Turning Point, a program administered by Genesis Home, provides
rental assistance and supportive services for five families in permanent
housing headed by an adult with a disability. A family is defined as one
or two parents with one or more dependent children in their full-time care.
Parents are required to receive regular MH/SA/DD services through an authorized Durham Center provider
in order to enter and remain in the program. Supportive services are
coordinated by two full-time case managers with the goal of 1) increasing
stability; 2) maximizing independence; 3) building family health and wholeness.
HUD Supportive Services funding underwrites the cost of case management time
spent with program participants. The population of families served by Turning Point has the
following typical characteristics: unemployed or underemployed; lack of formal
education; unstable housing history including frequent moves and evictions due
to lack of income; inadequate access to medical care and lack of preventative
health care education or health maintenance strategies; poor credit; outstanding
bills owed to former landlords and utility companies; little or no financial
education regarding budgeting or money management; lack of private
transportation and/or inability to access public transportation services;
children with special physical, emotional, or academic needs; lack of
affordable child care (including before- and after-school care and summer
care); lack of formal (agencies, mainstream service providers, etc.) and
informal support systems (friends, advocates, etc.). These families are some of
the community’s most vulnerable and all are “at risk” of repeated episodes of
homelessness without the housing and services that the program provides. The
program is currently at capacity serving five families comprised of six adults
and nine children. Turning Point program objectives include residential
stability, improving self-sufficiency as demonstrated by resident contributions
toward housing costs, increasing incomes, improved educational attainment, long
and short-term goal-setting, and increased knowledge of basic living skills.
Program activities include applications for eligible entitlement programs,
basic employment counseling, resume writing, mock interviews, referrals to
specialized service providers, locating of suitable child care, demonstration
of basic housekeeping skills, basic financial management training, occasional
transportation to services, cooking clinics, and other activities as needed.
HUD has reviewed Turning Point program performance as evidenced by the
project’s last two Annual Progress Reports (APRs) and commended the agency, “on
the excellent job it has done to meet the goals and objectives relating to
increasing incomes, creating greater self-determination, and assisting clients
in obtaining and/or maintaining residential stability,” each of the last two
years. 
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