No Place Like HOM
5th Graders Bring Holiday Cheer to Formerly Homeless Veterans
A core value at HOM, Inc., is giving back to the communities that we live and work in. It’s in our mission statement, but we also put our money where our mouth is by allowing team members to take up to four hours of paid volunteer time each week. Many of our team members use this benefit to volunteer their time and talents with organizations that are improving our communities. […]
Helping Veterans Get Back on Their Feet
Thanks to your hard work and dedication, I have a place I can call home for the first time in almost three months. It's hard to describe how mentally and physically difficult it is to be homeless, the level of despair it creates, and the feeling of hopelessness I experienced on a daily basis is hard to describe.
Working With PHAs To End Homelessness
This post was originally written for the National Alliance to End Homelessness blog. As communities redouble their efforts to achieve the goals of Opening Doors, one thing is abundantly clear: we need all hands on deck to truly end homelessness in this country. This includes our partners at public housing agencies (PHAs) both as providers of mainstream housing resources and as key collaborators within our existing systems of care. As we continue to focus on permanent solutions like permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing [...]
The Super Bowl of HUD-VASH
On the morning of Super Bowl Sunday while most Americans are gearing up to enjoy the big game, 25 homeless Veterans in Phoenix are attending a housing briefing to receive a voucher for rental assistance for an apartment of their choice in the community. These 25 men and women were among the 1,266 Veterans that received services at the Arizona StandDown Friday through Sunday, February 3-5, at the Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Arizona StandDown is an annual three day event that brings together the [...]
Labeling People as Homeless Strips Individuals and Families of True Identity
Words matter. The way that we construct language has an effect on how we see and understand the world.
Home for the Holidays
When Project H3: Home, Health, Hope launched in April 2010, several members of our HOM, Inc. team volunteered to conduct surveys of persons experiencing street homelessness between 4 and 6 AM for three straight days. Following the survey days, at the community briefing where the results of the survey efforts were announced, the HOM, Inc. team took our commitment up a notch. We volunteered to collect and donate all of the items that would turn an empty “apartment” into a “home” for one of the [...]
An Amazing Transformation
This post was originally written for Poverty Insights by Mattie Lord of UMOM New Day Centers. Mattie is also a Project Coordinator for Project H3: Home, Health, Hope; of which HOM, Inc. is a proud partner. While sitting at a stop sign, minding my own business, two men drove by and flipped me off. I have no idea why – I did nothing to them. Perhaps they passed judgment based on my appearance, my car, or perhaps my “Life is good” bumper sticker. It reminded [...]
ABC / VSUW / LDRC Collaboration
HOM, Inc. is currently working on a new initiative seeking to reduce chronic homelessness. The project is a collaboration with Arizona Behavioral Health Corporation, the Valley of the Sun United Way and the Lodestar Day Resource Center (LDRC). In this project, individuals with a serious mental illness meeting the definition of chronic homelessness and who are receiving services at the LDRC are provided a priority in accessing rental assistance in our scattered sites housing program. These participants receive additional support from agencies co-located at the [...]
Building a Better Life
Having a place to call home for the first time in about two years was a blessing and an important piece of my recovery.
Celebrating 16 Years of Dedicated Service
In July 1994, HOM, Inc. opened its doors for business. At that time, HOM contracted with ComCare, which was the regional behavioral health authority for Maricopa County. ComCare, in partnership with the Arizona Department of Commerce, had secured their first Shelter Plus Care grant from HUD to provide housing to 300 of their consumers with serious mental illness who were homeless. We started housing people immediately, starting with 13 individuals who were living in a run-down rehab facility that was closing at the end of [...]