Nearly 2.5 million kids in America go to sleep every night without a home to call their own, including more than 35,000 in Virginia, according to a recent report on child homelessness.

But local non-profit, Housing Families First, is working on finding places to live for many of those children.

“families might be in shelters, staying with friends, living in their car… So they’re not as visible, but it’s a real issue,” said Beth Vann-Turnbull, the executive director of Housing Families First. The National Center on Family Homelessness released a report in Nov. 2014 that found child homelessness is up eight percent nationally from 2013. “Our goal is to move families experiencing homelessness into permanent homes as quickly as possible then provide them with the resources to maintain their house,” Vann-Turnbull said.

Last year, the organization help place 68 families in permanent housing. Monica Joyner was one of them. “I truly love it. It’s spacious and right across the street from the park,” Joyner said about the apartment her and her two boys now live in. Before Housing Families First helped the Joyner family, they did not have a place of their own. “I lost my job and wasn’t able to maintain.”

The National Center on Family Homelessness found one in every 30 kids experience it. Virginia Ranks 17th in the nation when it comes to kids being at risk for not having a home. When Joyner’s family had no other option they were referred to Housing Families First through Commonwealth Catholic Charities and its Homeless Point of Entry program.

“they had people come over to talk about budgeting, about health issues, help with schooling. It was just a whole array of things they were able to help with; it wasn’t just about the housing piece,” Joyner said.

Joyner’s family moved to Hilliard House, an emergency shelter with Housing Families First. There, she was able to save money and after four months on an individualized plan she was able to find a permanent home for her family.

“we find that most families need limited help. They just need someone to connect them with resources. They need some counseling to deal with the chronic stress of the situation and they need some financial support to help them very temporarily to help them into the apartments, pay off any previous debt, things like that,” Vann-Turnbull said. Housing Families First specializes in working with families that have high barriers to finding housing. “so barriers, the simplest ones are just owing rent to a previous landlord… They need to pay first and last month’s rent, a security deposit, a utility deposit. That’s really expensive, particularly if you work low-wage jobs and really that’s what our families do,” Vann-Turnbull said.

Families who come through the organization are matched with a case manager and put on an individualized plan to help get them into permanent housing. “when we check in on them, 83 percent of the families are still stably housed, doing well,” Vann-Turnbull said of the organization’s success.

Monica Joyner encourages anyone who is struggling to reach out, “get the help that you need. Don’t just sit and wallow.”

For more information on what options are available to your family visit the Commonwealth Catholic Charities website or contact them at 804-648-4177.