When Helping Hurts, a book written by Dr. Brian Fickert and Steve Corbet provides a framework for understanding when “helping” is counter-productive  and how to make a real difference by “walking with the poor in humble relationships.”

Foundational Concepts About Poverty. Those with means often define poverty in physical terms— those who live in the margins tend to describe poverty in psychological terms such as humiliation, shame, powerlessness and isolation.  

General Principles. While poverty is complex, its solutions can be grouped into three broad categories: relief, rehabilitation and development.  

• A temporary crisis, such as unemployment, requires relief, characterized by one-way giving designed to alleviate immediate suffering.  

• Returning to the pre-crisis state, finding a new job requires rehabilitation, characterized by the recipient becoming an active participant in his or her own recovery.  

• Advancing to a higher level of flourishing than previously experienced, such as getting a better job, requires development.  

“One the biggest mistakes that North American churches make – by far – is in applying relief in situations in which rehabilitation or development is the appropriate intervention.”
— When Helping Hurts

Development and rehabilitation require the same basic intervention—both require active participation from the individual advancing.  

Sometimes the cause of homelessness cannot be pinned down to one particular cause, but rather a mix of circumstances in someone’s life.  Discover the 6 common causes of homelessness we see most often. 

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On average, Philly House serves 44% of single men experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia each year.

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Homelessness itself is traumatic. Philly House recognizes this and provides trauma-informed care to all who walk through the doors.

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