Innovative solutions to end homelessness
Michael Shore
Michael Shore is President and CEO of HOM, Inc., a leading provider of permanent supportive housing for persons with serious mental illness exiting homelessness. HOM, Inc. provides housing assistance to over 1,100 households throughout Maricopa County in Arizona. Michael also serves as a board member for the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness.
Homepage: http://www.hominc.com
Posts by Michael Shore
Working With PHAs To End Homelessness
Feb 18th
This post was originally written for the National Alliance to End Homelessness blog.
As communities redouble their efforts to achieve the goals of Opening Doors, one thing is abundantly clear: we need all hands on deck to truly end homelessness in this country. This includes our partners at public housing agencies (PHAs) both as providers of mainstream housing resources and as key collaborators within our existing systems of care. As we continue to focus on permanent solutions like permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing strategies, we must expand the tools and resources available to support these efforts. This includes broadening and deepening our connections with our PHA partners.
This past week’s National Conference on Ending Family and Youth Homelessness saw some of the most exciting and influential thinkers in the field come together in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) convened public housing agencies and Continuums of Care (CoCs) from targeted communities for a special pre-conference session to highlight the ways in which communities have successfully worked across HUD programs to create more opportunities for housing and services targeted towards persons experiencing homelessness.
The session began with More >
The Super Bowl of HUD-VASH
Feb 5th
On the morning of Super Bowl Sunday while most Americans are gearing up to enjoy the big game, 25 homeless Veterans in Phoenix are attending a housing briefing to receive a voucher for rental assistance for an apartment of their choice in the community. These 25 men and women were among the 1,266 Veterans that received services at the Arizona StandDown Friday through Sunday, February 3-5, at the Phoenix Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Arizona StandDown is an annual three day event that brings together the Valley’s homeless and at-risk military veterans to connect them with services in one location. Available services include VA health care and mental health services, clothing, meals, IDs and drivers licenses, court services and legal assistance, showers and haircuts, emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing and much more.
Of the 1,266 Veterans served at StandDown this year, over 800 identified as currently being homeless; sleeping outside, in emergency shelter or in transitional housing. These homeless Veterans completed the Vulnerability Index at the StandDown as the culmination of survey efforts for Project H3 Vets, the community collaboration led by the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness to identify and prioritize for permanent housing the most medically vulnerable homeless Veterans in Maricopa More >
Labeling People as Homeless Strips Individuals and Families of True Identity
Aug 10th
I can remember the first time I was introduced to People First Language. I was at a mental health conference when a panelist described our state legislature as schizophrenic. A gentleman that I did not know at the time stepped up to the microphone in the audience and stated rather firmly that the characterization was offensive. No, it wasn’t one of our esteemed state legislators!
This man, who is now a friend of mine, stated that he had schizophrenia himself. He went on to explain how using a condition or disability as the primary way of identifying a person or group of people is extremely harmful. He did not want to be labeled a schizophrenic, as if his condition summed up all that he was. He is a man that lives with schizophrenia, but his disability does not define him.
It was an important moment for me, and I try diligently to focus on people – not conditions – in my speech, both professionally and personally.
Words matter. The way that we construct language has an effect on how we see and understand the world. Focusing on one’s condition or circumstances increases the likelihood that the listener identifies the person or people as More >
ABC / VSUW / LDRC Collaboration
Aug 9th
HOM, Inc. is currently working on a new initiative seeking to reduce chronic homelessness. The project is a collaboration with Arizona Behavioral Health Corporation, the Valley of the Sun United Way and the Lodestar Day Resource Center (LDRC). In this project, individuals with a serious mental illness meeting the definition of chronic homelessness and who are receiving services at the LDRC are provided a priority in accessing rental assistance in our scattered sites housing program. These participants receive additional support from agencies co-located at the LDRC; like CASS, Nova, and Healthcare for the Homeless. The Valley of Sun United Way also is providing resources so that each participant receives furniture and start-up household items. The behavioral health providers have also agreed to intensify the level of support for these participants in the housing. Finally, participants are also able to access peer support recovery coaching from the Hope Network through the Marc Center.
We have housed approximately 13 individuals in this project and hope to house approximately 25 by the end of September. We are pleased to work alongside so many wonderful organizations in this effort and look forward to the positive outcomes as a result of this collaboration!
Building a Better Life
Jul 9th
A former housing program participant and friend, shares his story of recovery.
I have a mental illness. One day everything came to an end when I found myself homeless and living on the streets. I couldn’t hold down a job.
As an individual with a mental illness who has experienced homelessness I am grateful for the housing programs operated through Arizona Behavioral Health Corporation (ABC). I was introduced to the folks at ABC over ten years ago when I found myself enrolled into the Maricopa County public mental health system. I ended up in the hospital after spending several months on the streets and living in my car because my challenges with my mental illness had become so severe.
For the first time in my life, an individual from the public mental health system interviewed me while I was in the hospital and enrolled me into ValueOptions (the Regional Behavioral Health Authority for Maricopa County in 1999). It was my first time that I had been enrolled in a system that would help me with employment, housing, medications and case management. All other programs that I had been involved with in my earlier years did not help with employment or housing nor case More >
Celebrating 16 Years of Dedicated Service
Jun 24th
In July 1994, HOM, Inc. opened its doors for business. At that time, HOM contracted with ComCare, which was the regional behavioral health authority for Maricopa County. ComCare, in partnership with the Arizona Department of Commerce, had secured their first Shelter Plus Care grant from HUD to provide housing to 300 of their consumers with serious mental illness who were homeless. We started housing people immediately, starting with 13 individuals who were living in a run-down rehab facility that was closing at the end of our first month! We quickly established relationships with a handful of apartment complexes in the community, conducted initial orientations for the new program participants, verified incomes, calculated rent, performed HQS inspections, got utilities and phones turned on and executed rental agreements. We even got a few friends to lend their hands and their trucks to help move our first clients into their new homes. We were very proud of our accomplishments, but had little time to soak it all in. Over the course of the next few years, ComCare continued its success at securing new Shelter Plus Care and Supportive Housing grants from HUD. By 1997, HOM, Inc. was providing rental assistance to over 800 More >
Ending Homelessness with Scattered Sites Housing
Jun 17th
This post was originally written for Poverty Insights on April 7, 2010
Permanent Supportive Housing: Scattered Sites Model
There seems to be an increased interest in addressing homelessness in the Phoenix metropolitan area. I’m not certain what to attribute this phenomenon to; whether inspirational leadership, increased capacity in the non-profit housing and service provider industry, favorable policies emerging from the public sector, or a heightened awareness resulting from increased media coverage of our current economic climate. Rather than speculate on the reasons for the heightened attention, we need to harness the momentum and act swiftly.
We all know that housing is the solution to homelessness. More specifically, permanent supportive housing ends homelessness. So how do we capitalize on the current interest in homelessness and create permanent supportive housing options in our communities? I believe we need to invest in tenant-based, scattered sites supportive housing, which is the most effective way to rapidly re-house individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
For 16 years the organization I run, HOM, Inc., has administered scattered sites supportive housing programs targeted to individuals with serious mental illness exiting homelessness in Phoenix and its surrounding communities. Our housing programs provide permanent supportive housing to approximately 1,100 households per month. From this perspective, I More >
