The city’s Affordable Housing Collaborative, made up of local government leaders, nonprofit organizations and real estate developers was tasked by city council members a year ago to hold a series of public meetings to identify practical actions that could be taken. Their “Housing for All” report looks into ideas ranging from financing and land use changes to advocating for regulatory changes at the federal and state levels.

Mary Stegner, executive director of local nonprofit Partners in Housing, helps lead the collaborative. She said the group also looked to other cities for ideas; places like Austin, Texas, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, that have had recent success in improving housing affordability.

Stegner pointed to sales tax rebates for affordable housing properties as one way to make more projects feasible. That, combined with reduced fees on necessities like hooking up utilities, could save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on starting up a property. Those savings could then be passed on to renters.

However, even if every idea in the report was implemented, some say it wouldn’t be enough. That’s because the housing needs in Colorado Springs, like most of the Front Range, are not limited to those with the lowest incomes.

“Just like any basic economics. If you have a supply shortage and high demand, the price for that product is going to go up,” said Darsey Nicklasson, president of local real estate development firm DHN.

She has been focusing her attention on the group she calls the “missing middle”: those who make too much money to qualify for placement in affordable housing, but still end up paying up to half of their income to find housing in the city. In a city like Colorado Springs, or indeed like some of the state’s mountain communities, those people may be working traditional middle class jobs like teachers, police officers, first responders and construction workers.

To read the full article on CPR News, visit here. 

This article was written by Dan Boyce. 

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For Financial Literacy Month, Partners in Housing and Eastern Colorado Bank are working to train and teach money management and personal finances to individuals.

Jillian Birchmeier with Partners in Housing says the non-profit helps about 120 families a year get back on their feet. Last year, Partners in Housing says they had an 87% success rate in helping families gain safe and stable housing.

“Families that are in housing crisis come to us, we provide them with a year of housing and a lot of supportive services,” added Birchmeier.

According to the non-profit, the majority of the families in the program are led by single moms.

Partners in Housing teaches individuals to set aside roughly 30% of their monthly income for housing and also be consistent with their paid-on-time history. Birchmeier says getting into the habit of saving a set amount of money a month will help people be more secure in their finances and more stable once leaving the program.

The non-profit says its ability to help the community is made possible through the help of money mentors. Currently, Partners in Housing has 12 money mentors, two of them are from Eastern Colorado Bank. Those volunteers help individuals with budgeting and provide credit counseling through one-on-one monthly sessions.

To read the full article on KRDO, visit here.

This article was written by Jasmine Arenas, an MMJ and Anchor for Telemundo Surco and KRDO NewsChannel 13 

The post Helping families this Financial Literacy Month appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Sarah’s Story 

At Partners in Housing, we strive to see every family in our program successfully move out of crisis and to a place of stability. We guide families on their self-sufficiency journey by providing a year of transitional housing, personalized case management, budget and credit counseling, career readiness workshops, life skills classes, and access to our free Donation Centers. We are proud to announce our latest program offering – housing navigation.

When budgets are tight, navigating the housing market can be difficult for anyone. Factor in that 50% of Partners in Housing families have an eviction on their record and things quickly become more complicated.

We hired Sarah Seales as our full-time Housing Navigator in January to assist families on their search for housing beyond our program. Sarah is giving families the greatest chance for success by having one-on-one meetings and walking through a variety of documents such as the documentation required to apply for housing, the key factors landlords are looking at when reviewing applications like income, employment history, rental history, credit score, and criminal background, and determining what properties make the most sense to apply to based on budget, eligibility, needs, and preferences.

In addition to meeting with the families, Sarah is an advocate, building relationships with landlords and property managers and showing that the families we recommend can be trusted to pay their rent on-time and take good care of their property. Landlords and property managers don’t have to look any further than Sarah for proof of program success. Sarah and her two daughters were in the Partners in Housing program in 2012. Sarah worked incredibly hard and successfully moved onto stable housing upon graduating from the program. Nine years later, Sarah is back, this time as a Partners in Housing employee, advocating for families and giving them the best chance at success.

While every family’s story is different, Sarah knows what it’s like to be on the other side of the table. She understands how overwhelming and daunting it can feel when starting out and so she wrote a letter to program families in hopes of showing there’s light at the end of the tunnel if they show up, work hard, and take one step at a time.

