or nursing homes and into permanent, independent, integrated housing in the community.

I often stand in awe of the transformation I see in the people we serve as they transition from homelessness to being able to manage life, an apartment and a job. When we give the people we serve a key to an apartment, they rejoice in it, and that makes my heart full. It makes me feel good that we have put a smile on somebody’s face. We brought them some hope — some “new hope” — the hope in our name.

I believe everyone should have a place to call home. I came from Ghana, where there are limited resources and few social services. With the resources we have in the U.S., everyone should have a place to go to sleep at night and not be in a tent on the street.

We have to provide the basic human need of housing. We have to treat people with respect and dignity. Providing people with a key to their own apartment brings that dignity. Giving people a place to call their own home inspires and motivates them to work hard and get back on their feet.

Homelessness is a complex issue, and many people are misunderstood and stigmatized for being homeless. It’s a systemic problem caused by racism and segregation, jobs without a livable wage, substance abuse and mental health problems.

It’s our job at Catholic Charities to bring the love, the compassion, the understanding to this work and the people we serve — to give them a helping hand as they lift themselves up from where they are to the next level. We love to help people and make a difference in people’s lives.