Home Start’s fourth maternity housing program is expected to open in about six months
A craftsman-style bungalow in Normal Heights will become a temporary home for five young mothers later this year as part of a nonprofit’s expanding efforts to help new families facing homelessness.
“It’s not a lot of beds, but it’s five more units in the next six months to help women and their children,” Home Start CEO Laura Tancredi-Baese said about the newest addition to the nonprofit’s maternity housing program.
The house will be the fourth Normal Heights property purchased and renovated by Home Start since Tancredi-Baese founded the maternity housing program 12 years ago in response to a severe lack of housing for young women who are pregnant or new mothers.
It is just one of several housing programs and services Home Start has to help young families break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.