Our Story
Family Promise of Wake County began in 1994 as Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network (WIHN), a 501(c)(3) providing church-based emergency shelter and meals to Wake County families experiencing temporary homelessness. Since then, we've expanded the services we offer to include prevention, post-shelter stabilization, on-site emergency shelter, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and a partnership with the Triangle Apartment Association called New Lease on Life.
While the mission of transforming the lives of families experiencing temporary homelessness has remained the same throughout the years, the changing nature of how we accomplish that mission led our organization to change its name to Family Promise of Wake County on July 1, 2016. Our current name better reflects the entire continuum of services we offer as we help families find support services and, ultimately, locate safe, affordable, permanent housing in our community.
Our Difference
We remain one of only two emergency shelters in Wake County to allow families to stay together, regardless of the ages and genders of children and parents. This spares parents the difficult choice between keeping their families together and finding a safe place for their children to sleep. We also offer a continuum of services and partnerships to move families all the way from homelessness to safe, affordable, permanent housing.
Our Continuum of Care
Hand Up (Prevention)
Our Hand Up program is devoted to preventing families from experiencing homelessness in the first place. We offer rental arrears assistance, utility payments, and other services to keep families in their homes and keep their homes livable.
Emergency Shelter
Four of our 12 apartments are designated for emergency shelter. For eight to 12 weeks, families live in one of these three bedroom/three bathroom apartments. 70% of our families graduate from our emergency shelter program largely in part to our devoted team of social workers.
Rapid Rehousing
A housing-first model of rehousing. When families are referred to us for rapid rehousing, we seek to find them housing first, then continue to work with them to provide other necessary services.
Transitional Housing
Eight of our 12 apartments are designated for transitional housing. This program enables guest families to have a much higher chance of remaining independent through intensive wrap-around services and stable housing. During their stay in transitional housing, families continue to receive support services, including continued case management, life skills classes, support groups, and referral services.
Safe at Home (Post-Shelter Stabilization)
Our Safe at Home program provides services for those who have been through our Emergency Shelter program to keep them from experiencing homelessness again.
New Lease on Life
Our New Lease on Life program is a partnership with the Triangle Apartment Association that provides two years of discounted rent for families and takes locational needs into consideration.
Do We Still Use Churches for Emergency Shelter?
For many years, we used a rotation of faith communities to house families during the evenings. To find out why we no longer use this model and how you can still participate in the work of Family Promise, check out this video.