On November 3, 2020, the Raleigh Affordable Housing Bond passed with an overwhelming 71% of the vote. Families Together strongly endorsed the bond and worked with our non-profit housing partners in the Wake Affordable Housing Coalition for its passage. We participated in public information sessions and worked to educate our constituents and others about the importance of the bond and how it would advance affordable housing goals in Raleigh. We are pleased to report that the resulting $80 million bond will help fund critically-needed housing opportunities for residents with limited incomes including families experiencing homelessness. 

Some key features of the bond:

• Bond funds will be available to create and preserve affordable rental housing options for lower income residents currently living in areas experiencing rapid appreciation.

• The down payment assistance program will create opportunities for individuals and families with low- to moderate- incomes to pursue first-time homeownership, which will help stabilize these neighborhoods and create wealth building opportunities.

• The home rehabilitation program will benefit existing homeowners, including seniors or those with a disability by providing funds to make critical repairs. This program will enable owners to remain in their homes longer. The existing program has a waitlist and bond proceeds will supplement the current fund.

• Affordable rental housing that is created or preserved with bond funds will require a minimum affordability period of 30 years. In addition, the Housing Choice Voucher must be accepted as a form of payment.

The City of Raleigh estimates that the bond proceeds will create and/or preserve a minimum of 1,766 units over a 5-7 year time period.

At a time when home means more than ever, the Raleigh Housing Bond is a crucial step forward for our region. Thank you to all who voted for its passage.

As a non-profit housing provider, Families Together will continue to be a strong advocate for families experiencing homelessness and will work to ensure that bond-financed projects support these families to the full extent possible. 

For more on the bond, read the FAQs prepared by the Wake Affordable Housing Coalition with support from Families Together.

Here’s an update on our newly acquired property and an exciting renovation project that will add new affordable units to our community. 

Families Together purchased the property to preserve our community’s vanishing affordable housing and to dedicate it in perpetuity for families experiencing homelessness.  

The house needs renovation and repair to revert it to a duplex of two three-bedroom units that will serve as permanent affordable rentals for two families with children coming out of homelessness. 

For the last several months, a committee of Board members and staff has worked to define the project scope and procure bids from multiple local builders. The process resulted in the selection of a general contractor who comes to us highly recommended and well-qualified for the project. The total renovation budget is $130,000. 

Rental units that are owned by Families Together is part of our new strategic approach to build a portfolio of housing that is affordable for extremely low-income families. This property includes a large 3500+ square foot house on a 1.5 acre lot which has the potential for future development.

Our immediate goal is to renovate the house and create a duplex with two 3-bedroom units. When completed, it will be used to provide urgently-needed affordable permanent rental for families with children who have been stuck living in motels.

To ensure affordability, families will pay no more than 30% of their income for rent.

As the property owner, Families Together will be able to preserve the units into the future for families experiencing homelessness.

Our next steps:

We have a contractor and a budget. Now we need to raise $130k to complete the renovation project. Exciting news! We’re already nearly halfway to our goal with $60,000 pledged to a Match Fund by six long-time friends of Families Together!

The Match Fund will be used to triple all donations to our house renovation project and affordable housing initiative expansion.

Every dollar will make a difference, especially when tripled in value. Learn more about the impact you can make here.

Join us — Let’s Raise the Roof on on our triple match day — deadline extended to October 14th!

At Families Together, our mission is to help Wake County families with children move from homelessness to home. We provide access to safe, affordable housing; temporary rental and utilities assistance to get the family started; and then we work with families for up to a year providing one-on-one counselling, connections to community resources, and life skills workshops to empower their self-sufficiency.

Helping families find safe, affordable housing has become increasingly challenging due primarily to external factors. The cost of skyrocketing rent in Raleigh, and the hourly minimum wage in North Carolina at just $7.25/hour, means a parent needs to work three full-time jobs to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in Raleigh. Adding to the challenge, each year approximately 1,000 affordable housing units are lost in Wake County, many in the City of Raleigh. Because of this, recent data shows a gap of nearly 22,000 units affordable needed for those at extremely low income in Raleigh (<30% AMI), and another 21,000 for those very low income (50% AMI).

At Families Together, we have moved to action by serving on the City of Raleigh’s Affordable Housing Bond Advisory Committee. We worked with other community organizations, leaders, and numerous non-profit housing providers to seek community input and develop recommendations for this bond.

The Raleigh City Council accepted the recommendations from the Bond Advisory Committee, which include, an $80 million Affordable Housing Bond (an amount that is three times higher than was being considered this time last year), and an increase in the amount allocated to public/private partnerships, which provide more flexibility to build or preserve housing for very low-income neighbors at 30% of the area median income.

