Emergency Home Stay for LGBT Victims of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
What is Host Homes?
Host Homes matches volunteer hosts with LGBTQ+ survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and their children who need stable housing for a period of two weeks to two months. During this time, LGBT survivors and their children are provided tailored services to empower them to develop action plans in order to rebuild their social networks and support their reintegration with support from our case management team.
In Belize, IPV has plagued societies such as the LGBTQ+ community and the pandemic has created even more vulnerability for them. Everyone deserves to have their fundamental needs met so that they can move beyond survival and thrive. To learn more, join an upcoming info session, here.
How will the Client and Host Homes be matched?
Host Homes staff will work diligently to ensure that matches between hosts and clients are made based on aligned values, interests, and lifestyles. Host Homes staff will use clients and host applications to find commonalities among the two, allow the individuals to meet, and then determine if they are the right fit. Our aim is to create pairings that are mutually beneficial both to the host and the client.
Are hosts expected to provide food or anything else?
No, hosts will not need to provide clients with food. The only ask is that hosts provide access to a private room, bathroom, and a kitchen. Clients will receive food stipends from Our Circle.
What support will hosts receive from Our Circle while hosting?
Hosts can expect to receive the following support from Our Circle:
What kind of behavior is expected from Hosts while participating in the Host Homes program?
What kind of behavior is expected from clients while they are in their host home?
What are the minimum requirements for a Host to participate in the program?
Our Circle asks that hosts meet the following minimal requirements:
What are the minimum requirements for a Client to participate in this program?
Our Circle asks that guests meet the following minimal requirements:
What happens if they don’t get along?
Our Circle is committed to the success of the Host-Client relationship. Our Circle's staff has designed a program that will enable Host-Client relationships to overall be positive ones. When conflict does arise, Our Circle asks that both Hosts and Clients engage in direct and respectful conversation to come to a resolution. If additional support is needed, the Host Homes Program Manager is readily available to assist in conflict mediation and resolution.
In the case that all attempts at conflict resolution are made and the Host-Client relationship continues to suffer, Our Circle will work to place a Client in a new host home or other housing situation. Given that the Host Homes Program is voluntary, and that Hosts, and Clients are entering into it on a voluntary basis, any party may end their participation at any time. In the event of an early end to program participation, we ask Hosts to give Our Circle staff two weeks to work to identity another living situation for the Client.
How are hosts and clients supported during the Covid-19 pandemic to safely live together?The Host Homes Program at Our Circle acknowledges the impact that COVID-19 has had on members of the Belizean community and the pandemic has revealed the importance of the Host Homes program during these times to meet the continued need of LGBTQ+ survivors of IPV and their families to receive stable housing to keep them safe and healthy during this time.
We also recognize the inherent risks for hosting person that COVID-19 can elicit on potential volunteers. We created a Covid-19 document that is a list of guidelines that we are issuing to keep our volunteers and young people healthy as they prepare to move in together. We want to respect that each host will have their own set of house rules and needs a part from what we have as protocol and want to leave room for hosts to provide guidelines around this that we will uphold in the living agreement that both parties sign before move-in occurs.
We take the health and safety of our volunteers and clients seriously and are committed to ensuring that we do everything to follow national guidelines that provide us with best practices during this pandemic.
Our Covid-19 policy provides the following guidance not limited to the following:
Host Homes matches volunteer hosts with LGBTQ+ survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and their children who need stable housing for a period of two weeks to two months. During this time, LGBT survivors and their children are provided tailored services to empower them to develop action plans in order to rebuild their social networks and support their reintegration with support from our case management team.
In Belize, IPV has plagued societies such as the LGBTQ+ community and the pandemic has created even more vulnerability for them. Everyone deserves to have their fundamental needs met so that they can move beyond survival and thrive. To learn more, join an upcoming info session, here.
How will the Client and Host Homes be matched?
Host Homes staff will work diligently to ensure that matches between hosts and clients are made based on aligned values, interests, and lifestyles. Host Homes staff will use clients and host applications to find commonalities among the two, allow the individuals to meet, and then determine if they are the right fit. Our aim is to create pairings that are mutually beneficial both to the host and the client.
Are hosts expected to provide food or anything else?
No, hosts will not need to provide clients with food. The only ask is that hosts provide access to a private room, bathroom, and a kitchen. Clients will receive food stipends from Our Circle.
What support will hosts receive from Our Circle while hosting?
Hosts can expect to receive the following support from Our Circle:
- A stipend to support costs of an additional person in the home;
- Hygiene, food and/or clothing packages based on the needs of the client;
- Home visits with the client and the Host Homes Coordinator to discuss the pairing and to work through any challenges that may arise;
- Opportunities for community meetings to connect with other hosts to discuss questions, concerns, challenges, and rewards of working as a host.
