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Watson Manor

The Watson Manor Transitional Living Program serves single, homeless, extremely low-income* teenage and young adult mothers and their children, providing them with up to two years of transitional housing and support services.

Each young mother has one to two children or is at least six months pregnant. Services are individualized according to each resident’s needs and include case management, parent education, life skills training, counseling, substance abuse services, and referral to childcare, educational, and vocational programs. Watson Manor offers residents the opportunity to have a stable place to call home, develop a rental history, pursue school and/or gain work experience, become increasingly self-sufficient, and gain the skills necessary to obtain and retain permanent housing. 21 homeless young mothers and children were served during 2010.

Jasmine, a young mother who exited Watson Manor in 2010 after 16 months in the program, first entered the program when she was 20 and her son, Jesus, was four.

Watson Manor staff helped Jasmine enroll in local programs to study for her GED and acquire job readiness skills. While at Watson Manor, she gained job experience as an intern in the KYFS Outreach program. Staff also helped get Jesus enrolled in the KYFS ECEAP program, followed by kindergarten. Jasmine married during 2010 and left Watson Manor to obtain permanent market rate housing as a family. She continued in her chosen field of working with children.

Watson Manor continually explores how to align itself with evidence-based programs, including low-barrier housing opportunities. The program changed its target population from 16-20 to 16-25 in order to better align with the best practices youth and young adult population of 18-25. Watson Manor has actively participated in Safe Harbors, the region’s Homeless Management Information System, since the HMIS’ inception and continues to explore Housing First Models implementation.

2010 saw completion of the capital renovation which began in 2009. Federal stimulus funds, awarded and administered by the City of Kent through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, provided the opportunity for a renovation that included a new metal roof, gutters, and downspouts, improved insulation, ventilation, and drainage, as well as a re-surfaced parking lot.

* Extremely low income is defined as at or below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI).