PATH Community Homes

People Attempting to Help’s (PATH) mission is to serve, through committed dedicated staff and well-equipped volunteers, the economically disadvantaged people in Smith County with both emergency assistance and programs to empower and encourage them to become self-sufficient. PATH’s clients are low- and moderate-income individuals and families in Smith County, Texas. The need for these services is high, with 15.4% of families and 13.80% of Smith County’s population below the poverty line, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. A PATH client survey conducted in 2011 showed that more than half of PATH clients are living at or below the federal poverty line, with 33% of living at 50% of the poverty line.

Decent, affordable rental housing for low-income families and individuals is high, but these units remain in short supply around the country. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in no community in the nation can a family afford a modest two bedroom apartment on a minimum wage income—the type of income that the majority of PATH’s clients earn. In 2006, nearly half of all renters spent more than 30% of their income on housing, while some 25% (9 million renters) spent more than 50% of their income on housing costs. This constitutes a considerable financial burden, according to HUD: “The lack of affordable housing is a significant hardship for low-income households preventing them from meeting their other basic needs, such as nutrition and healthcare, or saving for their future and that of their families.”

PATH is the only organization in Smith County, TX providing a comprehensive range of services to those in need. Clients who come through PATH's doors receive both immediate assistance such as food, clothing, prescription medication, utilities, eye glasses, and personal hygiene items; and long-term guidance that enables them to become and remain fully independent beyond PATH's services.

The PATH Community Homes program consists of 54 homes in the Tyler, Texas area. These homes vary in occupancy, from two-person dwellings to three bedroom homes. The homes ensure that these renters are able to live decently and affordably and that they do not have to make sacrifices when choosing to pay for necessities like food, transportation to work or school, utilities, car payments, medication, insurance, and more.

Clients are referred to the program by our community partners, the Salvation Army and the East Texas Crisis Center. Often, clients are working to transition out of homelessness. Other clients are already involved in one or more of PATH’s other programs, and become interested in the Community Homes program that way.

PATH has a rigorous intake process to determine program eligibility. All interested clients must fill out an intake form, which assesses need (the client must demonstrate that they are unable to afford decent housing elsewhere, that they are low-income, and other medical, financial, personal, and family burdens), and performs a background check. Renters cannot have a history of eviction or a felony conviction. Often, the renters have various other needs that PATH is able to assist with; if they are not already enrolled in other PATH programs, we help them do so at intake.

PATH currently has a waiting list of people who qualify for the program. As our goal is to eventually lead the clients to self-sufficiency outside of PATH’s services, so we require occupants to take a financial literacy/money management course, provided by PATH.
In 2011, PATH Community Homes provided safe, affordable, decent housing to 189 individuals.