Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio COHHIO

1. Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in OhioCOHHIO Rural Convening: Program Change Matt White, Abt Associates Matt_white@abtassoc.com (301) 634-1827 www.hudhre.info

2. Rural Convening Purpose & Outline • To provide homeless assistance providers in rural Ohio with strategies for implementing new homeless assistance models: • Considering new program approaches • Prevention • Rapid Re-housing • Measuring program change

3. Goals for Program Change: • Divert people from shelter • Assist people to maintain existing housing, if appropriate • Reduce the length of stay in shelter • Increase the number of people exiting shelter to stable housing • Others?

4. What are the major barriers or challenges? • Resources/funding • Lack of safe, decent, affordable housing • Distribution of programs and services across a broad geographic area • Rural issues aren’t addressed by today’s program models • Lack of reliable transportation systems • Others?...

5. Homelessness Prevention Approaches to Program Design and Operations

6. Homelessness Prevention Principles 1. Crisis Resolution • rapid assessment and triaging; • instant focus on personal safety as the first priority; • de-escalation of the person’s emotional reaction; • definite action steps the individual can successfully achieve; • assistance with actions the individual is temporarily unable or unwilling to attempt; • returning the person to control over their own problem-solving.

7. Homelessness Prevention Principles 2. Client Choice, Respect, & Empowerment help people in crisis regain a sense of control and feeling of empowerment; focus on the client’s goals, choices, and preferences, and ideas; promote respect for their strengths; and, hold accountable for the natural consequences of their actions.

8. Homelessness Prevention Principles 3. Provide minimum assistance for shortest time period “let go” as soon as the person has the resources, knowledge and tools to continue their lives; Provide “just enough” to prevent homelessnessenables a program to help far more people in crisis; Will provision of non essential assistance to one client cost someone else in the community their housing?

9. Homelessness Prevention Principles 4. Maximize community resources Mainstream resources should be the foundation of assistance system Don’t duplicate services already provided by mainstream agencies

10. Homelessness Prevention Principles 5. The right resources to the right people at the right time The earlier the intervention, the lower the cost; Research shows most current homeless prevention programs serve clients who would not have become homeless; Good prevention programs strive to target people who have the highest risk of becoming homeless but who also have a good chance of remaining housed if they receive assistance

11. Understanding Homelessness: …the nature of Prevention assistance • Why do people become homeless? • Poverty • One-time financial set back • Household dispute • Release from institution with no resources to re-integrate • Individual causes of homelessness vary, but the result is the same: without money for the rent or help to mend the relationship or assimilate or stabilize, housing is lost

12. Understanding Homelessness: …the route to homelessness • Shelter is rarely the first step in seeking help • Most people turn to their existing safety net when in crisis (family, friends, church, community) • When safety net is unavailable or exhausted, loss of housing is result • You can predict which households in crisis will become homeless by estimating the strength of their finances and support network and then estimating how soon those resources will be exhausted

13. Prevention as a local issue • What are the local causes of housing loss? • Who are the at-risk populations in your community? • What are local barriers to securing housing? • Criminal history • Poor rental history • Poor credit history • Low income

14. Prevention Program Design • Targeting – what subset of the eligible population will you specifically target? • A particular subpopulation (DV, Vets, youth) • A specific geographic area

15. Prevention Program Design • Program Depth and Breadth – short-term intervention versus a longer level of involvement • Smaller subsidy allows you to serve more clients • Larger subsidy allows you to serve clients with greater needs

16. Prevention Program Design • Services – To create or to refer • Family mediation • Legal services • Credit repair • Mental health treatment • Prevention services do not cure poverty, stabilize mental health or improve parenting.

17. Prevention Program Design • Staffing - generalist staff who can assess a variety of situations and creatively intervene in all • Negotiate with landlords • Assess and verify financial need of clients • Engage and build rapport with clients • Cultural competency

18. Prevention Program Design • When to let go – outcomes and closing a case • Goals and intended outcomes of the program dictate when to exit clients • Exit when immediate crisis is resolved and provide linkages to other ongoing stabilization services

19. Prevention Operations • Screening and Assessment • How urgent is crisis? • What is crisis and goal of intervention? • Does client meet eligibility criteria? • What is the immediate response needed to preserve housing or relocate the household? • What info is needed to assign priority or approve assistance amount?

20. Prevention Operations • Developing a Household Housing Plan Level 1 - one-time financial assistance/negotiation will be sufficient to resolve crisis Level 2 - short-term financial assistance is necessary to maintain housing. Level 3 – household must relocate to different housing

21. Prevention Operations • Rules and Program Guidelines • Specify what the program expects of the client • Specify what staff will do if expectations not met • Provide due process for clients including a policy of clients’ rights

22. Prevention Exercise Prevention Goals: • Identify clients that will be homeless “but for” your assistance • Of the population of eligible clients, determine those who you will serve?

23. Rapid Re-housing Approaches to Program Design and Operations

24. Rapid Re-housing Principles Rapid Re-Housing is simply another approach to Housing First – homelessness is ended, directly and immediately, through housing. All persons are seen as “housing ready”, albeit with varying levels of assistance needed to obtain housing quickly. Any information and skills the individual may need to successfully maintain housing is acquired after they move into permanent housing.

25. Rapid Re-housing Principles The goal of Rapid Re-Housing is to help homeless families and individuals obtain permanent housing and stabilize relatively quickly—in months rather than years. Most rapid re-housing households do not need permanent supports to remain in housing.

26. Rapid Re-housing Principles HUD Definition: Rapid Re-Housing is for “individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness (residing in emergency or transitional shelters or on the street) and need temporary assistance in order to obtain housing and retain it” (HUD Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing (HPRP) Notice, March 19, 2009).

