HOUSING

Case Management Services
Hub counselors are professionally trained to help people overcome barriers in order to exit homelessness. The Hub’s counselors work with individuals to determine root causes of homelessness and create client-specific strategies that target barriers and connect clients to resources in order to exit homelessness. 

Permanent housing
The Hub helps clients apply for housing by filling out a vulnerability index, a survey for identifying and prioritizing the street homeless population for housing according to the fragility of their health. The Hub works directly with Catholic Charities and Community Alliance for the Homeless to find housing solutions for our clients.

Temporary shelter vouchers
The Hospitality Hub works with all of the shelters in Memphis and many in the surrounding area to provide our clients with temporary shelter as needed.  In 2018, the Hub assigned over 1500 housing vouchers in 2018 to individuals and families needing temporary emergency shelter.

EMPLOYMENT

Temporary employment through Work Local, the Hub’s city-wide blight abatement program
The Hospitality Hub’s Work Local program provides work seven days a week for clients. Workers receive a fair wage and a hot meal as payment for their work. Both men and women are offered an option to work Tuesday through Friday. Additionally, Work Local runs women-only crews on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Program partners include the Downtown Memphis Commission, the City of Memphis Department of Public Works, the Shelby County Commission, the Memphis Medical District Collaborative and Tri-State Truck Center. In 2018, Work Local workers earned $109,000 and cleaned up 87 TONS of trash on 1,280 miles of Memphis roads.

VETERANS 

7% of Hub clients are veterans.
The Hub supports veterans through all of our services. In addition, the Hub provides veterans specific assistance in applying and qualifying for Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) housing program, Veterans’ Administration disability claims, and discharge upgrades.

The Hub works closely with partners to support homeless veterans, including the St. Sebastian Veteran Services,  VA Hospital, CAAP VA, and Alpha Omega Veteran Services.

IDENTIFICATION

Assistance acquiring birth certificates, state identifications, and driver’s licenses
Many services available for homeless individuals require state identification, the Hub works with clients to obtain birth certificates, state identifications or driver’s licenses. We prepare all the necessary paperwork, pay the required fees and provide transportation to secure the latter two. In 2018, the Hub helped 546 people get birth certificates from all over the country and the world including Iraq and United Arab of Emirates. The Hub helped 417 people get Tennessee state identifications. 

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation assistance for homeless Shelby County school students
The Hub works with the Shelby County School system to ensure homeless students are able to make it to school each day.

MATA bus passes
The Hub provides bus passes to individuals needing transportation to jobs, job interviews, medical appointments and case management tasks. In 2018, 1,120 bus passes were provided to clients with job schedules and medical appointments.

Long-distance travel
The Hub works to help clients who are stranded in Memphis to return home. 

HEALTH

Menstrual Products
We provide period products to clients through our partnership with Sister Supply, an organization that collects pads, tampons and underwear for those without the resources to purchase them.

Refreshments and access to clean restrooms
The Hub offers coffee to anyone and access to clean restrooms during business hours. A client recently told us the Hub is the only place that homeless people can use the restroom downtown without buying something.

OTHER HUB SERVICES

Outreach
In October 2018, the Hospitality Hub partnered with the Downtown Memphis Commission to create a pilot street outreach program aimed at connecting homeless people with available services. Each weekday from 7-9am and from 3-5pm a trained Hub staff person used a DMC-provided golf cart to visit the streets and alleys of the city core looking to build relationships with homeless men and women. The Hub staff person liaised with the Blue Suede Brigade via DMC-supplied radios. The target area for the pilot was bounded by Danny Thomas Boulevard, A.W. Willis Avenue, Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue and the Mississippi River. The goal of the program was to introduce one person each week into the continuum of care. Over the course of the pilot program, we surpassed that goal by over 350%, bringing an average of 3.6 people each week into the continuum of care. These men and women went on to find shelter, benefits, employment and housing through the comprehensive work of the Hospitality Hub and CoC partners. As a result of the successful pilot, the Hub has extended the street outreach program to encompass the area bounded by North Parkway, Cleveland Avenue, Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue and the Mississippi River. This expanded program is conducted by Hub staff operating three Jeeps, five days a week.

Family support
The Hub works closely with Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA) to provide assistance for homeless women and children. We work with the Shelby County Community Services Agency for rent payment support and assistance with utility bills. 

Temporary mailing address
The Hub provides clients with a permanent address to receive mail and packages. Without this service, many clients would have no reliable location to receive birth certificates, state Identification, or other vital paperwork to move out of homelessness. 

Access to computers
Computer access is available for all clients. Like all of us, homeless individuals use computers to communicate with family, friends, potential employers, government agencies as well as research education opportunities, complete job applications, or to stay current with the news.

Lockers for storage
Lockers are provided to clients to store personal belongings. Many times homeless individuals do not sleep during the night afraid to have their belongings stolen. Securing their belongings in a locker provides a small sense of peace while the Hub works diligently to move individuals out of homelessness.

Use of telephones to make local and long-distance calls
Free telephones are made available to everyone allowing people to connect with their communities.

Assistance with disability and unemployment benefit applications
The Hub partners with CMI Healthcare Services Project to Aid in the Transition from Homelessness (PATH), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) to assist clients applying for disability benefits. Clients with questions about denial of benefits work with our free legal clinic attorneys from Baker Donelson. Any client needing assistance with filing for unemployment benefits is given access to our computers and the assistance of a counselor. 

Pre-screening and referrals for accredited substance abuse programs
The Hub works with the Cocaine Alcohol Awareness Program (CAAP) and the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to provide alcohol and drug treatment as needed. A Tennessee Recovery Navigator visits the Hub regularly to provide additional referrals.

Legal assistance
The Hub has a legal clinic once a month; Baker Donelson law firm provides free legal services to clients. 

Access to clergy
The Hub founded in 2007 by downtown churches provides clients with access to clergy if they wish to speak with an ordained minister on staff.