What is Diversion?
After falling short on her monthly rent, Natilie and her young children were evicted from their home. With the ongoing pandemic and an eviction on her record, she felt like stability would be impossible to reach. With assistance from our Diversion program, she found a new home within weeks and received financial and emotional support to build a better future for herself and her family. Natilie's situation is not uncommon. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated an already existing affordable housing crisis. Many families have been pushed into emergency housing situations following a job loss or healthcare costs among other unforeseen obstacles. We have a diverse set of programs that support families facing the varying degrees of housing instability that different circumstances bring. What sets us apart is our success rate and dedication to providing a pathway of comprehensive support that meets the individualized needs of each family we serve.
For some families, emergency shelter at Family Promise is the best answer to a housing crisis. For others, the best approach may be to employ shelter diversion so a family never experiences an episode of homelessness and does not enter shelter’s door. With a creative and hands-on case management practice, shelter diversion identifies a family’s strengths and assets, engages landlords and community members, maps existing resources, and brings a family into a stable housing environment. Diversion supports families experiencing a housing crisis to either a) restore housing, or b) identify a safe place to avoid entering shelter. At its core, the practice is trauma-informed, client-centered, and sees homelessness as a crisis that needs to be mediated.