Louison House Begins Transition To Off-Site Support
Reporter's note: We've heard that some readers are misinterpreting this story. The Louison House is not closing; it is extending its service. In fact, the shelter received its yearly funding of $136,491 today from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."The shelter is the most important part of what we do," Gage emphasized.
 Executive Director Paul Gage now looks to expand programming to keep at-risk families from needing to come back to the Louison House. |
ADAMS, Mass. — For years the Louison House has taken homeless people in, but now it wants them out.
The nonprofit shelter is transitioning to a more preventative role, and pushing hard to support clients after they get back into the world, helping to stop them from cycling back into the shelter system..
"We're primarily a shelter right now but with the housing-first model, which emphasizes prevention and rapid rehousing, that means there is money for prevention and there is money for permanent support of housing and the shelter component becomes less important," Family Life Support Center Inc. Executive Director Paul Gage said on Tuesday.
In September, the nonprofit began operating three permanent living units, assisting clients by not only helping to pay rent but also providing additional support. Staff check up on the residents and make sure all the bills are paid, medication is being taken and appointments are kept.
"It's a big push because the ones that we have in [permanent housing] are people who keep coming back into the homeless shelter system. They're used to having us 24/7 and then you get them an apartment and they go out and they feel like they are alone. There are no more other residents around, there are no more staff and they feel like all their supports are gone. Once that hits them, they crash and lose the apartment all over again," said Tracy Beany, a transitional housing coordinator at the Louison House.
"Now, they can call here if they have an issue, they can stay the night and we can get them through it...They still have us and that's the biggest piece."
Family Life Support Center, the operating group of the Louison House, also paired with One Family Inc. for a scholarship program. The house can now recommend its clients to the One Family Scholars program, which will pay from $20,000 to $40,000 for higher education. Ideally, the Louison House will open three more permanent housing units for the scholars until they graduate, when they will move onto renting an apartment on their own.
"The hope and expectation is that once they graduate they will move into an apartment on their own, making triple what they were making before and their kids are much better off than they were before,"
The shelter's recommendation does not guarantee the scholarship. The application must be approved by One Family, which has tight regulations to stay in the program.
The shelter is One Family's first partner in Berkshire County. As the Boston organization expands westward, it is looking for partners to pick up the support part. The Louison House will be responsible for supporting the client as he or she goes through school. That includes helping clients apply to and manage school.
"We're going to start slow to begin with and then expand it," Gage said. "We're trying to get the best people for it."
The house has three people in mind to apply for the next batch of scholarships; each year will try to double that. Gage estimated about 10 percent of individuals are right for the program; the house will later attempt to incorporate people who have not lived there but are on the verge of becoming homeless.
Many of the people Louison House helps struggle with substance abuse, mental disabilities or emotional troubles, and would not be fit for the program as of yet. The staff members who best know the clients will determine which ones have the best chance to succeed.
"It's really to complement what we already have here," Gage said. "We're trying to build the program internally and externally."
That shift is overdue, Gage said, but requires a balancing act to expand and maintain the shelter.
The state and federal government have been switching to the model of preventive care and housing for the last decade but Louison had not kept up. Funding is available for expanding its work but not to maintain the shelter.
The Louison House became complacent with its work in the last 10 years when it could have been doing more, Gate said. The house has been surpassed by larger organizations and catching up will be a struggle.
"We haven't adapted well to the times. Things have been changing for a number of years," Gage said. "We're struggling to maintain what we have."
The expansion comes at an immediate cost to the employees but will create a stronger organization in the end, Gage said. He goes after projects that will not overwhelm the shelter's current operations, but staff will have to pick up some additional work. If the house is successful in the transition, additional staff will be added. Most of the additional work will fall on the shoulders of Permanent Housing Coordinator Sherry Dunne, who is in charge of the off-site living.
 The Louison House can find funding for bonus projects to prevent homelessness but struggles to find funding to continue the shelter. |
"We need the support of the community locally in finding those dollars to support the shelter," Gage said. "We need to find more money to support that because the federal and state dollars will be going toward prevention and housing. That part we won't need the money but we do need it for the shelter."
A lack of funding forced Family Life Support Center to consolidate the Prevention Center's office in North Adams last year and shift that work onto the Louison House.
"We were overextending ourselves and that had consequences," Gage said. "We were spending more money than we were taking in and you can't do that. So, we've adjusted to that and the goal is to provide more and service more people because there is great need."
Operating with only one staff member most of the time, Gage said he recently secured a grant to install cameras on the property in order to better supervise the clients.
"Our staff could be having a one-on-one with our clients and our residents know that and that's an opportune time to do things. You remember that some of our clients still have issues they are working on like drug use. Those are the times where things are most likely to happen," Gage said. "We're trying to hold the line with the staff we have and we can't cut anything out unless we cut our hours, which is the worst case scenario."
Gage took over as director two years ago and inherited an organization with very little strategic planning in place. Once he got his feet wet, he began attempting to turn the shelter around and secure its future.
The Louison House is a nonprofit homeless shelter that aims primarily to serve families. The staff considers its job to teach life skills to those in need in order to better succeed.
Gage said the house is still out in the community begging for donations. Donations can be sent to www.familylifesupport.bbnow.org or PO Box 54, Adams, MA 01220.
