Sherry Shannon knows what it's like to be isolated – not just the kind of isolation where you're alone in a space, but the kind where you withdraw, where you shut down, where you don't talk to anybody. That's what happened to her when she was homeless, she says. After she found help and an apartment with Aeon, a NeighborWorks organization in Minnesota, it still took time before she started to open up.

When Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, a NeighborWorks organization in Brattleboro, Vermont, says "home for the holidays," they mean it quite literally. The organization has two projects, put together with funding from the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and a $59,000 grant from NeighborWorks America. Organizations must use CARES Act funding by the end of the year, which means that the new homes will be ready for the winter holidays.
 

Housing is on everyone's lips, says Sheila Rice, who just completed a term as interim executive vice president and chief operating officer for NeighborWorks America. She expects the trend to continue through 2020. 

For starters, the health-care industry is highlighting housing, Rice says, pointing to a quote that is everywhere from the Champlain Housing Trust to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "Housing is health care." 

Say "homeless" and most people easily conjure up urban images. In rural communities, homelessness is just as real, but often invisible. That's why 118 NeighborWorks network organizations use innovative approaches to address the challenges of helping their neighbors not only find homes, but stay in them. And because every community is different, every agency's approach is designed to be appropriate for the population it serves.

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