Community Partnership for the Homeless (CPH) was founded in 1990 on the belief that those who experience the tragedy of homelessness deserve the opportunity to rebuild their lives with dignity. Towards that goal CPH operates two affordable housing programs in the Austin area: Project Re-Entry and the Affordable Housing Program.
								Community Partnership for the Homeless: Project Re-Entry
		Project Re-Entry is the only source of transitional housing for veterans in Travis County. CPH partners with a number of local organizations to give Re-Entry clients access to a wide array of services including health care, counseling and job training. The Affordable Housing Program is available to at-risk families and elderly people who earn 50% or below of the Median Family income. Residents in this program pay only a third of their income to rent a CPH maintained duplex or multi-bedroom house.
			Photo: Alina Simone			"Most places I had lived had boarding houses with rents of maybe sixty or seventy dollars a week, the kind of place I could afford. In Austin that type of housing does not exist."
						Steven Meeks, a formerly homeless veteran, found housing and employment through Project Re-Entry. He is currently studying to be a Web site designer.
		When I first moved to Austin I was working day labor. Most places I had lived had boarding houses with rents of maybe sixty or seventy dollars a week, the kind of place I could afford. In Austin that type of housing does not exist. The only place I could find for emergency shelter was the Salvation Army and that was only for 7 days out of every 90, so I camped out in the woods. In August of 1998 I found out about Project Re-Entry. They gave me the time to get a decent job to help pay bills. Then they helped me set up an account with a bank; they make sure you have enough to live on and also save so that at the end of the eighteen month program you’re far enough along to move out on your own.
				"The people in this program are pretty highly motivated. We want to get off the streets and have normal lives."		What’s unique about this program is that it gives you the support base to pull yourself together, which is hard to do when you’re living in a bamboo patch in the woods or working day labor. You have to be willing to do it. Most of the people in this program are pretty highly motivated. We want to get off the streets and have normal lives.