housing resource centers
TRANSCRIPT
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Lunch
Reconvene at: ___ ___ : ___ ___
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Rapid Re-housing as a System Response
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• Many parts
• Doing different things
• Working together
• Toward a common goal
What is a System?
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Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan
“Transform homeless services to crisis response systems
that prevent homelessness and rapidly return people who experience
homelessness to stable housing.”
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Diagram of Crisis Response SystemFrom Family Connection, US Interagency Council on Homelessness
Program or Systemic Intervention
Systemic Rapid Re-Housing
• Best practice standards for core components across providers– Housing Identification– Financial Assistance– Rapid Re-Housing Case
Management
Never a one size fits all package
program
But not a bunch of “boutique”
programs
Who is Rapid Re-Housing for?
1. Literally homeless⁻ On the streets in a place not meant for
human habitation⁻ Emergency Shelter ⁻ Fleeing Domestic Violence (Category 4)
2. Cannot exit homelessness on their own
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… a few words about diversion
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What is Diversion?
A strategy that prevents homelessness by helping people experiencing a housing crisis and seeking shelter to preserve their current housing situation or make immediate alternative arrangements without having to enter shelter
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Reasons to Implement Diversion• Improves system outcomes by reducing
entries into homelessness• Improves quality of life by helping people
avoid the stress of shelter stays• Conserves and targets resources – shelter
beds used only when needed• Cuts down on shelter wait lists
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Who can be diverted?
• HMIS data shows that many people who enter shelter are not literally homeless – they are staying temporarily with family or friends, in motels, or may still have their own housing.
• Even some who are literally homeless can be “diverted” into an appropriate housing situation without a shelter stay
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Approach at Coordinated EntryFROM TO
What programs are you eligible to enter and who has a bed?
What would resolve your current housing crisis?
Assessment/eligibility and wait
Structured problem solvingconversation about household situation and resources
Intake or put on waitlist Support crisis resolution to avoid shelter entry
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Diversion is Problem Solving
• Successful diversion programs treat the process as an opportunity to explore a household’s current housing crisis and be creative about housing options.
• Involves asking about every available resource household might have to stay housed or move directly to other housing
• Also involves frank conversations about conditions in shelter and likely options after shelter
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Assistance Offered
• Conflict resolution and mediation with landlords/friends/family
• Connection to mainstream services• Housing search assistance• Housing stabilization planning• Limited financial, utility, and/or rental
assistance
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Re-Housing Clients with High Tenancy Barriers
Virginia High Barrier Families Pilot Evaluation
• 11 organizations targeted families with high barriers to housing
• 92% in permanent housing at conclusion of pilot• Median income
increased after housing placement
• Families housed in 30 - 45 days
Homelessness is Misunderstood &It Impacts Shelter Practice
While there are over 43 Million people living in poverty, less than 600,000 will be homeless on any given night.
Federal rent assistance programs only assist 5 Million people annually.
4.2% of the population in the United States lives with a Serious Mental Illness. Only 42% receive treatment or counseling.
7% of the population has an addiction or dependency on alcohol. 93% receive nor treatment or assistance with their problematic alcohol use.
3% of the population uses other illicit drugs. 88% receive no treatment or counseling.
Most People Stay Housed• Almost everyone with poor credit history is housed, not
homeless.
• Almost everyone with a history of evictions is housed, not homeless.
• Almost everyone with a felony conviction is housed, not homeless.
• Almost everyone who is a registered sex offender or sexual predator is housed, not homeless.
-Orgcode
Chronic Homeless EligibilityQ Is someone that is receiving rapid re-housing considered chronically homeless for purposes of remaining eligible for permanent housing placements dedicated to chronically homeless?
Source: HUD FAQ
A: Yes. Participants maintain their chronically homeless status while they are receiving the rapid re-housing.
Clients with Zero Income
• Employment• Benefits• Family/friends
support• Family reunification• Shared housing
Clients with Substance Abuse Challenges
Does it interfere with housing?• Harm reduction• Budgeting• Weekly rent payments• Find understanding landlords• Discuss natural consequences of actions• Representative payee, in rare cases
What about families?Prolonged exposure to homelessness has a significant negative impact on adults and children• CPS involvement after shelter entry increases, most
found to be unsubstantiated• Increase due to family stress
and increased scrutiny (“fishbowl effect”)
-Family Homelessness and Multiple Service Systems: Insights From Alameda County, Jason Rodriguez and Marybeth Shinn
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Phoenix/Maricopa County Rapid Re-Housing 250 Program
• Program to provide Rapid Re-housing to 250 single adults in one year,
• Targeted to moderate needs on VI-SPDAT (4-7) and users of the Phoenix Overflow shelter
• 50% entered with no income• 20% were high scoring on VI-SPDAT
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Single Adults
Phoenix RRH 250: Differences Between Assisted VI-SPDAT Score Groups
VI-SPDAT GroupNumber of
Clients# (%) PH Exits # (%) Returns to
Homelessness
General Assistance (0-3) 40 36 (90%) 9 (25%)
Rapid Rehousing (4-7) 164 115 (70%) 26 (23%)
Permanent Supportive Housing (8 and above)
44 31 (70%) 9 (29%)
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Exits to Permanent Housing: Those with the Highest VI-SPDAT Scores
• Clients more likely to exit to permanent housing:– Have longer program stays – just over 8 months
on average– Have received financial assistance for a longer
time frame – just over 7 months on average
(pp. 37-38)
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Phoenix RRH 250 Returns to Homelessness: Differences
Between Assisted VI-SPDAT Score Groups
VI-SPDAT GroupNumber of
Clients# (%) PH Exits # (%) Returns to
Homelessness
General Assistance (0-3) 40 36 (90%) 9 (25%)
Rapid Rehousing (4-7) 164 115 (70%) 26 (23%)
Permanent Supportive Housing (8 andabove)
44 31 (70%) 9 (29%)
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Income and Returns
• Clients were more likely to return to homelessness if:– End the program without an income sourceBUT- Not more likely if they Enter without income
Conversation: Rapid Re-Housing with High Barrier
Clients
• Who gets Rapid Re-Housing now?• Who could benefit?• What needs to happen to ensure you can
serve higher barrier clients?
