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Mission

For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide hand to your brother.

We are helping homeless people find a place to live, shake addictions, and get a job. Our goal is to help them move out of chronic homelessness by putting them in housing where they can get supportive services like medical care, mental health guidance, financial management training, job training, and basic education.

Having no home is an emergency condition. The causes of that condition are complex. Causes can include natural disasters (like Hurricane Katrina), or the situations mentioned under The Need, or a group of conditions so persistent that it has exhausted the helping capability of relatives and friends.

We emphasize accountability and responsibility, insisting our residents remain addiction-free while in our houses. We are following the nationally-successful model of Housing First, followed by supportive case management, financial management, and health care management. We are seeking a large group of Friends of the Homeless who will help our clients identify causes of their personal emergency, provide financial guidance (as their SSI, SS, or VA representative payee if needed), and guide them to the many agencies that can help.

Friends of the Homeless will be trained with the help of ChristWalk board members and volunteering staff of various social agencies.


ChristWalk Program

Our program has several components:

  • Transitional supportive housing in rented houses,with five clients at each mailing address living as a family, where staff and volunteers will monitor guests and provide life coaching. From this group we will select one individual at a time to move into a private apartment. That will make room for another client in the home, and we can transition others in. ChristWalk Men's House was the first of these homes; we moved that program into a 5-plex in the summer of 2010. We also have a 3-bedroom house and separate apartment for up to six women. Eventually we would like to have a house for families as well.
  • Supportive housing in studio (or larger) apartments, furniture provided by us or the landlord. We will help with move–in payments, and provide an initial stock of food and clothing for our client. Clients will be visited by ChristWalk's volunteer Friends whose goal is to help the client maintain the apartment and get his/her life in order. This apartment plan could eventually house qualified, responsible families as funding and vouchers are available.
  • Friends of the Homeless will visit our clients regularly to assure they are able to cope and offer assistance as needed with health care, paperwork, resumes, job searches, etc.