Religious congregations are assisting homeless families through a new housing program backed by Sacramento City Councilman Robert Fong. In the program, known as the Faith & Homeless Families Initiative, local religious groups find housing for homeless families with children.

The program is emerging as local homeless shelters say they’re turning away families because of limited shelter space, according to Tim Brown, director of the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative, a local public/private partnership.

“There’s a lot of newer homeless families,” he said.

The program began in February and has linked six families to congregations. The congregations then found housing for the families, Brown said. The program is still working to house a seventh family, he noted.

The program is now connected to the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative. Fong is currently working to set up the faith program as a nonprofit organization unique from the chronic homelessness effort.

“I thought there was something we could do as human beings,” Fong told The Sacramento Press.

The program, which is still in a pilot phase, plans to connect a new group of homeless families with a new set of congregations by August or September, Brown said. In order for the program to expand, organizers will need to raise money for additional staffers, he noted.

The program works with three local homeless shelters. Case managers at the shelters refer the families to the program, Brown explained. Volunteers from the congregations are trained in a three-hour session by program staff, he added. 

In addition to locating housing for the families, the congregations can further help the families with rental assistance, Brown said.

One of the program’s rules is that the congregations cannot require homeless families to attend religious services, Brown said. However, the congregations are allowed to invite the families to services.

The local congregations currently participating in the program are: Spiritual Life Center, All Nations Church of God in Christ, St. John’s Lutheran Church, First United Methodist Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church and Bayside of South Sacramento.

Information for congregations interested in joining the program is available here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.