Given the need for more affordable housing options in Raleigh, Families Together strongly endorses the Raleigh Affordable Housing Bond which will be presented to voters in the upcoming election.

At Families Together, we see firsthand, every day, the urgent need for increased housing options for the children and families we serve. A variety of strategies are needed to fully address the housing affordability issue in our region and bond funding is a critical piece of the solution.

At a time when home means more than ever, we must join as a community to address the City’s housing affordability challenges. The Raleigh Housing Bond is a crucial step forward for our region which is why we encourage all Raleigh voters to vote yes during early voting (October 15-31) or on Election Day, November 3rd.

In a time when our neighbors are concerned about their jobs and the economy, many who were planning to move have chosen to stay put in their present homes and apartments. This has compounded an already tough challenge for the Families Together team in finding affordable housing for homeless families.  After several months of a downward turn in housing, July turned out to be an answer to the prayers of seven families who moved from homelessness to home with Families Together support.

One divorced mother had been homeless for nine months.  She was at a local shelter but when COVID-19 caused the shelters to social distance, she was placed in a hotel for three months which brought on anxiety and depression. During this time, she was denied leases to three apartments due to previous evictions, a pending traffic charge that she could not resolve because the courts were closed, and her low credit score. The mother called the Families Together Housing Navigator desperate to find a place as her ex-husband drove from New Jersey and dropped off her three other children at the shelter to spend the summer with her. Now she was homeless trying to provide for four kids and sharing a room with another family. Karen, our Housing Navigator who is an expert in managing challenging situations like this one, reached out to a property owner who just had a unit come available. She shared the mom’s story, explained the stabilization services FT provides for up to a hear after a family’s lease signing, and he approved the mom for the house on the same day. The client was overcome with joy stating, “I had prayed. Leaving a bad marriage and trying to start over is hard but knew my life had to change. I have been through so much.” This is a testament that perseverance pays off. Regardless how long the trial when we come together as a community, things will get better.

Families Together recently became the proud owner of this duplex located just up the hill from our office and short-term apartment units in East Raleigh.  We purchased it from the Church in Raleigh which had used it for services and meetings for several decades. When the folks at the church decided they no longer needed the space, one of the church leaders walked into our office and asked if we'd be interested in buying it. We learned that the congregants had gotten to know about our work after meeting several families that were staying in our short-term housing and they became impressed hearing about the support, compassion, and services that Families Together provides.

A deal was struck and we closed on the property in March just after the stay at home order went into effect. The building needs renovation and repair to meet our goal of providing safe, affordable housing for 2 families transitioning out of homelessness. Currently we are getting estimates on the rehab project from multiple local contractors. The City and the County have expressed interest in potentially supporting this project as an innovative way to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing that will provide urgently needed housing for extremely low-income families with children that are currently in shelter or a motel. 

This project is part of our new Affordable Housing initiative which was launched in 2019. Our goal is to increase the pool of affordable housing for the families we serve by building a portfolio of housing solutions with properties that we acquire outright, master lease, or access through innovative partnerships. Once the home makeover project is completed on this newly acquired property, we will have added 15 new affordable units to support families experiencing homelessness in our community.

We look forward to keeping our supporters posted on the progress of this project. If you questions or an interest in learning more or getting involved in our Affordable Housing initiative or this particular rehab project, please contact Jennifer Paul, Development Director, at jennifer@familiestogethernc.org.  

Ms. A came to Families Together through our community’s Street Outreach in October 2018. She was sleeping in her car, while her 2 young girls stayed with her sister every night. She had been staying with her mom, off and on, but with repeated substance abuse issues, she felt that was not the best place for her and her children so she did what she could to make ends meet. She was still able to maintain a job and keep her children in school while working with Families Together to find permanent housing, despite the barriers of having past evictions. 

Ms. A was housed in December 2018 and what a time of celebration it was! She continued to work, despite temporary jobs coming and going, because she knew she had to continue to provide a stable home for her and her children. Ms. A was able to maintain her housing for a full year, but that was not the end to her story. She was on the Section 8 waiting list for over a year and kept her information updated. She received notification from Raleigh Housing Authority in October 2019 that her name had come up on the list for a Section 8 housing voucher. Only 1 in 4 people eligible for this type of assistance actually receive it. Ms. A was overjoyed and enlisted her Families Together Stabilization MA's assistance with the process and in February 2020, she was able to successfully move from one home to another. Ms. A told her Mentor Advocate “if it were not for Families Together pushing me to keep going, I do not know where I would be.”

