A new mediation program in Lincoln is hoping to keep homeless people from living on the streets, even if they have nowhere to go.  Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach created the program that stalls the transition from having a home to living on the street and creates a path to a better outcome.

The goal of the program is to keep people off the streets and out of area shelters.  The program hopes to intervene at the crisis moment and divert homelessness.  It will utilize mediation and conflict resolution with the hope of fixing relationships between family members or landlord and tenants.  It also aims to help them find alternative housing options.

Organizers hope the project, which costs a little bit of money, will save money overall in the long run.  This is because it costs less to prevent homelessness than to find a way to get people off the street and re-home them once they are there.

It is difficult to tell how many people are at this crisis moment, but the group knows that the people who are fed by Matt Talbot’s kitchen and outreach program – more than 3000 – are close.  They know just one emergency could land them on the street.  And the group reports they get calls every week stating that someone needs help because they believe they will be homeless in just a few days from when they call.

Mediation could help at this point and bring together disputing parties to discuss the issues with a diversion specialist, ultimately finding a resolution from preventing someone from becoming homeless.  The mediation might include family members, landlords, or anyone else that can be part of the team to prevent a problem from escalating.