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Resources For Rapid Re-housing to Scale
Each program a separate net that catches
some people
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Stretching the nets together….
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Funding for Rapid Re-HousingTraditional Homelessness Funds:• Emergency Solutions Grants• New Continuum of Care grants• Reprogramming CoC funding
Other Government Sources:• TANF (CalWORKs in California)• CDBG• HOME• EFSP (FEMA)• SSVF (Veterans and their families)• Title IV-E Waiver (Brining Families Home in California)• Other State/local funding
Private/Other• Foundations & private donors• Faith community• Businesses/BIDs
Conversation: Resources and Scale
• What sources are you using now?• What sources could you add?• Are you providing nets or a trampoline?
Conversation: Rapid Re-Housing as a System
Response
• Is Rapid Re-Housing a System response?• What is needed to align programs?• What other support do you need?
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Performance Measures and Written Standards
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What is performance measurement?
"A process that systematically evaluates whether your program (or system) is
making an impact on the clients you serve and helps to guide efforts to improve
results."• From "What Gets Measured Gets Done" Abt Associates and NAEH
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System Performance Measurement• Goals and Measures for the System as a whole
• HUD has told us what the measures are• Goals should be set for improvement against current
performanceExample: Increase permanent housing exits system wide to at least
70% for whole system
• Also Goals and Measures for the parts of the system and how they contribute to the whole
Example: RRH expectation = 85% of exits to Permanent HousingShelter expectation = 50% of exits to Permanent Housing
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Performance Benchmarks
Rapid Re-housing’s three primary goals:
1. Reduce the length of time program participants spend homeless,
2. Exit households to permanent housing, and3. Limit returns to homelessness within a year
of program exit.
Performance BenchmarksReminder: A community may not yet have any programs that meet these benchmarks. • Set alternate performance goals for the purposes of
comparison between programs.• Set alternative goals for performance improvement,
while programs work to achieve these benchmarks.
Performance Benchmarks• It is important to remember that rapid re-housing
is a Housing First intervention and programs should screen out households based on criteria that are assumed to predict successful outcomes, such as income, employment, criminal history, mental health history, medical history, or evidence of “motivation.”
• The benchmarks are based on performance data of programs that do not screen households out on the basis of the above barriers.
• Measure performance using HMIS
Performance Benchmark #1: Reduce the length of time program participants spend homeless
To meet this performance benchmark, households served by the program should move into permanent housing in an average of 30 days or less.
Average =
Sum of number of days from program entry to move in date for all households
_____________________________________________Total number of households
Performance Benchmark #2: Permanent housing success rates
To meet this performance benchmark, at least 80 percent of households that exit a rapid re-housing program should exit to permanent housing.
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Performance Benchmark #3: Returns to Homelessness
To meet this performance benchmark, at least 85 percent of households that exit a rapid re-housing program to permanent housing should not become homeless again within a year.
𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 = �𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑃𝑃𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑃𝑃ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑤𝑤ℎ𝑇𝑇 𝑜𝑜𝑒𝑒𝑜𝑜 𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑇𝑇 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑃𝑃𝑇𝑇 ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃𝑇𝑇𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜 𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃 𝑝𝑝𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑃𝑃𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑃𝑃ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜 𝑃𝑃𝑇𝑇 𝑝𝑝𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛𝑇𝑇𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 ℎ𝑇𝑇𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑒𝑒𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜 𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑃𝑃𝑜𝑜 𝑃𝑃ℎ𝑃𝑃 𝑜𝑜𝑇𝑇𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃 𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑃𝑃 𝑝𝑝𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑇𝑇𝑜𝑜
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Impact of rapid re-housing
Is your rapid re-housing having a measurable impact on reducing
homelessness in your community?
Program Standards
Recommended standards for staffing, policies and activities:• Program Philosophy and Design• Core Components
–Housing Identification–Financial Assistance–Case Management and Services
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Don’t put your data into solitary
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Using Data is a Continuous Process
• Not just the job of a subcommittee• Not once a year• Not just for CoC Funds
Becoming data-driven in an ongoing process
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Data-DRIVEN means
• Look at data every time you meet (whether you’re a funder, a program, or a system leader)– Every time means every time
• Look at data between when you meet and if something’s up, call a meeting!
• All system change decisions are data informed• Data can be questioned but never ignored
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Data gets better as you use it
• Use the Data
• Quality Improves
Conversation: Performance Measures
• Have you set performance measures?• Are you meeting them?• Are you using data to drive change?• What do you need to improve on data
utilization and understanding?
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Wrap Up
Summary
• Rapid re-housing is not a program, it is a critical system-wide intervention to end homelessness
• The Core Components of Rapid Re-Housing help people:– Find housing fast– Pay for housing in the short term– Stay in their housing
Things to Keep in Mind
• Households experiencing homelessness are not significantly different that other poor households
• Majority experience homelessness due to a financial or other crisis
• Prolonged exposure to homelessness has a significant negative impact on adults and children
Remember
• Reduces the length of time people experience homelessness
• Minimize the negative impact of homelessness on their lives
• Assist people to access resources that can help with long term goals – if they choose
• Eliminate poverty• Assure people will have
affordable housing• Protect people from impact of
life losses or bad choices• Eliminate housing mobility
Rapid Re-Housing Does Rapid Re-Housing Does Not