What kind of behavior is expected from Hosts while participating in the Host Homes program?
- Hosts are expected to provide a welcoming, stable, and secure living environment for clients
- Hosts are expected to respect the rights, privacy, culture, and background of clients, including their religious and political beliefs
- Hosts are not to engage in any relationships of sexual or romantic nature with their clients or display behaviors that may be misleading or confusing
- Hosts should act as a model of the behaviors we ask clients to display (for example being aware of their own substance use)
What kind of behavior is expected from clients while they are in their host home?
- Clients are expected to be respectful of the privacy, rules, routines, and beliefs of their Hosts
- Clients are not to engage in any substances in the home unless otherwise stated in Host-Clients living agreement
- Clients are not to smoke in host homes unless otherwise negotiated in the Host-Clients living agreement
- Clients are not to have any overnight visitors and are to identify day visitor policy with their Host in the Host-Client contract unless otherwise negotiated in the Host-Client living agreement
What are the minimum requirements for a Host to participate in the program?
Our Circle asks that hosts meet the following minimal requirements:
- Host has an extra bedroom or space that can be turned into a private bedroom
- Host provides guest with access to a kitchen in which to prepare meals and access to shared or private bathroom
- Host lives in Belize
- Host commits to hosting client and children from 2 weeks up to 2 months
- Host completes home screening and is approved by Host Homes staff
- Host completes an application, interview, and home screening
- Host attends a Host Homes training
- Host completes check-ins with the Host Homes Staff
- Host commits to providing a welcoming, safe, non-judgmental environment and to supporting the self-determined goals of client
What are the minimum requirements for a Client to participate in this program?
Our Circle asks that guests meet the following minimal requirements:
- Client is in or recently separated from an abusive intimate relationship
- Client is interested in short-term housing while creating a plan for self-sustaining, long-term housing
- Client actively engages in Host Homes onboarding procedures including interview, COVID-19 test, and training
- Client is approved and screened by Host Homes Staff
- Client participates in Our Circle's empowerment series
- Client participates in matching process with Our Circle's staff
- Client engages in weekly case-management with the Case Manager
- Client commits to no overnight guests and no substance use in the host home unless otherwise stated in their Host-Guest contract
- Client commits to conducting themselves respectfully and thoughtfully, and to communicating openly and often with Host and Our Circle staff
What happens if they don’t get along?
Our Circle is committed to the success of the Host-Client relationship. Our Circle's staff has designed a program that will enable Host-Client relationships to overall be positive ones. When conflict does arise, Our Circle asks that both Hosts and Clients engage in direct and respectful conversation to come to a resolution. If additional support is needed, the Host Homes Program Manager is readily available to assist in conflict mediation and resolution.
In the case that all attempts at conflict resolution are made and the Host-Client relationship continues to suffer, Our Circle will work to place a Client in a new host home or other housing situation. Given that the Host Homes Program is voluntary, and that Hosts, and Clients are entering into it on a voluntary basis, any party may end their participation at any time. In the event of an early end to program participation, we ask Hosts to give Our Circle staff two weeks to work to identity another living situation for the Client.
How are hosts and clients supported during the Covid-19 pandemic to safely live together?The Host Homes Program at Our Circle acknowledges the impact that COVID-19 has had on members of the Belizean community and the pandemic has revealed the importance of the Host Homes program during these times to meet the continued need of LGBTQ+ survivors of IPV and their families to receive stable housing to keep them safe and healthy during this time.
We also recognize the inherent risks for hosting person that COVID-19 can elicit on potential volunteers. We created a Covid-19 document that is a list of guidelines that we are issuing to keep our volunteers and young people healthy as they prepare to move in together. We want to respect that each host will have their own set of house rules and needs a part from what we have as protocol and want to leave room for hosts to provide guidelines around this that we will uphold in the living agreement that both parties sign before move-in occurs.
We take the health and safety of our volunteers and clients seriously and are committed to ensuring that we do everything to follow national guidelines that provide us with best practices during this pandemic.
Our Covid-19 policy provides the following guidance not limited to the following:
- Administering COVID-19 screenings
- Free testing resources
- Free vaccine resources
- Distribution of PPE including masks and disinfectants at move-in and throughout Host Homes stay
- Facilitation of living agreement process that includes written rules and discussion to establish guidelines during Covid-19 (policies around guests, sharing house items, etc. are included)
- Review of best practices to maintain healthiness during Covid-19
- Hotel accommodation to client if exposure to Covid-19 found or support in helping client isolate in bedroom with access to food and health resources.