Open Door, a homeless outreach organization, is determined to end chronic homelessness. This week, they reached a milestone in their housing program expansion, by finding a 40th person a home.
“There’s been 40 times that I have gotten to hand someone keys to a house and watch them walk in and be extremely excited for the transformative nature,” said Katherine Hennecke, director of housing for Open Door.
“I had surgery and I was able to have a place to recuperate. I stopped drinking, and it helped me get my life together,” said Jim Cease, who has lived in a home provided by Open Door for six months.
Before moving into their apartment, Cease and his wife, Ellarissa Happy, said their lives were difficult.
“Out on the streets it was too bad and sad, and all I did was turn to alcohol. It was very hard for me,” said Happy.
A chronically homeless individual is someone who has experienced homelessness for more than a year and has a disability, which can be either mental or physical, according to a news release.
According to the 2017 Point-in-Time count, there were 85 chronically homeless people in Lubbock. In 2018, that number decreased to 45. Open Door helped reduce chronic homelessness by 34 percent, according to the organization, and ended more than 400 collective years of homelessness in the community.
“This would not be possible without partnering with landlords or property management in Lubbock, who extend a hand of help,” said Hennecke.
These individuals are taken from the streets and put in permanent, supportive housing including 24 hour on-call case management, medical and mental health care, life-skills classes, and individualized supportive services.
The initiative of the Permanent Housing Program is to end chronic homelessness by 2020.