| To many, a homeless shelter is interchangeable with transitional housing. In reality however, there are significant differences.
A homeless shelter is immediate emergency housing. It gives people a safe and secure place where they can begin to process what has brought them there.
Likewise, transitional housing offers the same immediate needs, but it is also a place to rebuild and offers residents additional stability. Residents in transitional housing facilities receive counseling, both emotional and spiritual, while also receiving life skills that will assist them in becoming self-sufficient. Salvation Army transitional housing programs can last several months or several years, based on the needs of the individual residents.
The Salvation Army's Lambuth Family Center is one such transitional housing program. This program requires the participants to secure a job and keep a budgeted lifestyle. Parents in transitional housing programs are offered parenting class while their children receive afterschool tutoring. This includes putting 50% of their paycheck into a savings account, utilizing part of their take-home pay for room and board, and the remainder for personal use. For some residents, this is the first time they have ever had a budget or learned basic banking skills.
"One major difference between the two is a homeless man staying in a shelter can go out and find a place to live, but they have the thinnest margin. One hiccup could cause a strain that will lead to homelessness again." Said Major Neal Hogan, Divisional Social Services Secretary for the Intermountain Division, "Whereas, a man living in transitional housing has enough money saved for first month's rent, deposit, and enough cushion left over for one of life's little hiccups in life."
Both shelters and transitional housing offer doorways to opportunities to make life changes. For many, the first step is entering a Salvation Army shelter followed by opening the second door into transitional housing.
This, according to Hogan, is a ‘continuum of care'. "Hospitals provide an emergency room and after trauma care. Similarly, shelters and transitional housing are part of the big picture of taking care of hurting people," added Hogan. "Transitional housing is really about helping those who had no hope. It is knowing that they can make it because someone really cares about them."
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