Helping Survivors Stay Free.
Sometimes the only thing standing between a survivor and a safe home is a deposit.
The Hatch Freedom Initiative covers the costs that block a move, including deposits, first month's rent, utilities, and moving expenses, so that leaving can be permanent.
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Leaving is not the hard part. Staying gone is.
A security deposit, first month's rent, utility deposits, and a moving truck can total several thousand dollars, all due at once, at the exact moment a household's income, credit, and rental history are most disrupted.
For many survivors, that is the whole obstacle. Not resolve. Not a plan. Money that has to appear on a Tuesday.
No survivor should have to choose between abuse and homelessness.
We pay for the things that unblock a move.
What a move actually costs
- Security depositDue at signing
- First month's rentDue at signing
- Utility depositsBefore the power goes on
- Application and credit check feesPer application
- Moving costsDay of
- Short-term storageMonthly, from day one
- Lock changes and door securityDay of
- Beds, bedding, essential furnishingsFirst week
All of it due before anyone has slept a night in the place.
We also do the parts that money alone does not solve: talking to landlords who might otherwise decline an application, helping with the search, and staying in touch long after the keys change hands.
One arc, from the first night to the year after.
Escape to Stay Free
- EscapeSafe StartWhen someone leaves, the immediate needs are small, urgent, and expensive: a place to sleep tonight, a way to get there, a lock that works, somewhere to put what they could carry.
- StabilizeHome AgainThis is the gap most people mean when they say they cannot leave.
- RebuildStrong TogetherAn empty apartment is not yet a home, and the first months are when a new start most often fails.
- Stay FreeStay FreeGetting someone out of danger is the first step.
We work alongside the organizations that handle the emergency.
We are not a shelter, a crisis line, a counseling service, or a legal service. Those organizations do work we cannot do, and we do not duplicate it. We take the housing problem off their plate so they can focus on theirs.
If you are in danger right now, call 911, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
Fund one move, and you have funded the whole outcome.
A deposit and a first month's rent is frequently the entire distance between a survivor and a safe home.
Online giving opens once our 501(c)(3) determination is in hand.