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| New residents and Bridge care managers take a break on moving day. |
The goal is for guests of the Bridge to transition to either affordable housing or PSH if they have a disability requiring some assistance. PSH is widely considered the solution to homelessness. The story below profiles one new PSH resident in the DHA owned Pebbles Park Apartments.
It had been a long road for Eleanor: domestic violence and depression, the death of a child, an auto accident and leg amputation, drug addiction, homelessness, and jail, followed by emergency shelter, transitional shelter at The Bridge, and now, at last, home.
Home for Eleanor is Pebbles Park Apartments, a 42 unit apartment complex on Park Lane, newly transformed into the first permanent supportive housing (PSH) focused on women and children. Permanent Supportive Housing is a successful, cost-effective combination of affordable housing with support services for those having experienced homelessness along with a mental, physical, or addiction disorder. At Pebbles, LifeNet of Texas provides on-site case management and coordinates support services. MDHA is leading the city's efforts to develop 700 units of permanent supportive housing by 2014.
Pebbles Park is the first of two innovative partnerships between the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA), MDHA and LifeNet of Texas. DHA owns the property and leases it to MDHA for $1 year plus operating costs. Twenty-four (24) homeless women and seventeen female-headed families moved into the apartment complex in time for Christmas, forming a community of mutual support. The second partnership, Cliff Manor, will provide supportive housing for 100.
For Eleanor, her home is a dream come true. "I love getting up in the morning, opening the curtains to see the sun, listening to the news and reading my Bible. I have a place now where I am able to fix my own food!" |
