Welcome House of Northern Kentucky – a Covington-based agency dedicated to ending homelessness in Kentucky – has been awarded a contract by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government to take its representative payee program to the city.
Welcome House’s representative payee program addresses homelessness by helping people with mental and/or physical disabilities manage their disability income, which in turn ensures stable housing.
The payee helps develop a budget and directly pays rent, utilities and other monthly bills on the client’s behalf. Payee clients often transition from living on the streets with debilitating illnesses to having an income, housing, medical coverage, and the support necessary to lead a more independent life. 98% of payee clients served stay stably housed for over two years.
Expanding the payee program to Lexington is part of Welcome House’s strategy to identify and fill gaps in homeless services across the state by leveraging the organization’s established infrastructure and expertise.
“We have three decades of experience with payee programs and a record of positive outcomes,” said Welcome House CEO Danielle Amrine. “It is much more efficient for us to bring this expertise and infrastructure to Lexington than for an organization to try and replicate it from scratch. That’s what made Welcome House attractive to the city, and that’s the model we’re using across the state.”
In addition to expanding the payee program, Amrine said Welcome House will look to leverage other services in which the organization excels, including permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, social security outreach and services coordination.
“There is a tremendous need for these services,” she said. “We do them well, and we can do them at scale.”
