{"id":19428,"date":"2012-01-20T06:35:45","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T11:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=19428"},"modified":"2012-01-21T06:42:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T11:42:02","slug":"ywca-transitional-housing-program-now-taking-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/01\/20\/ywca-transitional-housing-program-now-taking-men\/","title":{"rendered":"YWCA housing program accepts families"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The living room of the former Van Wert Woman's Club clubhouse is now being used by a homeless woman and her children. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The YWCA has provided housing for women since its inception nearly 100 years ago and has added housing services for homeless women with children in the last few years.<\/p>\n

While housing entire families hasn\u2019t been an option in the past, that situation is changing — and not a bit too soon for YWCA Transitional Housing Director Jamie Evans and YW Executive Director Stacy Looser.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had guys having to sleep in their cars because we had no place for them to go,\u201d Looser said, noting that she was never very comfortable with having to turn men away when their families were living in YWCA housing.<\/p>\n

Now, husbands and wives with children, and even single men with children, can be part of the YWCA’s housing program.<\/p>\n

The latest expansion of what has become the premier long-term housing program for homeless women and their children in a three-county area that includes Van Wert, Mercer and Paulding counties arose from a meeting held in the spring of 2011 between YWCA officials, the Van Wert County Board of Commissioners and Scott Gary of the Ohio Department of Development\u2019s Office of Community Development.<\/p>\n

That meeting, which allowed YWCA officials to explain how the local transitional housing program works and to show Gary the program\u2019s benefits, eventually resulted in the YWCA receiving a $179,700 grant from the Ohio Housing Trust Fund\u2019s Homeless Assistance Grant Program.<\/p>\n

Another benefit for the housing program is the donation of the former Van Wert Woman\u2019s Club clubhouse to the YWCA when that organization disbanded last year.<\/p>\n

Currently, the 12-month Transitional Housing Program houses single women and women with young children on the third floor of the YWCA, with women and children also housed in the Woman\u2019s Club house and the house just east of the YWCA\u2019s main facility that is also owned by the YW.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This sampler says it all, when it comes to the YWCA's Transitional Housing Program. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Currently, two families are housed in the home east of the YWCA while a woman and her two children are living in the Woman\u2019s Club clubhouse. Evans said she is looking at a maximum of three small families in each of the two houses, while the third floor of the YW will remain for single women and women with small children only.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a good expansion,\u201d Evans said, adding that she said she wanted to grow the program when she was interviewed for her current job in 2009.<\/p>\n

Evans, who has a social work background and once worked at Westwood Behavioral Health Center in Van Wert, has also expanded the workshops and classes those in the Transitional Housing Program must take. While the classes change from year to year, they generally include \u201clife skills\u201d classes that include workshops on finances, women\u2019s and family health issues and such areas as conflict resolution.<\/p>\n

The classes are designed to help participants, which will now include both men and women, regain their independence and be able to live on their own when the year-long program concludes.<\/p>\n

While ability to accept men is a plus, both women said, they added that men would also have to participate in workshops and classes that are part of the Transitional Housing Program.<\/p>\n

One thing both women stressed — several times — is that the housing program is not<\/em> a shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unreal to me how many people believe we are a shelter,\u201d said Looser, with Evans noting that even some area social workers aren\u2019t aware of the distinction.<\/p>\n

The differences between a housing program and a shelter are several, Looser noted, but basically the YWCA program does not take women on a short-term basis — women in the program are required to be in the program for a longer stay, up to 12 months. The program is also not a place for women who can\u2019t live independently, such as elderly women who need short-term housing before moving to a nursing home.<\/p>\n

\u201cParticipants must be able to go out and live on their own when their time in the program is up,\u201d Evans stressed.<\/p>\n

Both Evans and Looser added that the program is not a shelter for abused women, which is handled locally by the Crisis Care Line\/House of Transitions program.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, while a family is currently living in the Woman\u2019s Club house, work is needed there to upgrade the plumbing and, in a year or so, replace the structure\u2019s aging furnace. Currently, the upstairs bathroom is unusable because of plumbing problems, while a shower is also needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plumbing is immediate and the furnace is within a year, and the rest of the plumbing remodeling within six months,\u201d Looser said, while Evans said furnishings and appliances are also needed for the program.<\/p>\n

Also, while the ODOD grant provides needed funds for the housing program, Looser said it doesn\u2019t cover all the expenses. She noted the YWCA needs to come up with somewhere between $35,000 and $50,000 to cover unfunded program expenses, including cost of the renovations to the Woman\u2019s Club house.<\/p>\n

Anyone wanting to donate home items or money to the program can call the YWCA at 419.238.6639.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The YWCA has provided housing for women since its inception nearly 100 years ago and has added housing services for homeless women with children in the last few years. While housing entire families hasn\u2019t been an option in the past, that situation is changing — and not a bit too soon for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-02 16:14:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}