In 2023, Family Promise of Greater Johnson City received an Eviction Prevention and Diversion Grant to help families facing eviction remain housed and get unhoused families back into stable housing fast. What began as a grant-funded pilot quickly revealed just how many families in our community need this kind of help. As a result, prevention and diversion work has since grown into an important ongoing service here at Family Promise.
Family Promise’s core mission is helping families experiencing homelessness find shelter and transition into permanent housing. But when we can step in earlier, before a family loses their home in the first place, everyone comes out ahead. Prevention is simply more efficient and more cost-effective than shelter and transition: it costs less, takes less time, and spares families the disruption of losing their home, their community, and their sense of stability.
Prevention steps in when a family is at imminent risk of eviction or homelessness. Through coaching and financial assistance, we help families stay in their current home before they lose it.
Diversion helps families already experiencing homelessness find a safe place to land, often assisting with a deposit or a new lease, without having to enter the shelter program.
Both approaches share the same goal: keep families out of crisis—or get them out of crisis quickly—so kids can keep waking up in a stable home and shelter resources stay available for the families who need them most.
If your family is facing eviction, please call us at 423-202-7805 to learn more about our Eviction Prevention and Shelter Diversion services.
