Rescue Outreach Mission Helps Nearly 250 People Find Homes in 2024

 As the issue of homelessness continues to grow and affect so many people in Central Florida, Rescue Outreach Mission ended 2024 by helping more people find homes than ever.

This year, 248 individuals were helped find a new home by the staff at the Sanford homeless shelter. That’s an increase from 222 in 2023 and 213 in 2022.

“While we exceed the number of people we thought we could help this year, it’s a bittersweet number at best,” says Chris Ham, executive director, Rescue Outreach Mission. “Quite honestly, I would prefer that number to be zero because we had eradicated the issue entirely.”

At the beginning of 2024, the Rescue Outreach Mission team set a goal of helping 225 men, women and children find a permanent home. The fact the team exceeded that was because of two factors: an increase in people experiencing homelessness and the improvements in the operations of the shelter.

The 2024 Point in Time Count showed that homelessness was rising in Central Florida and, anecdotally, Rescue Outreach Mission has seen an increase in the number of people needing help, especially as housing costs continue to escalate.

This is especially true with families, where the shelter regularly has a waiting list for help, and with seniors who are living on a fixed income.

The growing number of people being helped is also a part of refined operations at Rescue Outreach Mission.

For instance, Director of Shelter Operations Krystine Schaffer implemented a system of tracking daily numbers and reporting them to leadership, including the board, to hold the staff accountable. She also created a better intake system, including building an emergency cot system for people seeking shelter overnight. 

Then, Rescue Outreach Mission created a team culture that treated people at the shelter like guests. Aimed at mirroring the Walt Disney mentality from Ham’s time working there, the organization worked with Seminole State College, UCF, Edyth Bush Institute and other HR programs for training.

The emphasis was on how those interacting with guests needed to listen to them and act like coaches, not case managers. The staff learned how to help the guests develop their goals and offer suggestions to accomplish their goals or make them more realistic.

“We are in our third year of focusing on housing by encouraging and equipping our clients through coaching with the expectation that guests will be housed,” Ham says. “The results are starting to show now.”

Part of the change in culture also included a very unique and challenging program to serve new guests every day, all day, differing from many shelters that only allow guests to stay overnight and offer intake only during business hours.

As such, someone experiencing homelessness can come into Rescue Outreach Mission at 3 a.m. on Friday and start their intake that morning. Guests are allowed to stay in the facility all day, every day.

This allows Rescue Outreach Mission to feel more like home, instead of just a place to go. It encourages guests to stay on their program to accomplish their goals and find housing.

“When people come to us, most are sincerely looking for help turning their lives around and we are simply getting better at doing just that,” Ham says. “There is still a significant responsibility on our guests to follow their plan, but by working closely with them, we are seeing success stories almost every day now.”