From now until Dec. 31, several local nonprofits will be accepting donations to help provide housing and eliminate homelessness through the Avenues for Hope fundraiser.

One of those nonprofits is the Bonner Community Housing Agency, which provides transitional housing and rentals for low-income families.

The transitional housing, said Chris Bassett, executive director of BCHA, provides affordable housing for previously homeless individuals and provides resources for them to transition to their own rental or apartment within two years.

Denise Marley, project coordinator for BCHA, said the transitional housing provides individual rooms and bathrooms with a common area for the four women in residence. All of them have previously been homeless.

BCHA also partners with Kaniksu Health Services to address both physical and mental health concerns, Marley said.

Those services, Basset said, are part of the way BCHA helps residents move on from the affordable housing program.

“It’s a two-year plan for them to become employed and independent,” Basset said. “To get them to a place where they can be on their own.”

The agency also provides four low-income rentals for families, with three-bedroom, two-bath housing for $750 a month. The need for affordable housing in Bonner county, Basset said, is huge.

“Right now, every single day I get a call from somebody who’s living in their car or someone’s garage or a little tiny camping trailer,” Marley said. “There are no rentals available.”

Right now that includes one family of six, Marley said, who likely wouldn’t be able to find any other housing available for that price in the area.

Other local nonprofits include the Lake Pend Oreille School District, which provides resources to homeless students and their families, and The Bonner Homeless Task Force.

Joanne Barlow, the program manager for Bonner Homeless Task Force, said Bonner Homeless Transitions, which is run by the task force, provides transitional housing for individuals and families. It is similarly modeled as those now managed by BCHA, Barlow said, which were previously run by Bonner Homeless Transitions.

The program also provides food, clothing, crisis intervention and emergency services, she said.

Bonner Homeless Transitions provide over 10,000 bed nights per year, Barlow said, with roughly 65% of the occupants being children.

“With this, Avenues for Hope, there’s the chance of earning bonuses and matches for the money,” she said. “The money grows a lot quicker.”

Betsy Dalessio, LPOSD’s homeless liaison and assistant principal at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary School, said although the school gets federal funding through the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act, it isn’t enough to cover every need in the district on its own.

Although a child does not have to be sleeping without a roof over their head to be considered homeless (the district counts children who live doubled-up with friends or relatives), that instability can still have a significant impact on a child’s educational outcomes, Dalessio said.

Funding for the program allows the school to provide for students’ needs such as glasses, boots and coats, and also allows for bussing even if a child ends up staying at a house that is not within the district’s usual boundaries.

In addition to the funds raised by individual donors, Avenues for Hope is also matching up to $2,500 in donations through the end of the month said Deanna Ward, director of development, for the Home Partnership Foundation.

The organization will also donate an additional $500 for organizations that exceed the number of donations they get from the year before with at least 10 different donors, she said.

There is also a $250 “weekend warrior” prize for organizations that receive at least 12 donations on a single weekend, Ward said.

Last year, BCHA raised $8,150, LPOSD raised $4,180 and Bonner Homeless Transitions raised $74,569.

Tax-deductable donations can be made now through Dec. 31 at avenuesforhope.org