Covington-based Welcome House of Northern Kentucky was awarded a contract by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government for the homeless services agency to bring its representative payee program to the city.
The program offers assistance to people with mental or physical disabilities in managing their income as an attempt to stabilize a housing situation.
According to a news release, the payee develops a budget and directly pays rent, utilities, and other monthly bills on behalf of clients. 98 of payee clients stayed in stable housing for more than two years, Welcome House said.
The move into Lexington represents Welcome House’s strategy to fill gaps in homeless services across the state, the agency said in a news release.
“We have three decades of experience with payee programs and a record of positive outcomes,” said Welcome House CEO Danielle Amrine. “It is much more efficient for us to bring this expertise and infrastructure to Lexington than for an organization to try and replicate it from scratch. That’s what made Welcome House attractive to the city, and that’s the model we’re using across the state.”
Amrine also said that Welcome House will look to offer other services such as permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, Social Security outreach, and services coordination.
“There is a tremendous need for these services,” Amrine said. “We do them well, and we can do them at scale.”
-Staff report