Clayton Donates New Home to Family Promise of the Midlands to Serve Families Experiencing Homelessness

WEST COLUMBIA, SC – September 15, 2020 — National homebuilder Clayton, in partnership with Family Promise, donated Family Promise of the Midlands a new off-site Clayton Built® home to be used as transitional housing for Columbia area families experiencing homelessness. This home launches their transitional housing program and expands their services in the community for families seeking stability in housing.

Nationally, Family Promise is a non-profit organization that works to provide prevention, shelter, and stabilization services to families currently or at-risk of experiencing homelessness. The transitional home will be operated by Family Promise of the Midlands, the local Family Promise affiliate, and will serve families in the Columbia region experiencing homelessness who are participating in their program. Transitional housing refers to a supportive type of accommodation meant to bridge the gap from experiencing homelessness to permanent housing by offering structure, case management, financial literacy courses, education and training.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home has several appliances and features that come standard in every Clayton Built® home, such as an ecobee smart thermostat, SmartComfort® by Carrier furnace, Duracraft® cabinets and more. It is also equipped with Clayton’s energy smart home package, which includes energy efficient appliances, increased insulation and energy efficient windows to help with future savings.

“As we serve families across America during the double crisis of homelessness and COVID-19, it is the faith-based community, our incredible partnerships and our supporters who allow us to navigate these uncharted territories. We will continue to fight for children and families experiencing housing instability, and this will be an opportunity for us to be part of the solution in providing safe, affordable housing,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, Executive Director of Family Promise of the Midlands.

“At Clayton we are dedicated to helping open doors to a better life through attainable homeownership,” said Susan Brown, Director of Philanthropy for Clayton. “Expanding our home donation program to include transitional housing positively impacts many families for years to come.”

Off-site built housing is a smart solution to housing affordability in the United States. The Clayton Built® home, constructed by Clayton and finished by Clayton Homes of Cayce, SC is one of many beautiful off-site built homes available for individuals and families seeking quality homeownership.

The home donation is part of a larger national partnership between Clayton and Family Promise, which works toward ending and preventing family homelessness. This is the second of five home donations through the A Future Begins at Home program this year and the first donation of a home being used as transitional housing. Through the home donation program and A Future Begins at Home, Clayton and Family Promise provide educational outreach and resource development, comprehensive case management, support services, and non-traditional, affordable housing solutions for graduate families, such as off-site built housing and transitional housing.

“Since we launched the Future Begins at Home program, our partnership with Clayton has helped countless families achieve housing independence through home donations and homelessness prevention efforts,” said Claas Ehlers, Chief Executive Officer of Family Promise National. “We are thankful for Clayton’s ongoing commitment to the fight against family homelessness, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a significant impact on America’s low-income families.”

The Family Promise of the Midlands home features furniture donated by Clayton and Broad River Retail’s Ashley HomeStore and home goods donated by Belk.

“Giving back is part of our company’s commitment,” said Scott Patrick, district manager of Ashley HomeStore. “Our team is honored to be part of creating this transitional home, which will serve families in Columbia, SC, for years to come.”

Additional Information on Transitional Housing:

Family Promise of the Midlands has provided shelter, prevention, and stabilization services to families experiencing homelessness in the Columbia, SC area since 2014.

The donated home will be used as transitional housing. Transitional housing refers to a supportive and temporary type of accommodation that is meant to bridge the gap from homelessness to permanent housing by offering structure, case management, and in some cases, education and training.

It is an intermediate step between emergency shelter and permanent housing. It is more long-term, service-intensive and private than emergency shelters, yet remains time-limited to stays of three months to three years. It is meant to provide a safe, supportive environment where residents can overcome trauma, begin to address the issues that led to homelessness or kept them homeless, and begin to rebuild their support network.

About Clayton
Founded in 1956, Clayton is committed to opening doors to a better life and building happyness® through homeownership. As a diverse builder committed to quality and durability, Clayton offers traditional site-built homes and off-site built housing – including modular homes, manufactured homes, CrossMod® homes, tiny homes, college dormitories, military barracks and apartments. All Clayton Built® homes are proudly designed and constructed in America. In 2022, Clayton built 62,620 homes across the country. Clayton is a Berkshire Hathaway company. For more information, visit claytonhomes.com.
*CrossMod is a registered trademark of the Manufactured Housing Institute.

About Family Promise
Family Promise envisions a nation in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future. What began as a local initiative in Summit, NJ, has become a national movement that involves 200,000 volunteers and served more than 111,000 family members in 2019. Family Promise will change the future for 1 million children by 2030. For more information visit FamilyPromise.org.