United to End Homelessness Achieves Milestone with More Than 300 Homeless Orange County Individuals Housed Through WelcomeHomeOC Program
- Program Also Helps Cover Security Deposits, Move-in Costs, Furnishings and Support Services
- WelcomeHomeOC Now Housing Transitional Age Youth with Family Unification Program Vouchers
- 14 Individuals Experiencing Homelessness Already Housed in 2021
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (January 27, 2021) – Orange County United Way’s United to End Homelessness initiative today announced that it has reached a milestone for its WelcomeHomeOC Program and housed more than 300 individuals experiencing homelessness since the program’s inception in 2019.
With more than 60 rental property owners in the WelcomeHomeOC network, the number of available units to rent continues to increase so that individuals with a housing voucher can be housed quickly. WelcomeHomeOC helps pay for vital move-in costs including security deposits, holding fees, furnishings, and support services.
“It’s an amazing thing to see our Orange County community come together to achieve something so remarkable – housing 300 people over the last couple of years through WelcomeHomeOC,” said Susan B. Parks, President and CEO, Orange County United Way. “From our growing network of private rental property owners to support from residents in our community, we are making incredible progress towards ending the cycle of homelessness in Orange County for good. Our work continues in 2021 and we won’t stop until our neighbors experiencing homelessness have a place to call home.
United to End Homelessness is also working with the Orange County Housing Authority and Orange County Social Services Agency to house young adults who have left or will be leaving the foster care system, and are either currently homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. So far, 14 individuals who hold Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers have been housed through WelcomeHomeOC.
Cassidy, a 25-year-old mom of three and her boyfriend found themselves without a permanent home and living in a motel in 2019. Cassidy and her boyfriend spent the next year trying to find transitional living that would accept their entire family but they were unsuccessful. Social Services were able to help her apply for a FUP voucher and she was connected with WelcomeHomeOC. The program helped their family find a home in just a few months and provided them with funds for furniture, a refrigerator and the security deposit.
“I look back on the last two years and I’m amazed by the transformation. From growing our family to struggling to find a home, it feels so good to finally be in this place and I’m so grateful for WelcomeHomeOC,” Cassidy said.
To learn more about the United to End Homelessness and the WelcomeHomeOC program, visit www.welcomehomeoc.org.
ABOUT UNITED TO END HOMELESSNESS
Launched in February 2018, United to End Homelessness is led by a diverse group of leaders from Orange County’s top business, philanthropic, governmental, faith-based and nonprofit organizations – all committed to ending homelessness in our community. Our work is grounded in bringing the recommendations of the 2017 UC Irvine study “Homelessness in Orange County: The Costs to Our Community” to life, with Orange County United Way serving as the backbone of this new collaborative effort. Together we are working to bring the issue of homelessness to the forefront of the community’s collective discussion and create civic engagement that will lead to meaningful and lasting results. Together we can and we will #EndHomelessnessOC. For more information, please visit www.unitedtoendhomelessness.org.
# # #
Media Contact: Annie Noebel, anoebel@cornerstonecomms.com, (949) 525-7024
