Virginia Supportive Housing: Financial Education for Supportive Housing and Transitional Housing Programs

Donna Stallings, a case manager at Virginia Supportive Housing (VSH), was looking for a way to build trust with her clients – and help them better understand their spending habits. Financial education classes aren’t mandatory for clients at VSH, a non-profit agency which provides permanent housing to homeless adults and families, so Stallings also wanted to ensure her program was engaging and relevant.

Outcomes

Since introducing Money Habitudes with her clients, Stallings has been able to:

• Make the teaching process a more fun and active environment for the teacher.
• Empower her clients by being engaged in the process versus dictating what they do with their money.
• Build trust with her clients and other students by creating a relaxing environment.
• Help her clients like the idea of budgeting by allowing them to discover their money personality.

How They Use Money Habitudes

• Supportive housing and transitional housing clients are offered a series of four 2-hour financial education classes, including Core Values and Beliefs About Money, featuring Money Habitudes. Typical classes are 10-20 students.
• After an introduction, each student sorts a deck of cards. Because of low literacy levels, Stallings allows 30-45 minutes for students to do the solitaire sorting process, often reading cards to those who can’t read.
• About an hour of the class is devoted to the money personality self-interpretation and group discussion.