27. Rapid Re-housing Principles • The individual or family is currently homeless. • The household is assisted to obtain permanent housing as quickly as possible. • The household is not able to rapidly find permanent housing without assistance. • Assistance is temporary. • Assistance may be needed to retain permanent housing.

28. Rapid Re-housing Design Principles • People move directly from homelessness to housing. There are no intermediate programs to prepare them for housing. • The key to successful re-housing is understanding the individual’s barriers and finding ways to eliminate or compensate for those barriers. • Rapid Re-Housing provides the minimal amount of assistance—amount and length—needed to obtain and retain housing. • Households are empowered to make their own choices and to respond to the consequences of those decisions. • The focus is housing; household problems that are not directly related to housing are addressed only if and when the client chooses. • Mainstream resources are a critical part of stability for everyone living in a community. • Landlords are a Re-Housing program’s most valued resource.

29. Map the Path from Homelessness to Housing - #1 Family loses own housing Doubles up with friends or relatives Calls public shelter Calls private shelter Finds a motel Enters private shelter Self-directed Housing Enters public shelter Family Moves into housing

30. Map the Path from Homelessness to Housing - #2 Family loses own housing Doubles up with friends or relatives Housing search Calls central intake for homeless services Diverted with referral to prevention and stabilization services Re-Housing Advocate works with family to locate and secure housing, including financial assistance. Enters public or private shelter Family Moves into housing Rapid Re-housing team assesses housing barriers Re-Housing Advocate helps family stabilize

31. Rapid Re-Housing Design Exercise

32. Shelter-Based vs. Freestanding Rapid Re-housing Programs • Shelter-Based – shelter operates their own rapid re-housing program for their own clients • Freestanding – program not attached to a shelter; must develop relationships with all shelters in community

33. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Screening and Assessment • Screening determines program eligibility • Assessment determines barriers to obtaining and retaining housing

34. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Assessment Barriers to Obtaining Housing: • Criminal History • Housing History – eviction and non-renewal of lease • Housing History – landlord references • Credit History

35. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Assessment Housing Retention Barriers: History of… • Non-payment of rent • Unauthorized tenant in apartment • Alleged drug trafficking • Frequent conflict with neighbors and landlords

36. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Assessment Using barrier information… • Should program accept household for rapid re-housing? • How difficult will it be to find a landlord who will rent to the tenant? • Assessment info helps to focus the client’s housing plan

37. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Assessment Level 1 - The household will need minimal assistance to obtain and retain housing. • Financial assistance for housing start-up (e.g. first month’s rent, security deposit, utility deposit) • Initial consultation related to housing search (e.g. where to find rental information, how to complete housing applications) • Time-limited rental assistance – up to 3 mos. • May have limited home visits

38. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Assessment Level 2 - The household will need routine assistance to obtain and retain housing • Financial assistance for housing start-up • Time-limited rental assistance • Initial consultation and ongoing assistance with housing search, including bus tokens as needed • Weekly home visits for first two months; then reduce to bi-weekly or monthly as most Housing Plan goals are met. • Services available for up to 6 months, depending on housing problems and progress toward Housing Plan goals.

39. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Assessment Level 3 - The household will need more intensive and/or longer assistance to obtain and retain housing – up to 9 mos. Level 4 – up to 12 mos. Level 5 – may need PSH

40. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Housing Plan Housing Plan is primarily designed to minimize or compensate for Retention Barriers. • Use of Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix to develop a Housing Plan • Income • Family Relations • Employment • Mobility

41. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Financial Assistance • Housing start-up costs • Rental assistance • Utility assistance • Moving costs

42. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Landlord Recruitment Benefits for landlords: • Eliminate advertising costs • Clients have access to time-limited subsidy • Guaranteed rent payments • Clients attached to needed services • Neutral party for mediation

43. Rapid Re-Housing Program Design: Housing Stabilization • Education, Employment, Training • Healthcare access • Mental health resources • Chemical dependency treatment • Legal services • Budgeting and credit repair

44. Measuring Program Performance

45. What is Performance Measurement? Performance measurement is a process that systematically evaluates whether your efforts are making an impact on the clients you are serving.

46. 1. Program Level APR or Other Performance Measurement Tool Local Service Provider CoC Application or Other Performance Measurement Tool CoC 2. CoC/System Level 3. State Level State-Specific Performance Measurement Tool 4. National Level GRPA and PART Reviews Multiple Levels of Performance Measurement

47. Purpose of System Measurement • Are your actions achieving your intended goals? • Does the program work? • If yes, what makes it work? • If no, what part doesn’t work, and how do you fix it to make it work? • Note that you may have goals that only relate to certain types of clients or parts of the program (e.g., different goals for severely disabled persons)

48. Activities Outreach Shelters Case Management Rent Subsidies & Services Inputs Outputs $ (CoC and Other) Programs Infrastructure Staff # Clients Served by Program Service Linkages New PSH Units/Subsidies Vacancy Statistics Outcomes 30% exited to PH 40% increased income 25% reduction in CH 25% shorter LOS < recidivism Performance Measurement Process Should we adjust how we spend our resources? How do we document our efforts? Should we add or change use of resources to expand our impact? What did our efforts achieve?

49. Step 3 Step 2 Step 1 What do you hope to achieve with this population? Within the base, how many persons achieved it? Who is the base for measuring results? Step 4 Within the base, how many persons achieved it? Who is the base population for measuring results? Framework for Converting Program Goals into Outcomes Outcome (%)

50. Step 4 10 40 Converting Program Goals into Outcomes: Example Program Goal: Exiting clients into “stable” housing Step 3 Step 2 Step 1 Persons who exited during the past year (N= 40) 10 persons obtained stable housing Obtain stable housing 25% obtained stable housing at exit