Mon. October 13, 2008
Housing First Approach Moves People from Street to Independence
WASHINGTON, DC – The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) has released a new leadership paper, “Homelessness Downtown: Moving People from the Street to Independence,” that focuses on the timely topic of homelessness and innovative solutions to help move people off the streets and into housing.
The Leadership Paper highlights the work of a six-person homeless outreach unit—the Downtown Homeless Services Team—the only non-governmental, clinically based outreach team for the chronically homeless in DC. The corps engages with homeless people every day where they are in the community by building relationships, assessing their needs and connecting them to support services and housing, including helping to place more than 70 in permanent supportive housing over the past year.
The work of the Downtown Homeless Services Team is one of many efforts featured in the Leadership Paper, which also highlights the systematic shift from the conventional social service treatment-based model to a “Housing First” model to end homelessness. This approach, adopted in DC and gaining greater acceptance throughout the US, favors moving chronically homeless persons from the streets and shelters into independent housing, and providing comprehensive services to address their needs.
The paper also details how the Downtown BID is developing an effective system to address homelessness and has identified seven elements critical to this success: outreach services, social services and mental health programs, shelters, street food programs, education, housing and funding.
“The good news is that there are now programs that work,” says Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown BID. “People are moving to independence. Homelessness does not need to be equated with hopelessness. The end of street homelessness is in sight.”
This sense of hope arises from the Housing First model, more focused funding from the DC government and better management from the homeless service community. The Downtown BID supports the Fenty administration’s efforts to fund about 2,500 units of permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless persons through 2016, and provide crucial supportive services. Besides the city government, many private organizations also are working to provide housing and services for homeless residents.
The Leadership Paper is the fourth in the Downtown BID’s occasional series of working papers to foster dialogue about critical issues relating to Downtown Washington’s economic, social and physical environment. Among some of the paper’s other highlights:
The Downtown BID’s homeless outreach program begins with the Downtown BID’s 120 safety, hospitality and maintenance workers, known as SAMs, which includes a specially trained team of 12 known as the Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST).
HOST members work with the Downtown Homeless Services Team, which is comprised of a clinical director, two social workers, a certified addiction counselor, a licensed psychologist and a community support worker.
The Downtown BID partners directly with Pathways to Housing DC, as well as more than 20 other public and nonprofit entities to plan and implement homeless social services.
The Downtown BID is building a coalition of food service providers, advocates and government agencies to address and find solutions to uncoordinated food distribution programs in parks and enlist “park regulars” who avail of the food services into pre-housing programs.
The Downtown BID distributes Street Information Cards that provide information about homeless services and occasionally conducts brown bag discussions on homelessness.
The Downtown BID has moved 114 homeless persons into permanent supportive housing through partnerships with government agencies and Pathways to Housing DC.
The Fenty Administration could spend an estimated $460 million through 2016 to implement Housing First as part of its Permanent Supportive Housing initiative.
“It’s extremely encouraging to see growing consensus in DC about how to eliminate homelessness,” says Chet Grey, the Downtown BID’s homeless services director. “The Downtown BID has been committed to DC’s homeless population since our inception in 1997. Although much more still needs to be done, we’re pleased to see this level of progress.”
For copies of the leadership paper, please contact Chet Grey at 202.661.7575 or chet@downtowndc.org. The report is also available on the Downtown BID’s website at www.downtowndc.org/homeless.
# # #