Ms. A is now a mother of 3, has a full-time job with Spectrum, and in her words is "Happy to be Home."

Written By: Lisa Rowe

White Flag nights are the community’s response to ensuring that homeless men, women, and children have a place to stay on nights when the temperatures drop.  Area shelters typically accommodate additional guests on these nights throughout the cold weather season.  It’s fairly unusual for it to get into the 30’s in May!  With the forecast, however, and with congregate shelters not operating - or only doing so on a very limited basis - the County worked to find a hotel that would accommodate those in need. 

They were able to secure 50 rooms at the DoubleTree on Hillsborough Street near NCSU. 

• The Partnership to End and Prevent Homeless convened a call with key community partners after communications with the County about a hotel being secured

• The group spoke by phone at 1:00 pm on Saturday, and everyone went into action from there.

  • Oak City Cares helped to get the word out

  • Staff from Healing Transitions and Interact manned the lobby to assist hotel staff with check-in, meals and logistics from 4:00 pm -8:00 pm

  • Interfaith Food Shuttle provided pre-packaged meals for dinner and snack bags for the morning – coordinated by County/Cooperative Extension staff

  • Staff from Urban Ministries stayed overnight to be available should the need arise from 8:00 pm-8:00 am

  • A security guard from York Properties was on hand from start to finish (4:00 pm-10:00 am)

  • Staff from Families Together, InterAct and Healing Transitions arrived to help with the check out process – ensuring all guests were awake and ready to check out at 9:00 am and to distribute snack bags (8:00-10:00 am)

I was there as people came down to check out.  In the lobby and outside I encountered some very happy, friendly, grateful, and refreshed men and women this morning!  I heard things like “I slept like a baby!” and “oh, the shower felt so good!”. 

In total, 25 rooms were used.  The original plan was for women and families – but the need seemed to lie with single men and women – all of whom had been sleeping outdoors and would’ve spent a very cold night outdoors had this option not opened up.  It was a nice display of community agencies coming together to meet an urgent and sudden need.

Written by Holly Nelson

On Monday, March 30th at 5 p.m. the stay at home order went into effect. This order, put in place by Governor Roy Cooper, instructed people in the state of North Carolina to stay at home to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. 

This order, although it would save lives, disrupted many routines. It forced people to find a new normal. Many people are working from home. Classrooms have shifted from schools to dining rooms. People are filling roles that they may not have had to take on before.

Although things have changed due to these unprecedented times, the housing crisis in Wake County has not. In 2019, it was reported by the Wake County School system that over 4,000 students were experiencing homelessness. At a time when home means more than ever, Families Together is working diligently to bridge that gap.

Families Together has served in Wake County for 40 years and worked towards the goal of eradicating child homelessness. COVID-19 has changed the ways the organization operates and communicates with the families in their programs.

Jacquelyn Saunee, a Families Together Pre-Housing Mentor Advocate, gave a quick overview of what all her job entails: “I work with families enrolled in our shelter, transitional housing programs, and Rapid Rehousing. I provide case management, support, resources, and referrals to families experiencing homelessness.”  

A significant portion of her work includes communicating with families and a majority of that was done in person. She has, of course, changed her approach to communication. No longer can she meet face-to-face with clients, unless it is an emergency. She now has to rely heavily on technology to check in with her clients. This might be by either phone or video calls, depending on the resources the families have.

This transition has been difficult. Families Together takes pride in their commitment and service to the families in their programs. It is difficult not seeing clients almost every day and making sure they get the resources that they need. 

Some of the things Jacquelyn is proud of is the hard work her team has put in.

“I am proud of all the hard work that the program team has been doing to support our families- ensuring that our families have the supplies they need, internet access in order to help their kids with virtual learning, etc. I am proud of how quickly we’ve adapted and jumped in to continue providing on-going support to the families we serve.” Jacquelyn said. 

Since the start of the stay at home order, Families Together has been able to provide computers and internet access to all the families in the program who need it. There are currently six bridge housing/emergency shelter units and all have been provided with internet and Chromebooks. These resources will allow children to continue their schoolwork.

Although efforts have been successful and have provided the most needed resources to their clients, Families Together is still concerned about the following,

“I worry about children falling behind in school and parents being out of work for long periods of time or not being able to go back to work due to their kids being out of school,” Jacquelyn said. “I worry about the uncertainty of this situation and the lasting impacts that COVID-19 will have on our families.”

Families Together will continue to work at providing affordable housing for families at risk. They continue to provide the resources that their families need in order for them to succeed. On May 5th, Families Together will be participating in Giving Tuesday NOW. A worldwide day of community that will help support organizations in need of funding, awareness, and strength during this pandemic. 

