Willis Dady Emergency Shelter Inc

Supportive employment program: in 2024 we continued serving individuals in our employment program by providing direct hourly part time or full time employment. We fill 6 - 12 full-time positions at frontier co-op each day across three shifts and provide transportation to and from frontier. We also offer part time seasonal work with the city of cedar rapids to perform litter abatement in public spaces around cedar rapids. In 2024 we employed over 93 of our clients at an average wage of $14.75/hour. In 2024, over 50% of employment clients exited the program with increasing their income. In 2024, we worked to stabilize a social enterprise at willis dady works employment hub to employ 8 individuals at risk of or experiencing homelessness through our mattress recycling program.

Permanent supportive housing: we provide permanent supportive housing units of income based housing with case management for individuals and households with children. These units are for those qualifying as chronically homeless based by huds definition. On-site case management is provided to build stability and prevent cycling through community support systems. Feeling safe hastens better self-care practices, improved health, and outlook. In 2024 we opened a 14 unit apartment complex to further our permanent supportive housing portfolio. In 2024 we operated a total of 36 units of permanent supportive housing. In 2024 we serviced 46 individuals and 5 families (5 children) in our supportive housing program.

Street outreach: in 2024, we served 149 people who were sleeping unsheltered in linn county. Our street outreach program reaches individuals sleeping in places not meant for human habitation such as in encampments, under bridges, in alleys, or in their vehicles. We are able to connect them with their basic needs such as hygiene products, blankets, pillows, tents and clothing. Our case managers are able to assist clients in this program access vital documents to work towards securing stable housing. In 2022, we expanded our street outreach program to open hector's place day center at our willis dady works employment hub. The day center provides immediate access to shower and laundry facilities for individuals sleeping unsheltered with additional access to immediate case management services and referrals to employment services and job trainings at the employment hub. The day center sees on average 20 clients per day.

Rapid rehousing and veteran case management: we provide rapid rehousing to clients who are literally homeless. Rapid rehousing is a program that provides case management and small amounts of temporary rental assistance to help people move out of homelessness and into housing with deposit and/or rent money. In 2024 we served 78 individuals through his program. 52% of the households served exited the program to housing. We also housed 23 veterans through our medium-term housing program, transition in place. Transition in place is funded through the department of veteran affairs and allows us to rehouse veterans experiencing literal homelessness and provide up to two years of rent assistance and intensive case management supports. In 2023, we started a housing retention case management program through the va, working upstream to keep veterans in their housing and out of the literal homeless system. In 2024, we served 56 veterans with this new program.