“Here you are. You might not have ever imagined you would be in this place. I know I didn’t see it coming in 2011 when I found myself and my daughters with no place to live and too small of an income to make ends meet. I did everything I could to keep myself afloat but I just couldn’t do it…not on my own. There’s a team now to help you figure it all out but I know from experience that it isn’t all easy from here…”

Sarah, like many other families in the program, arrived with very little. A divorce left Sarah, a stay-at-home mom, without a home, without a job, and without the time to find a job that paid well enough to support her and her two kids. She turned to the Partners in Housing program in an effort to give her daughters a place to call home while she figured out her next steps. When we talked with Sarah, she told a story about how her daughters didn’t know they were technically homeless when they in our housing. She said her daughters were so excited about the free Donation Center and the house they were in. It wasn’t until years later when a Partners in Housing representative coincidentally visited one of her daughter’s schools and talked about our agency that her daughter connected the dots.

Sarah worked incredibly hard while in the program, built up her resources, and was able to find an apartment and a job with the right income. Before working at Partners in Housing, Sarah owned and operated a thriving cleaning business for several years and was able to employ others in need of an income. In 2020, Sarah closed her cleaning business in order to work full-time as the Housing Navigator for Partners in Housing.

Thank you, Sarah, for your inspiring work with the families in our program. We and the families in our program are lucky to have you.

The post Newest Program Offering: Housing Navigation appeared first on Partners in Housing.

As we continue to see changing needs for the Partner families in our Self-Sufficiency Program, we are very excited to announce that, due to wonderful community support, we have been able to provide all the families in our program with updated computers and internet service. The funding received will cover the costs of internet so families can work from home, attend school remotely when needed, and connect with us and other service providers. Helping our families overcome the “digital divide” has been a goal we are so happy to have reached!

To this day, we accept used computers which are then refurbished through PCs for People. These computers are then given to families in our transitional housing program. You can drop off your used laptops at our main office, 455 Gold Pass Heights, Colorado Springs, CO, 80906 M-F, 8:30am-4:30pm. 

Questions? Please reach out to Tarin Potter at tpotter@partnersinhousing.org or (719) 559-3286.

From a partner who received a computer:

“We are so thankful for the computer that was given to our family, it has everything we needed! I am able to work from home doing online booking for a local report. My oldest son suffers from some significant mental health issues and can now use or old computer, which was not working for my job, to stay busy and happy. My junior high school age daughter is doing school online so the school provided computer is dedicated to her schoolwork. I never thought we would all be home during the days and have the ability to do all of these things. Thank you to Partners in Housing for our home during these crazy times and for the tools we need to make everything work!”

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In July of 2017, a young woman became part of the Partners in Housing program and moved into a studio apartment after having lived in her car.

Jamie* had struggled with many obstacles which had hindered her stability and was feeling hopeless about her future. Having never lived in a supportive or constructive family environment, overcoming multiple barriers seems insurmountable. She soon met with her caseworker to discuss her goals and set up an individualized service plan.

Jamie’s family has a history of incarceration, and legal trouble, but rather than follow in her family’s footsteps, she decided to take an alternate route. While in the Partners in Housing program, she completed her Associate’s Degree and is now taking classes toward her Bachelors in Criminal Justice with the pursuit of a career in the legal system.

One of the many obstacles in Jamie’s path included family and friends who have expected her to pay their bills, and take care of them. She has had to learn how to tell her family and friends “no”, which is a huge accomplishment for Jamie and a huge step in being able to be self-reliant!

While in our program Jamie has attended therapy, and continued building her self-determination and confidence. She had difficulty finding entry-level work in the criminal justice system, because of her family history, but she has persevered and is now working in her desired field.

In the past, she may have not been able to handle the unexpected, but since in the program she has come to realize that she can do anything she sets her mind to… she and her newborn child will be fine. She credits her new life attitude in part to the Life Skills classes that are part of the Partners in Housing program. She is very excited about her future.

The post Partner Family Success Story appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Partners in Housing helped me tremendously, and everyone was fantastic at everything, I just wasn’t there for any of my life changes. … [My caseworker] Jamie was always there for me. Christmas we never went without. She kept inspiring me to figure out what I wanted to do in life. She saw me getting depressed and helped me find a counselor who was wonderful as well. The biweekly Life Skills classes, where we all met at the Colorado House and Resource Center were mostly helpful. Car fix-ups were always great. [Jamie] was just wonderful. She saw a larger place had opened up and moved me and my son there. It was a great experience. I do believe that everything has a path and a meaning, I just happened to find mine later in life. A few years ago, I moved back [to Colorado Springs], got a job at my son’s school as a lunch monitor, which opened a door for me. I became a paraprofessional in the multiple handicapped rooms, fell in love with that job, and am going to pursue a career as an Occupational Therapy Assistant.”

That is Brandi’s* story, her time with Partners in Housing was not an immediate success, and yet it made a huge difference in the long run. At Partners in Housing our caseworkers, Rick Palmer, Dea Rivera, and Lora Schwahn do wonderful work to move families towards self-sufficiency like Brandi was able to do. In Partnership with UCCS graduate student, Gina DeMattee, Partners in Housing is doing a survey to look at the long-term outcomes for the families who have walked through our doors. Brandi and her family are regular In-Kind donors.

