Support survivors escaping domestic violence

Every day we meet families who need but can’t easily access affordable housing for themselves and their children because of Portland’s difficult rental market. They face the impossible decision of choosing between homelessness and returning to an abusive partner. Raphael House is committed to breaking the cycle of violence by offering safe shelter and access to housing.

Our Home in Hand/Hogar en Mano Housing Program provides rental assistance and support to 20 families each year. Raphael House also has a Housing Advocate on staff to help shelter residents build housing portfolios and secure housing.

We know that when survivors have safety and stability, they can begin to rebuild their lives. Survivors face various obstacles in finding permanent housing, and our staff works work hard to help families overcome these. Barriers may include evictions, poor credit, and destruction of property (which are often the direct result of domestic violence and are outside survivors’ control).

Our participants work hard towards obtaining safe housing, too. We frequently celebrate graduates from RentWell, a 15-hour tenant education course offered in English and Spanish that sets participants up to be successful renters.

We hope you will take a moment to read this article by Street Roots which discusses how the affordable housing crisis in Portland is making a bad situation worse for survivors of domestic violence.

Ensuring that our residents move into a safe and affordable home of their own is a difficult task as Portland rents continue to increase. In the article, our Shelter Coordinator Christina McGovney describes why our shelter's maximum length of stay has recently expanded to 120 days and beyond: 

"... up until about two years ago, it was just a matter of getting a housing program to help support families, and there was no real concern about availability and affordability for apartments.

Now, even with a housing program, we are seeing families “time out” of these programs because they cannot find housing in the time frame they are given." 

We're grateful for the opportunity to serve those families, and for the community that supports our work. Your generous donations allow us to shelter 130 adults and children every year, while working towards long-term housing solutions.