TL/DR –
Pine Rest’s Street Reach program in Grand Rapids, Michigan is helping individuals experiencing homelessness find income, housing, and stability. The outreach initiative begins by building trust through conversation and providing essentials, then helps gather documents to assist with housing and income arrangements, often providing initial rent payments and connecting individuals to resources for continued stability. The program worked with 274 individuals in the past year, including Janine Robinson, who lost everything in 2022 and found herself homeless but now has an apartment, a car, and increased security.
Local Program Assists Homeless Individuals towards Stability
Income, housing and stability are the pillars of a local program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that aims to provide hope and a home to the homeless. Janine Robinson, a beneficiary of the program, found refuge in 2022 after losing everything and living on the streets.
Robinson recounts her experiences of homelessness, “Being a petite female with limited self-defense skills… You never know when something’s gonna happen.” Fortunately, her curiosity led her to the Pine Rest building, which introduced her to opportunities she didn’t foresee.
“They helped me get on disability, find housing and with transportation as I didn’t have any,” Robinson stated. Now, she has her own apartment and car after a year of homelessness.
The life-changing program that Robinson credits is Pine Rest’s Street Reach program. Bryan Holt, Outreach Clinical Team Leader, shares that their team spends time in the community, reassuring homeless individuals that there’s hope.
The program begins by building trust with a simple conversation and providing military ready-to-eat meals for those returning to the streets. Over time, they assist in gathering essential documents, helping the homeless transition towards housing, income, and stability. To support survival on the streets, the program provides necessities like tents and sleeping bags.
Once individuals secure housing, the program provides aid for the first month’s rent and connects them to resources to prevent returning to the streets. Finding stable housing may take up to a year, contingent on each person’s situation. In the previous year, the program reached out to 274 homeless individuals.
“Our job isn’t necessarily to heal; ours is to give hope,” Holt shared. Robinson is a testament to this, now having a safe place to call home. “I don’t worry about what’s going to happen while I’m trying to sleep,” she said.
Pine Rest’s Street Reach works with numerous community resources like Network 180, PATH, SOAR, and the Grand Rapids Coalition to End Homelessness.
Learn more about the program here.
View more A Path Forward coverage.
Check out our list of community resources in West Michigan.
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