2ROOFS is Whatcom County's own social real estate team. Every sale helps house a person in need at no additional cost to you. See how it works HERE.
Thank you Brianne, another 2roofs client! The sale of your home has provided women like Joan and her three children the ability to heal from domestic abuse and move on with their lives through Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services. Because of friends like you over 100 people in need were helped in 2roofs' first year of business.
No Resources to Escape
The goal of the DVSAS Safe Housing Program is to support and empower people who are homeless or about to become homeless due to domestic violence to recover from their trauma and pursue their goals, especially securing safe, stable housing. To this end, we provide a confidential place to live for up to ninety days and intensive advocacy-based counseling with Safe Housing Advocates on duty seven days a week, three-hundred sixty-five days a year. In addition, we partner with Lydia Place, another local non-profit, to provide housing case management and connect our clients to transitional and permanent housing resources in the community. We work with families and individuals of all ages, genders, and economic means and last year served over seventy adults and forty children.
Recently, a client ("Joan") entered our program with her three children. She had been living with her husband, who had become verbally and physically abusive towards her, and she decided that she was no longer safe in her home. She had no other family or friends with whom she could stay, and no other resources to rent a place for her family on her own. She and her children stayed in our confidential shelter for a little over two months, meeting with Safe Housing Advocates daily and processing the trauma she had experienced. We referred her to other parenting resources in the community, including the Parenting After Violence support group offered at our Downtown Support Center. She also accessed legal support services through DVSAS and successfully petitioned for a Domestic Violence Protection Order that requires her abuser to refrain from contacting her or her children in the future. During her time in the Safe Housing Program, she worked with her Lydia Place Housing Case Manager to secure a Bellingham Whatcom County Housing Authority voucher that helps to subsidize her rent until she is able to pay it herself. She moved into her own apartment with her children and plans to go back to school to pursue a career in nursing. Brianne, by choosing 2roofs as your Realtor, you help DVSAS to continue to support clients like Joan escape dangerous relationships and achieve safety and stability for themselves and their families.