The January 27-28, 2010 Point-in-Time homeless count documented 573 unduplicated homeless individuals in Norman.Additionally, 268 minor children were documented as homeless through the Department of Education. That is nearly the population of one of our smaller Norman elementary schools and does NOT include parents. -The good news is, with a little nurturing many can have the opportunity to thrive.- East Main Place is Norman's largest transitional living facility for the homeless in our community, housing more that 50 residents at any given time. Comprehensive case management services, accountability and structure are the key to successful program participants. East Main Place is unique in that once people enroll in our program, case managers assist participants with job search. 90% of our residents work full time within 90-120 days of residency. Additionally, East Main Place is the only housing program in our community that has 100% room sponsorship and EMP is the only program that allows participants to keep all of their apartment furnishings once they successfully graduate the program. The largest population of the homeless are families with children and these numbers increase minute by minute.People that have never sought services in their entire life now find themselves and their families jobless, penniless and homeless. The nation's economic crisis is causing many families to lose jobs and housing. The average age of a homeless person in the United States is 9 years old. The current waiting list consists of four families, comprised of 4 adults and four children. We have four individual adults waiting and eight additional persons needing services. -East Main Place has a fantastic success rate of more than 62% of participants increasing their income while in our program.- Most move on to permanent housing of their own, either by way of subsided housing or renting a home of their own. They become productive contributing members of society, paying taxes, child support, fines and they tend to other obligations that ultimately assisted in contributing to their homelessness. Residents or former residents sit on various community committees or boards to represent the issues of the homeless. EMP offers a most valuable hand up rather than a hand out. That has proven time and time again to be a most valuable tool programmatically and for our community at large. |
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