Editor’s note: On Tuesday, August 24^th, Andy Bales, the CEO of Union Rescue Mission (URM) in Los Angeles, CA wrote a piece describing the rationale behind URM’s decision to charge some shelter residents a fee. In this post he describes the implementation of URM’s new policy.

When I wrote about the idea of charging some Union Rescue Mission (URM) guests a fee for their shelter stay on our blog, we received fantastic feedback. We also met with local community activists who formerly experienced homelessness, and gained valuable insight from them.

From these discussions we developed a pilot program, now called the Gateway program, of twenty-five beds that would consist of a covenant relationship with some benefits in return for participation.

We asked participants for a commitment to sobriety, asked them to pay $7.00 per day, $2.00 going toward their own savings plan, and $5.00 to pay for their specific case management that helps empower them to escape homelessness.

In return, the guests are provided a foot locker for their bunk, which they can access and rest in any time they like during the day. Guests are provided classes, and they receive the more intense empowering case management that they themselves invest in.

All meals, health clinic, dental clinic, mental health counseling, legal clinic, utilities, and a host of other services are provided at no cost due to donor support.

Hard Times, Smart Solutions

To be clear, the fees collected are for personal savings and the guests’ specific case management.  We initially launched the program on a volunteer basis, but change does not come easily so next month we are going to move from 280 free guest beds on the men’s side to 255 free beds and 25 Gateway beds, and from 208 free beds on the women’s side to 183 free beds and 25 Gateway beds. I personally hope that this program proves so successful that it grows from the inside out.

There is no question that these tough economic times have contributed to our decision to ask some of our guests to help pay for their services. We hope to work through these difficult financial times, and allow our guests to participate by investing in their own recovery so we may all come out better on the other side.

Families that have incomes and reside in one of URM’s private rooms will participate by paying 30% of their income as a program fee. One-third of that will be put towards their savings, and two-thirds will pay for the case management staff assigned to the families.

Asking some of our guests to contribute to their own recovery is likely the only way URM can continue being one of the only resources for housing single moms with kids, single dads with kids, and two parent families with kids, including teen-agers and teen-age boys, in the Skid Row area.

The single moms with children who participate in this program will be the first to have the opportunity to move to our beautiful Hope Gardens Family Center, a fantastic transitional housing facility which also requires participation in a program fee/savings program.

With the sacrificial giving by our donors and the dedicated selfless work of our staff, why wouldn’t we explore allowing guests with substantial income to participate in their own recovery?

Photo credit: AriCee