Our Mission
To provide a safe, healthy and nurturing environment for homeless families while implementing a goal-oriented program designed to help homeless parents and children move from crisis to self-sufficiency.
What We Offer
The Esplanade House provides transitional housing and intensive supportive services for homeless families with children. The main goal of the Esplanade House program is to work with homeless families to accomplish life changes that will help them to become healthy, confident, and as self-sufficient as possible. Our program also places a special emphasis on helping the children recover from the trauma of their family’s homelessness. We provide the supports they need to succeed in school, address developmental progress, and gain social and emotional competencies necessary for their future.
Most of the adults served are either in recovery for drug and alcohol addictions or have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness (in some cases both). Often these conditions, combined with their homelessness, have resulted in their children being detained in foster care by County Children’s Services. The Esplanade House program helps them stabilize their lives in order to be reunited with their children.
The program provides an on-site licensed drug and alcohol counseling program, case management (for both adults and children), as well as groups and classes which address topics ranging from parenting to financial literacy to healthy relationships. Off-site services are also accessed and part of each household's service plan, including behavioral health counseling, drug court, and any other appropriate community services which enhance the adult’s recovery and ability to become self-sufficient.
We are committed to breaking the generational cycle of homelessness and believe that our program gives families the absolute best chance to succeed. This is due to the program structure, committed staff and compassionate community of support.
The Challenges We Face
EVERY COMMUNITY ACROSS AMERICA FACES THE CHALLENGE OF HOMELESSNESS.
In January 2014, there were 578,424 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States. Of that number, 216,197 are people in families. Families with children who have no safe or warm place to sleep at night. Some of these identify as “chronically homeless” meaning they have not been housed for at least a year, and have experienced homelessness at least four times in the past three years.
That’s a big number, but what about Butte County, where we live and serve?
Butte County’s 2017 Point in Time Count (a survey conducted every 2 years) listed 616 chronically homeless individuals compared to 432 in 2013 — an increase of 43 percent.
76% of those are single adults, while the remaining 24% are families.
This 24% is where we are totally focused. CAA Esplanade House seeks to support those we believe to be the most vulnerable—homeless families. It is our mission to reunite children with their parents, and provide the tools and resources needed to get these families on track to becoming self-sustaining members of our larger community. We believe that this two-generation approach will most effectively prevent future homelessness.
Facing the Challenge...and Succeeding!
Esplanade House is the largest transitional living facility in the Butte County and North State area and is focused on families with children. We have proven programs in place to move families from homelessness to being self-sustaining.
CAA Esplanade House provides the means for over 50 homeless families at a time to have a safe, sober environment to stabilize. This has a significant community impact because without our program, those families would be living in situations not meant for habitation, that could prevent them from making progress towards recovery.
For every family in our program, CAA Esplanade House addresses their physical needs by placing the family in their own unit, along with bedding, clothing and food. Against nation-wide trends, CAA Esplanade House remains a sober environment. We believe that in order for families to progress, sobriety is key to positive growth. Adults are drug-tested upon entry and randomly throughout their stay.
We know that lives don’t get turned around overnight, so we have a longer term program that is holistic and retrains families in multiple areas. Classes are taught on-site that address barriers to transitioning successfully; such as parenting, substance abuse and financial literacy.
Our Approach
When accepted into the program, families are given everything they need to start over: a furnished apartment, food, clothes, supplies, and supportive staff, including a Case Manager, a Drug and Alcohol Counselor and a Child Advocate. They are surrounded by other families who all have the same challenge and rules to follow, including curfews and housekeeping. On any given day, the program typically houses 70 adults and 100 children.
We provide the family with time to stabilize their physical and emotional needs:
- Counseling for addiction recovery, domestic violence, or other core issues that need to be addressed.
- Learning organizational skills that help navigate social services, probation, credit companies and legal/financial entities.
- Case management assignments for cleaning up debt, court dates, reinstatement of driver’s license, probation and other important mandates for recovery.
- Accessing work training programs or working towards a GED and higher education.
- Classes on good parenting and “Life Skills 101” (balancing check books, proper nutrition, job preparedness etc.)
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To apply for residency in the Esplanade House program, download the PDF linked below. Please read carefully and note that it is 18 pages in length. Applications can be submitted in person at the office, or emailed to EHouseGeneral@buttecaa.com