Family Promise Montco (formerly Inter-Faith Housing Alliance)
Family Promise Montco PA formerly Inter-Faith Housing Alliance creates multiple “zones of peace” for individuals and families in crisis with three housing programs and food cupboard. These services temporarily alleviate the violence of poverty, domestic abuse, and food and housing insecurity. Inter-Faith was founded in 1982 as an emergency hotline to serve families in need of housing by Lei Barry, who had experienced homelessness herself. Today, the organization partners with 25 Montgomery County religious congregations to provide emergency shelter. “Host” congregations house families for a month at a time, supported by “buddy” congregations that provide meals and transportation. Hope Gardens, an eight-unit apartment building in Ambler, is home to a two-year transitional housing program.
Residents actively work toward goals for family stability set with a case manager: they pay rent, create savings, attend education programs, and plan for an exit to a permanent home. Inter-Faith’s supportive housing program, which aims to bridge the gap between transitional housing and total independence, is provided at Hope Forest, a twin house in Ambler, and Hope on Fifth, a two-unit building in Lansdale. Residents receive light case management as they complete their journey to self-sufficiency. Finally, Inter-Faith’s food cupboard provides nutritious food to approximately 2,500 low-income Montgomery County residents each year at an interim location at Living Word Lutheran Church in Roslyn, PA. A move to Salem Baptist Church, also in Roslyn, is planned for 2022.
