A place to call home
Theresa House offers housing for women, children, refugees for several months until they are able to find a permanent home
by Brittney Hansen
Issue date: 5/1/08
Section: Campus News
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Theresa House is a non-profit interim housing shelter for women and children as well as refugees that exchanges volunteer service for housing for individuals and college students.
"I just really like to be in the community doing things and volunteer work," Baxter said. "I think that I get as much out of it as whoever else does that I'm serving."
The Theresa House serves an average of 100 individuals a year through housing and other outreach programs, even though they are only able to house between 15 and 18 people - children included - at a time.
Due to limited space, however, the house has to turn away some people. Baxter said about 500 people were turned away last year and in 2005-06, they had to turn down about 600.
"We tell people just to keep calling and to call at least once a week because we have a long list all the time," she said.
In the summer, Baxter said it's easier because individuals can set up a tent somewhere, but in the winter, it's more difficult. She said when that happens, they usually recommend those in need of shelter go to a police station and receive a hotel voucher for a few days or sleep in the station's lobby.
The Theresa House, however, is not intended for one-time emergency housing, she said.
"This is transitional housing. I's not like you come here and stay for a night. You come here and you're on a program and the least you will be here is a month or two unless you're already in the process of all this work and the Section 8 stuff."
Section 8 is a government assistance program that provides subsidized housing based on income. Residents are also offered parenting classes at Theresa House, and if they have problems with rent or do not have rental history, they take "Rent-wise" to help them make educated housing decisions.
The Theresa House does not take single men and primarily houses women and children; however, if a single man has custody of the children, then he can stay with them. Married couples with or without children are also admitted.
The Theresa House was originally under the direction of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and in 1996 came to have that name and be known to the public as a homeless shelter. The shelter officially became a non-profit organization in 2002 with the help of federal, state and United Way grants as well as individual donations.
The average stay of residents at the Theresa House is two to three months, with a maximum stay of six months, although it has allowed larger families to stay longer.
"It's so hard to find government housing for that many people," Baxter said.
Staff members continue to work with residents after they move out and the house is even able to pay their rent for two years if serious need exists. If residents are on that program, then a caseworker will visit their house every month, every three months and then every six months for two years to make sure they are following the program so they can still be eligible for funding from the shelter.
"We also visit old clients and bring bedding, food and whatever they need, and they can always call us if they need any resources," Baxter said.
Resident managers work nights and weekends, so as soon as day staff is finished, they are on duty from 5:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day. On weekends, resident managers work in 24-hour shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. the next day.
The guests have chores they need to complete each day, which day managers assign and resident managers check to make sure they are completed. If chores are not completed, residents are written up. Also, if they do not complete their chores a certain amount of times, they are evicted, but Baxter said that rarely happens.
Resident managers document everything that occurs that day in a log at the end of the night so the day staff and the rest of the managers are updated on what is going on in the building. They also have to make sure that the building is secure by checking all of the locks every couple of hours.
"Safety is really important," she said.
All of the entrances have keypads and each guest has a different code to get into the building.
The state mandates that Theresa House record all instances of child abuse or neglect and call Child Protection Services if they see these situations occur, but Baxter said it is very difficult for Child Protection Services to step in.
"It has to be pretty extreme," she said. "And it's usually too late. The way the laws are right now, it's almost impossible to get children taken away from abusive parents unless something already detrimental, devastating and irreversible has happened."
Baxter added that Child Protection Services rarely needs to step in with Theresa House residents and that most women who choose to stay there are good parents but who are faced with difficult times their lives. Many residents have moved from across the country, unexpectedly lost a job or are running away from an abusive partner.
Theresa House also works closely with Community Assistance for Refugees (CAR), since many of the refugees do not speak English right away. They are then enrolled in school and taught English. The shelter occasionally works with interpreters.
"By the time people move out we're communicating pretty well with them," Baxter said.
She said the most difficult part about her job is not knowing what happens to people when they leave.
"There are only a couple of families that I know that I still talk to and I still get updates and I know that they're doing well," she said. "That took a lot of getting used to and for me that was really hard at first."
Baxter continues with her job because she loves being involved in the community, making a difference and being involved with those in need of assistance. According to Baxter, just seeing the transition that people make from the time they arrive at Theresa House to the time they leave makes all the hard work worth it.
"If you're moving into a homeless shelter, there's something really wrong and there's something really broken," she said. "And to watch people make progress and to see that slowly mended is really, really rewarding."
Brittney Hansen is a Reporter assistant news editor
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