Families Together is hopeful that people who share a concern for their mission will give in support of families experiencing homelessness during this time of crisis. 

Families Together is deeply invested in advocating for Affordable Housing. As a successful rapid rehousing provider in Wake County, Families Together has a lead role in efforts to create a community-wide system to end homelessness and improve the health and well-being of families. Solving family homelessness and ensuring adequate availability of affordable housing will require a broad, community-wide effort. Families Together has nearly 40 years of rehousing experience. For several years, we have studied the affordable housing crisis and evaluated how we can leverage our strengths for positive change.

The scope of the issue of Affordable Housing:

Families Together addresses our community’s need for self-sufficient, resilient families who have access to safe, dignified, affordable housing. While we had past success following best practices of the Housing First model, new external pressures have made it increasingly difficult for our program families to access market-rate rental units that are affordable. These include:

- A gap of 17,000 rental units needed for families that are extremely low income.

- Loss of approximately 1,000 affordable housing units annually in Wake County.

- Skyrocketing rent requires a household to earn $19.73/hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment.

- An 86% increase in student homelessness since 2010 – four times the rate of the general population increase. This includes a quadrupling of families living in motels in the last five years.

More facts about the affordable housing challenges are community faces can be found here: https://familiestogethernc.org/face-the-facts

What we are doing about the issue?

In 2018, the Families Together Board of Directors set three new strategic goals: 

1. Grow our capacity in terms of staff, funding and workspace; 

2. Increase the pool of affordable housing for the families we serve; 

3. Increase awareness and advocate for affordable housing policies for extremely low-income families.

Since that time we have developed an Affordable Housing Project and begun to build a portfolio of affordable housing that FT owns outright, master leases, or accesses through innovative partnerships. 

To ensure homeless families are being represented where key decisions are being made that impact their lives, we have taken the following steps:

• Formed an Advocacy Committee led by Board and community members

• Created and launched Voices Together, a leadership and public speaking, skills-building program for clients in our program to join our team as we advocate for more affordable housing 

• Co-launched a coalition of non-profit housing providers to coordinate and speak collectively on the need for more affordable housing

• Accepted an invitation to serve on the City of Raleigh’s Affordable Housing Bond Advisory Committee

As we work to increase awareness and encourage community feedback about the AHB plans, we encourage you to participate

An invitation to you:

The city of Raleigh has issued a survey about an affordable housing bond. We would like to invite everyone in our community to take this survey.

Motivated by our Vision statement of “No homeless families in our community” and our Mission of “Moving families from homelessness to home,” Families Together supports the following positions:

1. We will encourage local governments to work towards providing adequate affordable housing solutions, particularly those targeting homeless populations and very low-income renters.

2. We will support a housing bond vote to be held in November by the City of Raleigh to provide funding to increase the pool of affordable housing.

3. We will engage our communities to become involved by participating in the City of Raleigh Affordable Housing Bond survey.

Learn more about the City of Raleigh’s Affordable Housing Bond plans: https://raleighnc.gov/housing-bond-2020 

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey now. Make your voice heard!

Complete the survey now. 

The unthinkable happened to me and my family a few years ago.

We lost a job. Then we lost our home. In a flash, my husband, our two young daughters and I were living in our family car.

The worst fears came in the middle of the night. Approaching headlights terrified me as we lay hunched down on the car seats trying to sleep. Would we be discovered? Would someone try to harm my girls?

Terror turned into hope when we were referred to Families Together. They provided financial assistance to help us start over and found housing we could afford long-term.

But there was something more that made the difference.

Our lives were changed because of the empowerment, the hope, and the love we got from Families Together. Those things that money can’t buy opened the door to new opportunities.

My mentor advocate encouraged me to apply for a better-paying job. I took that step because she believed in me - and I got the job! I’m an HR professional and have been promoted several times since.

When the Families Together Board of Directors invited me to join them, I leapt at the chance to provide an important family perspective and to shape the strategic decisions we make for FT.

Most recently, I received training in public speaking and storytelling in the FT Voices Together program. I’ve honed my communication skills and speak on behalf of Families Together every chance I get. And every time I do, I grow in confidence and self-esteem.

My daughters have seen me grow into a community leader – an example they’ve followed by becoming leaders themselves. They are honor roll students, talented athletes, and even helped to start a new club program at their high school! They make my husband and me so proud.

You took a chance on us sight unseen by supporting Families Together. For that, I am forever grateful to you.

With deep appreciation,

Gwen Jackson

P.S. I hope you take pride in your investments in Families Together and will continue your support. I’m here to tell you that it pays dividends in wonderful ways you cannot imagine.