A PARALLEL PATH: HOMELESSNESS AND EMPLOYMENT

A PARALLEL PATH: HOMELESSNESS AND EMPLOYMENT County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing

Strategies – Before After Homelessness Prevention – financial assistance is given if household will miss a rent payment within 14 days Income and rental amount is reviewed and a plan is created to increase income or to find a more affordable unit Rapid Rehousing – rental subsidies and support services that focus on employment and income outcomes Employment Pathway Initiative – pairing housing interventions with opportunities for living way employment • Homelessness Prevention – one time financial assistance was given to households that received a notice from landlord • Rapid Rehousing – rental subsidies based on income that included support services through case management • Employment – it was dependent on the agency client was connected

Employment Pathway Initiatives • It is an employment engagement enterprise developed by the County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing, Destination: Home, and the City of San Jose • The objective is to connect individuals and families receiving housing assistance in Santa Clara County with living-wage employment & empowering them to increase their income to achieve and sustain long-term housing stability • High-growth industry pathways include: healthcare, building and construction trade, advanced manufacturing, technology and professional

Bridging the two systems • Tactics • Buy in from the Board of Supervisors, the City of San Jose, Destination: Home, and contractual relationships with training partners • Initiative that started with 1M and high expectations • Have clear objectives and outcomes based on data • Joint meetings with direct service providers as well as their leadership to demonstrate the importance of bridging the systems • Include training partners and employers in Supportive Housing System meetings • Include data, data, and more data to get others to the table, including workforce board

What’s next? • As a community we are integrating the work of racial equity into our Supportive Housing System • Conducting a study on Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, the Lab for Economic Opportunity (LEO), and MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) • Goal is to understand what is and isn’t working but also to ensure that policy is informed by scientific evidence

What can you do? • Research – review what others are doing • Portland: Central City Concern is a non-profit that provides supportive housing connected to employment services and a one-stop center • New York: Jericho Project is a non-profit that employs a team of Career Counselors and Employment Specialists that help place their residents into meaningful employment • Data driven – conduct a deep data dive of your community • What are the outcomes telling you? • What are the growth industries in your community and does it make sense for your population? • Who is at your table? Who is missing? • Do you have a partner such as Destination: Home to help you drive the vision? • Make sure to involve a lived experience advisory board early on • Design – create something that works for your community that is flexible to the changing needs of the homeless and those at risk

County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing https://www.sccgov.org/sites/osh Jessica Orozco Jessica.Orozco@hhs.sccgov.org

A PARALLEL PATH: HOMELESSNESS AND EMPLOYMENT