Home for the holidays: 3rd house donated to transitional housing program
For many facing homelessness, there is comfort and security in knowing there is a place available to sleep at night. To meet that need, a local non-profit and home builder have provided a new manufactured home that will be used as transitional housing for those in need that are saving up for a new home.
Clayton Homes and Family Promise of Grayson County held a brief ceremony Tuesday for the unveiling of the new home in Knollwood.
“No child deserves to be homeless, and it is part of our mission to empower Grayson County families to end child homelessness,” Family Promise of Grayson County Director Leigh Walker said. “This home donation from Clayton allows us to help even more families and children each year to ensure they have a place to call home while they look for permanent housing.”
The three-bedroom home, nestled among similar homes, may look small from the outside, but representatives from Family Promise said it has big potential to affect the lives out countless families across the region.
Family Promise of Grayson County began its programs aimed at assisting those facing of experiencing homelessness in 2018. Among these initiatives is a program that allows several area church congregations to host a small handful of families on a rotating basis while they save up and work toward stability.
To date, the program has assisted 71 families.
"This is a dream come true for us at Family Promise. We are so grateful and I keep saying it as extravagant generosity that Clayton has shown us," Walker said.
The new home represents an extension of these programs through a home that can be used by families graduating from the program as they work toward finding permanent housing. Walker said the home will give families who have more time to achieve financial goals, such as making a down payment on a car or rent on a home.
"They can stay here until they achieve that financial goal and then they will move on and another family can come in and do the same," she said.
The last two years have been difficult and uncertain for many families in the region, Walker said. In addition to the transitional housing program, Family Promise launched a new program in 2020 aimed at preventing families from reaching homelessness through rent and utility assistance, among other aid.
Through that program, Family Promise has been able to assist 50 families and 125 children.
"This is a dream come true for us at Family Promise," Walker said, adding that one in 16 children experience homelessness by the first grade.
For Clayton, this new home represents the third and final home that the national builder will donate in 2021, and the third donated within the state of Texas since 2018.
“It is part of our mission as a company to be a force for good in our community,” said Jason Garcia, manager of Clayton Homes of Denison. “I am proud of each of our local team members who helped complete this home that will assist families here for decades to come, truly opening doors to a better life.”
Walker said families using the new home could stay for six to 12 months before moving out and allowing a new family to move in. She was uncertain when the first family will move into the home as the one that was expected to move in has since found a permanent home.
This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: Home for the holidays: 3rd house donated to transitional housing program
