When a bell rings at ​CATCH Idaho​, it means a family has just received the keys to a home of their own, another step toward the nonprofit’s mission of ending homelessness in Southwest Idaho. For families like Brittany, that sound signals peace, hope, a fresh start, and a new home.

Brittany’s Story

One night, with nothing but the clothes on her back and her one-year-old son in her arms, Brittany left a domestic violence situation and her home state behind.

With all she knew in the rearview window, Brittany ended up in Idaho. A friend offered her shelter for a time, but, eventually, circumstances pushed her into homelessness. For the first time in her life, she was completely on her own. Then she found CATCH.

“For the first time since leaving my previous home, it felt like someone was paying attention,” Brittany said of connecting with CATCH. “It felt like people cared.”

Brittany worked with three case managers at CATCH. Each one met her where she was.

Her first case manager helped her navigate her mental health, connecting her to therapy and medication. Her second helped her secure stable housing and showed up in ways Brittany did not expect. When Brittany moved into her first apartment, her case manager found a table for her family, then carried it upstairs by herself because Brittany was pregnant at the time.

Her third case manager, Chris, focused on building Brittany’s financial security to help her create the kind of stability that lasts beyond the program.

Ringing the Bell

Brittany now has an apartment of her own. She works in restaurant management, where she has received two promotions and a significant pay increase. Her son is enrolled in daycare and thriving.

When asked what CATCH means to her, Brittany said, “When you’re in the world and you find yourself with absolutely nothing…how do you tell yourself to put your foot forward? That’s what CATCH did for me. It got me my confidence back and showed me that I could be something.”

Read more of ​Brittany’s story​, and other success stories like hers.

CATCH in Action

Started in 2006 by the City of Boise and becoming its own nonprofit in 2010, CATCH was one of the first rapid rehousing organizations in the nation focused on families. The organization embraces a low barrier to entry, with the criteria being that a person is experiencing homelessness and/or fleeing domestic violence, their income is 50% or below the poverty line, and they have a child, or children, under 18.

Stephanie Day, CATCH’s Executive Director, has been involved with housing social work for almost 20 years. Before she joined CATCH, Day was skeptical of the organization’s rapid rehousing model, which seeks to get people into stable housing as quickly as possible through rent and utility assistance, case manager support, and partnerships with landlords.

Day was working on her master’s thesis and was sure her research would disprove the effectiveness of the rapid rehousing model CATCH uses.

Instead, she found the opposite.

One reason rapid rehousing works, Day saw, is that it focuses on getting people into a more stable living environment than shelters can typically provide. “When someone is in a shelter, they are often in crisis and trying to survive. They are most often congregate living environments,” Day said. “When they’re in a home of their own, they have control, ownership over their situation.”

With rapid rehousing, Day said, “we aren’t asking people to work towards some vague future. It’s already there.”

Day shared a rapid rehousing success story that sticks with her. Day was working for the Salvation Army when a single mom fleeing a domestic violence situation came in. After that first visit, Day saw the mom return again and again with her kids. The emotional and physical pain they were enduring was apparent. Day went on to work for CATCH, and one day, she saw the same mom walk through their doors. Thanks to CATCH’s rapid rehousing model, “It finally clicked,” Day said. “She’s doing great to this day, so stable. It took many iterations for that to happen.”

Humanizing Homelessness

One of the challenges housing organizations face in getting community support is that only about 5% of the population experiences homelessness. “Most people have never experienced homelessness themselves, and that distance can make it easy to misunderstand the families we serve,” Day said. “But when you get to know our neighbors, the distance closes, and you see a community show up to walk alongside them.”

Day is quick to clear up misconceptions about why people experience homelessness. The single correlative factor, identified in the book “Homelessness is a Housing Problem,” is a lack of affordable housing.

This became very apparent in 2020. CATCH was swamped with calls telling the same story: people who had rented a home or apartment for years, but now the property manager was selling. “All of the informal affordable housing was gone,” Day described. “As rents have gotten higher, the vast majority of people we serve are locals displaced as rents rise.”

Day also dispelled the myth that shelters have plenty of space. “We are probably 1,000 beds short of being able to meet capacity in the Treasure Valley,” she said. “Even if people did want shelter, there’s not enough room.”

She identified an area of untapped potential for demystifying and humanizing homelessness: community education. “If you’re part of a book club, talk about homelessness. If you want to host coffee with CATCH, we love to come in,” she emphasized. “I talk about the big picture, then let people ask questions. The more we can help demystify, and help make homelessness more relatable and understandable, the more we can help.”

Support CATCH Idaho

In addition to bringing the CATCH team to your book group or workplace for coffee hour and other events, you can directly support their work to end homelessness in Southwest Idaho by becoming a ​Keyturner​ and contributing monthly life-changing support. For as little as $20 a month, you can join 170 neighbors and counting who provide the keys and care that help Treasure Valley families experiencing homelessness open the door to a home of their own. Join at ​catchidaho.org/keyturners​.

You can also help raise awareness by following CATCH at ​@catchidaho​ to stay up to date and share their families’ stories with your own community.

Thanks for reading!

With love from Boise,

Marissa

If you’re interested in getting your product, service, or event in front of 25k Boise locals →​book a call​

This story was written by Sonya Feibert Kuhn, a writer, improviser, and performer in Boise. She’s an avid Treeforter and an enthusiastic patron of and participant in the storytelling and comedy scenes. On sunny days, find her in the foothills hiking with her pup, Chloe, and partner, Mitch.