Collaborative Initiatives

The Salvation Army, serving as The Passages Program lead grantee, collaborates with Caritas of Austin, Foundation for the Homeless, LifeWorks, SafePlace, and Foundation Communities. Utilizing shared resources from the collaborative, Passages offers up to 18 months of case management to participants who are in transitional housing of 6 to 12 months for those going straight from temporary shelter to permanent housing. The program also offers supportive services, i.e. subsidized child care, life skills training, financial assistance and mental health/substance abuse counseling. The project serves 700 to 800 homeless persons per year. Those who participate for at least two months have an 81% success rate of achieving permanent housing.

A 2009 winner of the Community Action Network Butler Award for Spirit of Collaboration, Passages is one of Austin’s longest standing social service collaborations. The program has also been featured serveral times at National Social Services conferences sponsored by The Salvation Army. Funders include the Department of HUD, the City of Austin, and the Religious Coalition to Assist the Homeless.

The Passages Rapid ReHousing Initiative is designed to investigate best practices in transitioning homeless families with children into permanent housing. Seventy-five homeless families from local shelters receive transitional housing, job training and employment assistance. As it works on solutions to homelessness, the program has an important research and evaluation component. One of only 23 projects nationwide selected to participate in the HUD Rapid ReHousing Demonstration Program, our Rapid ReHousing Initiative is the only such program in Texas.

The Salvation Army was one of 5 organizations nationwide to be awarded HUD funding for the 2011 Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration Project (VHPD). The Army collaborates with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor to operate the Central Texas VHPD, serving Veterans across five countries adjacent to the Fort Hood military installation. The 3-year project includes a HUD funded research and evaluation component to investigate best practices in preventing homelessness among Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.