Innovative solutions to end homelessness
Collaboration
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 >
Home for the Holidays
Dec 21st
When Project H3: Home, Health, Hope launched in April 2010, several members of our HOM, Inc. team volunteered to conduct surveys of persons experiencing street homelessness between 4 and 6 AM for three straight days. Following the survey days, at the community briefing where the results of the survey efforts were announced, the HOM, Inc. team took our commitment up a notch. We volunteered to collect and donate all of the items that would turn an empty “apartment” into a “home” for one of the participants in Project H3.
Over the course of several months, we put together our in-kind sponsorship. We brought in almost everything for our participant to get a new start in their new home! Early in December, we received word that our new friend, Ms. Angie, would be moving into her new apartment.
Once we got the keys, our entire Team spent an afternoon setting up the apartment. While Christmas music played, we set up her bedroom with a bed, lovely linens, a dresser, lamps and a nightstand. The living/dining room was outfitted with a couch and throw pillows, dining room table and four chairs. We made sure to program the TV and VCR and double-checked that she had 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!
