We Did It: United to End Homelessness and the Orange County Community Join Hands to House 30 Homeless Families and Individuals

Paula spent 12 years living on the streets and in shelters, unable to find a stable home for herself and her daughter with special needs. Her journey had been marked by challenge after challenge, and not having a safe place to call home made it impossible for Paula to get her life back on track.

In what Paula calls “a miracle,” she and her daughter have finally found their own “Home Sweet Home” thanks to the House 30 Campaign.

Orange County United Way’s United to End Homelessness initiative took on an ambitious goal: raise $500,000 to help house 30 homeless families and individuals through its WelcomeHomeOC program.

We are proud to announce that this goal was achieved and the needed funding was raised to place 30 Orange County individuals and families, like Paula, into homes.

Results like this could only be possible by working together. Hundreds of generous donors, business leaders, faith-based organizations, service providers and apartment owners joined hands to make this happen. It’s an encouraging and inspiring example of the power and impact of the Orange County community coming together.

The House 30 campaign focused on a particularly vulnerable homeless population: individuals with disabilities and families with an adult household member with a disability. These households face extreme adversity to finding housing and to getting their lives back on track; they often cannot make it on their own.

The 30 households helped by this campaign had qualified for federal housing vouchers to assist with rent, and were waiting to be matched with a property owner that accepted their voucher. United to End Homelessness and the community came together to connect individuals and families with landlords and helped fundraise the additional support costs needed, including security deposits, holding fees, furnishings, move-in costs and wrap-around case management.

But the impact doesn’t stop there. This investment will also have a multiplier effect, with the potential to unlock up to 300 additional rental vouchers for our county to continue connecting our neighbors experiencing homelessness to the dignified, humane care and housing support that they need to break the cycle of homelessness for good.

It’s been proven time and time again – the solution to homelessness is a home. 

Let’s continue to work together and build on this momentum to help every homeless individual and family in Orange County find a safe place to call home.

Are you ready to help end homelessness in Orange County? Join our campaign now.