Strategies to End Homelessness added Direct Cash Transfer as part of services offered within the Shelter Diversion program for 2023.
What is Direct Cash Transfer?
Direct Cash Transfer is a tactic to help households experiencing poverty or homelessness meet their needs. The program is simple. It involves giving heads of households a prepaid debit card and allows them to meet their needs the best way they see fit. It gives households choice and autonomy.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed just how successful these programs can be for creating housing stability. People know what they need to help themselves become stable. These programs allow households to decide for themselves what their most important needs are.
Direct Cash Transfer is also seen as cost-effective. Cutting red-tape and giving money directly to the person or household who need it most. There are no receipts to turn in or extra paperwork to fill out.
How it helps Shelter Diversion
Our homelessness prevention program, Shelter Diversion, added Direct Cash Transfer to its services in 2023 for one year. Through a generous grant from the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), we were able to add this year-long benefit. Adding this allowed us to enhance the Shelter Diversion program and improve outcomes. For instance, a household may use a this benefit on a car repair. In turn, this helps them find and/or maintain employment. And therefore, they are able to keep their housing.
How it works
The Direct Cash Transfer benefit within the Shelter Diversion program is one-time cash assistance for each enrolled household. First, a household identifies a need. Next, they tell their Case Manager about their need. Then the Case Manager fills out an online form to request a debit card. Finally, the Household receives the debit card and fills their need the best way they see fit.
In the Shelter Diversion program, the most common uses for this one-time, transfer of cash are:
- utility arrears
- washers and dryers
- car repairs
- furniture
Finally, this benefit gave households enrolled in Shelter Diversion more autonomy. Households decided what their greatest need was that these funds could fulfill.
How Tamara used Direct Cash Transfer
Tamara enrolled in the Shelter Diversion program in early 2023 with two children, ages 4 and 1. She and her children were living doubled up with family members. But this was not a permanent solution and was unstable. First, she and her case manager sat down to identify barriers keeping Tamara from renting an apartment. They quickly identified that the biggest barrier was utility arrears. Unless she was able to pay this off, it would be impossible to turn on utilities in her name. And therefore, impossible to sign a lease on an apartment.
The Shelter Diversion program can pay for utility arrears but there are amount limits. But with Direct Cash Transfer also available to Shelter Diversion households, Tamara was able to combine both sources to pay off the full amount. With that barrier out of the way, Tamara was able to sign a lease for an apartment for her family. And later she qualified for a Housing Choice Voucher with the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. Through Tamara’s hard work, perseverance, and the Direct Cash Transfer program, she and her family now have long-term housing stability.
