Ending poverty one family at a time

Learn more about an organization that has a big impact on the multifamily industry and the families who live in apartments.

By ANGELA BURGESS, RaiseUp Families

Photo by Koralee Boucher, RaiseUp Families

Since 1994, RaiseUp Families has guided families out of the poverty maze, one family at a time, through its unique and exceptional program. The organization has successfully stabilized hundreds of families, allowing school children to remain in the same school. This consistency increases their odds of graduating from high school and avoiding poverty when they become adults.

Hard-working adults can easily fall behind in rent and other bills due to circumstances beyond their control. The COVID19 pandemic, medical bills, car repairs and other problems stretch a tight budget to the breaking point. Combine a lack of basic money management tools with one, large unanticipated expense or loss of a job and suddenly a family drops from barely getting by to extreme hardship. That starts a chain reaction that compounds problems until the family is desperate and destitute.

This often results in evictions, which then leads to children changing schools or missing school altogether. That reality impairs each child’s education and social development as relationships with teachers and peers are disrupted. One in four children in Harris County live below the federal poverty line ($26,850 annually for a family of four), totaling more than 300,000 children. Low-income students drop out of school five times faster than their higher income peers, and 28% of Texas students fail to graduate from high school.

When a family qualifies for the RaiseUp Families ninemonth Hand-Up program, the organization pays any back rent or utility bills to ensure the family won’t be evicted and that children remain in their same school so that they experience an uninterrupted school year. Then, the organization augments the client family’s living expenses as a case manager who coaches the family through an intensive financial management process while also helping them find better paying jobs. The organization also provides peer support groups and individual counseling to help them learn to manage and overcome obstacles.

Over the past five years, all the school children of client families stayed in the same school system, changing schools only to move to the next grade level. Equally significant, families that completed the program experienced an average income increase of 40% and were still living in stable housing a year after completing the program. Every $1 invested in RaiseUp Families generates approximately $20 in social benefit. This includes both future lifetime earnings and avoided social costs for children, who are less likely to drop out of school as a result of a stable home environment.

The truth is, apartment owners never want to evict renters, which is why apartment managers have been eager to partner with people who can help them keep their residents and still collect the rent. RaiseUp Families is always happy to forge new relationships with apartments serving families in the asset limited, income constrained, employed population or what is known more commonly as the ALICE population. These are folks who, on average, are working full-time but bringing in less than $64,000 a year in household income.

A former client named Stephanie, whose last name is omitted for privacy, has a story that is typical of how families come to need the help of RaiseUp Families and how the organization guides them from desperation to renewed stability and security. Stephanie is a single mom of three girls. She had a great job with the U.S. government, but when the government shut down in 2018, she was furloughed. Due to the nature of her job, she still had to go to work every day, but she was no longer being paid. Combine that with a car accident and insurance that had lapsed (unbeknownst to her, as her ex-husband stopped paying and did not inform her), she found herself getting further and further behind on rent and other bills.

In June 2020, RaiseUp Families expanded its reach beyond its roots in Spring Branch and Katy to serve all of greater Houston area as the issues facing low-income families compiled. Having heard about RaiseUp Families through her apartment manager, Stephanie was the first client to enter their program under the new expansion.

During the nine months Stephanie was in the program, she managed to repair her credit, clean up her driving and insurance record from her accident, learn how to set and stick to a budget, engage in peer support groups, take a parenting class, participate in individual counseling sessions and learn how to grow her own business to give her children the best life possible. Today, the future is bright for Stephanie. (Scan the QR Code on Page 38 to learn more about Stephanie’s journey.)

RaiseUp Families partners with apartment properties and owners throughout the city. The organization works hand-in-hand with apartment managers, so they know what to expect when one of their residents is enrolled with RaiseUp Families. All rent subsidies are paid directly to the apartment community and/or manager. For a family to qualify, they must have school-aged children, be legally willing and able to work full-time in the U.S. and struggling to pay their rent or utilities in full at least one month throughout the year. Families can apply by calling 713-973-8083, ext. 106 or complete a pre-screen form at raiseupfamilies.org/our-process/need-help/.