Share ASPIRE & HEN
Share ASPIRE has served more than 769 households since the program’s inception in 2000.
Share ASPIRE—Achieving Self-sufficiency Personal Improvement and Resource Education—is a coordinated system for providing case management, housing and connection to supportive services in our community for homeless families and individuals.
ASPIRE serves an average of 100 households each month and maintains a 75% success rate for moving people into permanent housing.
Those eligible for ASPIRE include families, disabled individuals and honorably discharged veterans. Applicants must be homeless at the time of application and working with a qualified case manager on a monthly basis.
ASPIRE offers resource education for: employment training, family counseling, debt reduction, budgeting, drug/alcohol abuse, domestic violence, counseling, mental health, education, parenting, life skills, childcare referral and transportation.
Homes for Transitional & Permanent Housing
In the Fall of 2010, the ASPIRE program expanded with the purchase of four homes to provide transitional and permanent housing for single individuals.
One home serves single men, two serve single women and one serves Veterans.
Residents must currently be homeless with some income; rental subsidies will be available.
For more information on ASPIRE, contact Dee Sanders, ASPIRE Program Director, at (360) 952-8214.
Housing & Essential Needs (HEN) Program
Who Qualifies: HEN is only to support Medical Care Services receipients whose eligibility is determined by DSHS and would qualify for Disability Lifeline or GAU (General Assistance for the Unemployable). This program is for single individuals only.
What HEN Provides: The program can provide support in the form of rent and utility assistance, as well as, personal hygiene products, cleaning supplies and transportation in the form of bus passes. There are no cash benefits available.
Contacts for HEN:
Mike Norman: (360) 952-8212
John Kimball: (360) 952-8213
The Guidelines will be updated to include the following:
• Hotel/Motel Rental Agreements in Allowable Rent/Utility Assistance:
Grantees may use HEN funds to pay for rent per a rental agreement with hotel/motels for temporarily housing people who are homeless. The hotel/motel room should be considered a short term measure while a more permanent housing solution is identified. The cost should be close to the budgeted amount grantees determined for homeless rents.
• Fuel Vouchers in Allowable Essential Needs Assistance:
Grantees may use HEN funds to provide automobile fuel vouchers. Grantees need to ensure that the vouchers cannot be exchanged for cash and they should be in limited/reasonable quantities.
Click on the link below to view the complete HEN guidelines:
Guidelines for Housing & Essential Needs Program
Documentation that must be provided by the client:
• Rental Agreement
• Lease
• Certification from friend/family of a payment obligation
• Pay/Vacate Notice
• Eviction Notice
• Certification from friend/family of potential eviction
• Utility bill
• Utility Late Payment
• Utility Shut off Notice
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