The post Brandi’s Story: Caseworker Today, Differences Tomorrow appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Frank Stampf, Executive Director of Partners in Housing announced his retirement effective December 31, 2011. Frank served the organization since 2000. We wish Frank the best as he begins a new chapter in his life!

Mary Stegner, the Partners In Housing Finance Officer, has been named as the new Executive Director. Barbara Blumer, the Partners in Housing Support Services Director, has been named as Director of Services. They will work very closely together on day-to-day operational functions as well as the organization’s strategic development.

Having worked as the Financial Manager of Partners in Housing and Catholic Charities concurrently before moving full time to Partners in Housing in 2007, Stegner has the unique experience of having worked with Partners in Housing when the concept was first developed in 1989, even before it became a separate nonprofit agency.

Similarly, Blumer supported both Partners in Housing and Catholic Charities as Director of Human Resources and Risk Management prior to moving over full-time to PIH in 2006. As a result, she also has a long history with the organization and its mission.

Mary Stegner and Barbara Blumer

The post New Leadership Announced appeared first on Partners in Housing.

As of April 1, 2012, Partners in Housing will be shortening the period of assistance we provide to one year, with the possibility of extending a family’s stay up to two years on a case-by-case basis. This change reflects a new emphasis in national policy by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to transition homeless households to permanent housing more quickly. While HUD is not mandating a one-year program, we are adopting this change proactively because we hope to achieve two goals.

First, we hope that the shorter program time frame will help motivate Partner families to work aggressively on their self-sufficiency plan from the very beginning of their stay with Partners in Housing. We have observed that sometimes the two-year time frame gives Partners a window to procrastinate making life changes. We believe that a shorter program term will shape people’s frame of mind, helping Partners take the initiative and stay on track pursuing their self-sufficiency goals. Second, this change will allow us to serve more households, as Partners move through the program more quickly and housing units turn more often than before. With program demand at record levels, we need to use our housing resources as effectively as possible.

The post Program Update: Always Working Toward Self-Sufficiency appeared first on Partners in Housing.

We all recognize that childcare is not only a basic need for low-income and working families, it is an urgent need.

This problem is heightened for families requiring childcare for infants and toddlers, as there is an extreme shortage of this type of affordable childcare in the Colorado Springs community. During early discussions leading to the Myron Stratton Consortium formation, currently consisting of the Myron Stratton Home, Partners in Housing, TESSA, and Peak Vista Community Health Services, we were hoping to include Child Nursery Centers, now the Early Connections Learning Centers (ECLC).

Unfortunately, at the time of initial planning, it simply was not financially feasible for ECLC to participate in the project. However, significant funding support for operations from the Community Partnership for Child Development/ Head Start (CPCD), and the incredible generosity of the Myron Stratton Board of Directors to provide a major portion of the capital costs, the project is now reality!

The 2,800 square-foot Child Development Center (CDC) will open in August 2010 in the Logan building here on campus. The CDC will have the capacity to serve eight infants, eight toddlers, and twenty pre-school children, with the ability to provide up to five “drop-in” slots for families visiting any of the agencies on the Myron Stratton Campus.

In addition to the childcare facility, the second floor of the building will be operated by Peak Vista as a medical clinic to meet the ever-expanding demand for refugee services. The third floor will house administrative space for ECLC, allowing them to process applications, track attendance, report outcomes, and assist Partners in Housing, TESSA and Peak Vista client families to access additional affordable childcare resources in the community.

This remarkable project, made possible by the continued generous support of the Myron Stratton Home, the significant contribution of CPCD , and the addition of the ECLC to the Consortium will greatly enhance our ability to assist homeless families to achieve self-sufficiency. We are also most thankful for major funding support provided by PPUW, the Temple Hoyne Buell, Edmonson, El Pomar, Gates Family Foundations, and Quailstar.

Providing parents with reliable, affordable childcare frees them to find and maintain employment, continue their education, and provide for their families. Along with food, shelter, transportation, and clothing, childcare comprises one of the most critical needs families must meet in order to become stable and healthy. This project will help ease that shortfall, and provide our families with affordable childcare. We at Partners in Housing are sincerely grateful to all those who are helping us meet this crucial need.

The post Child Development Center Plans appeared first on Partners in Housing.

Prior to Partners in Housing, Nicole* found herself at a women’s shelter. She had just left an emotionally abusive marriage and was in need of a safe place to rebuild with her two children.

Please give generously by donating online at partnersinhousing.org/donate, your donation could earn you a CO State Tax Credit! (Visit our website for more information)

The post A Mother’s Story appeared first on Partners in Housing.