Neighbor to Neighbor Enters Second Year of Pilot Program

Neighbor to Neighbor, a partnership between local church congregations and other contributing organizations, is going into its second year of a pilot program that helps needy area families with rental subsidies.

Through this initiative, 25 families from a defined corridor of Cockeysville and Timonium, around Cranbrook Road and Lakespring Way, have received rental subsidies for an entire year. In return, the program requires that these families meet with volunteers to establish goals and action plans to move them toward financial independence.

"We try to work with each family on an individual basis," said Kate McAllister, Neighbor to Neighbor's program coordinater at in Dulaney Valley. "In the first group that entered the program, there haven't been any evictions yet. So that's one measure of success but there's still a lot of work to be done."

McAllister said the program began several years ago when a rector and parishoner at Epiphany decided they wanted to help a specific needy family in a long-term way.

According to Baltimore County Communities for the Homeless, the program is cost effective. The housing advocacy group said that it costs $37,000 to host a family of four in a Baltimore County shelter for a year but to keep the same family in a two-bedroom apartment unit for 12 months with financial assistance is $13,000.

Program organizers believe that keeping needy families in the Cockeysville and Timonium area, which has access to public transportation alternatives, employment opportunities and , will help pull the families out of poverty.

On Wednesday, Neighbor to Neighbor and the League of Women Voters of Baltimore County will host a run by Sue Bull, a homeless service coordinator from the Baltimore County Office of Planning. The session, which begins at 6 p.m., at Epiphany, located at 2216 Pot Spring Road, is intended to create awareness about homelessness in Baltimore County and educate about transportation and budgeting issues affecting the poor.

Other partners in Neighbor to Neighbor include , ., and .

"People always think that it's city people that need help," McAllister said. "And I'm not saying that they don't, but county people in need tend to go undetected."