The Bridge Fund of Westchester

A Program of The Bridge Fund of New York Inc.

The Bridge Fund of Westchester: Essential Leadership in Economic Crisis Prevention

In 2010, our program played a vital role in helping anxious clients hold on to their housing. Many had even fewer options than ever before to resolve their imminent housing loss. Some had endured periods of reduced employment, most had used all of what little savings they had accumulated, and local government was doing less to help. The Bridge Fund was the only open door for many households in distress. Today, as we monitor households we helped a year ago, we are gratified to see fresh evidence of the effectiveness of The Bridge Fund approach. There has been an increased number of clients who were able to remain in their affordable housing after receiving our financial assistance, even during these difficult months of the recession. We also saw more clients able to repay some or all of their loans as they regained their financial footing and confidence.

The recession’s aftershocks continue to have a significant impact on homelessness prevention efforts. The agencies with whom we partner to leverage funds for our clients have less money to contribute to the effort. Unlike The Bridge Fund, these agencies are financially dependent on government grants and contracts and, therefore, are vulnerable to changes in budget priorities. Indeed, the county’s approach to homelessness prevention changed dramatically in 2010.

For example, although the Westchester Board of Legislators approved funds for homelessness prevention in 2010, the funds were never provided to our collaborating agencies. The Department of Social Services is now focusing more on rent subsidies for transitional housing and less on homelessness prevention. Overall, we saw a drop of 9% in networked funds last year, and an increase of 10% in requests for assistance. The outlook for this year is much the same. Any government funding that is available is very difficult for those in need to access as eligibility requirements are exceedingly restrictive and the denial rates are high. This means The Bridge Fund will often be the only resource to save a family’s threatened housing.

The Bridge Fund of Westchester provides more than financial assistance. We enhance housing stability by providing intensive budget counseling, by conducting financial literacy workshops in the community, and by staying in touch with our clients through our monitoring. Our clients know they can contact us at any time to discuss issues that affect their housing stability. Every person who applies for help from The Bridge Fund receives expert guidance, even if they do not qualify for financial assistance.

Throughout the recession, the Bridge Fund’s private funding allowed us to remain a consistent and dependable resource for the working poor of Westchester. We are most grateful to our loyal supporters.

The Bridge Fund of Westchester Staff
from left: Sharon Whyte, Lisa Buck, Vivian DeJesus

 

The Bridge Fund of Westchester
Program Activity 2009 and 2010

1. Assistance may be loans or grants, critical information and referrals, budget counseling.
2. Bridge Fund households can receive a combination of loans and grants.
3. Funding secured by The Bridge Fund partnering with other agencies.
4. Money accumulated by client, but insufficient to resolve housing crisis.
5. Clients can repay as little as $5 per month upto $100 per month.

Last Year We...