In April of this year, our Permanent Supported Housing (PSH) program helped connect Sarah to a home after years of homelessness. When Sarah entered ShelterCare’s PSH program nearly eight months ago, she was facing five charges against her and a jail sentence for criminal trespass. However, last week Sarah cried out tears of happiness at municipal court after learning the District Attorney had dismissed all charges against her, and voided the jail sentence due to her incredible improvements over the last eight months.
The judge attributed her turnaround to being housed and working closely with ShelterCare staff to track her court dates, appointments, and meetings. “The municipal court is great about working with people if they are trying to engage and be accountable,” said housing specialist, Zelima. “They could see she was serious about turning her life around, and they didn’t want to jeopardize all the great improvements she has made.”
Sarah is part of PSH’s Sahalie program, which helps reduce community costs, and resolve chronic homelessness, by providing housing and intensive support to Lane County’s most frequent users of jails, hospitals, and emergency services. One of our supporters for the Sahalie program is the Chambers Family Foundation, which helps make housing more affordable for our Sahalie residents.