Not Just Ending Homelessness: A Model to Watch, Sarasota, FL

By Rebecca Stoll

On December 21, 2011, the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness unveiled a plan they call Step Up: End Homelessness in Sarasota County Now. The plan is a community effort and proposes greater collaboration between local agencies, the engagement of volunteers, and a Continuum of Care that embraces a Housing First model of moving homeless people into housing quickly.  StepUp seeks not only to help those currently homelessness, but also to prevent Sarasota County households from losing their homes. 

“Our approach is to honor what is local and working, identify best practices in other communities, and engage our community,” said Richard Martin, Executive Director at Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness.

Key elements to the plan include:

·       Greater communication between stakeholders using mandatory HMIS (a client/service database), social media and community forums

·       Enhance funding opportunities to sustain and enhance staff and resource capacity through joint applications and proposals

·       Create a Universal Intake System that uses community volunteers to assist with intake and needs assessment.  According to Martin, this model would ensure that each person assessed would be referred to other agencies depending on needs, and would leave with appointments, transportation arrangements and an advocate to support the efforts necessary to obtain housing again

·       Wrap-around case management services

·       Focus on ending local veteran homelessness in five (5) years, a goal set by the federal strategic plan to end homelessness: Opening Doors

·       Focus on creating a better system of access to benefits and a job creation effort                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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The Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness is a 501(c)(3), the HUD-designated Lead Agency of the Sarasota-Manatee Continuum of Care and as the Florida-designated homeless coalition for Sarasota County.  Its mission is to prevent and end homelessness in Sarasota and Manatee Counties in Florida.

Photos credited to © Karen Arango.

Miami-Dade Reentry Taskforce, Wayne Rawlins, Miami, FL

Individuals reentering communities after incarceration present a unique challenge to organizations seeking to end homelessness, including inadequate access to resources, lack of valid identification upon release, and insufficient access to affordable housing. Miami-Dade Reentry Task Force tackles these challenges through several innovative initiatives that connect thousands of individuals with support services. This plan has been recognized by both the Urban Institute and the White House.

·         Reentry Resource Guide – The Miami-Dade Resource Guide has provided over 20,000 individuals with access to social service agencies and job search tips.

·         Reentry Fairs/Community Fairs – Reentry fairs are held for inmates who will be released within six months. Each inmate participates in a needs assessment and their needs are matched with local agencies that provide corresponding services. These local agencies are then invited to participate in the fair and each inmate is introduced to the agencies that meet his/her needs.

o   Community Fairs –similar to reentry fairs, these are held in the community for individuals on parole and other ex-offenders.

o   Assistance with obtaining identification –The Task Force encouraged the Florida Department of Corrections to establish Memorandums of Understanding with the Social Security Administration, Vital Statistics and the Department of Motor Vehicles to improve the process for securing identification. The goal is to have the identifications issued by the time inmates are released, preferable at the Reentry Fair.

·         Transitional Living Centers – Landlords with vacancies in neighborhoods where the majority of returning inmates intend to reside are encouraged to offer “affordable, enhanced housing”:

o   Landlords offer affordable, roommate-style housing for which individuals pay on a weekly basis.

o   Task Force checks to make sure housing meets local code standards. It is recommended that agencies interested in implementing this model consider providing potential landlords with standards.

o   The Task Force refers individuals to these housing options, essentially serving as a match-maker.

o   The affordable housing is enhanced by connecting clients to the support agencies identified during the needs assessment conducted prior to their release.

·         Juvenile Reentry – The Task Force is developing a strategy specifically for juveniles. They currently offer mentorship and leadership workshops to juveniles in Florida’s adult prison system.

Innovation Thrives in the Non-Profit World

Check it out on the "Funders Together" blog website!

Protip Biswas, VP of United Way Regional Commission on Homelessness, highlights innovative practices in ending homelessness in the Southeast region and encourages non-profits to keep the innovative momentum.

http://funderstogether.org/blog/view/innovation-thrives-in-the-non-profit-world

The Power of Student Engagement - Atlanta, GA

Engaging our future leaders on the issues of homelessness is critical to building a caring community and over the last year, RCOH has continued to work with students from the elementary to the university levels in Atlanta.

Tamara Weinstein, 3^rd grade teacher at The Children’s School, continues to promote homelessness awareness and education with her students. After listening to the stories of three previously homeless individuals who have been successful in maintaining permanent housing, the third graders wrote letters to city officials about their ideas on how to address homelessness in Atlanta. Click here to read their letters.

Elizabeth Hearn, a middle school teacher from The Paideia School organized a homeless immersion where students lived on the streets for one week without shelter, money or basic necessities. They also produced a 30 minute documentary, “Reducing the Distance,” on how the intensive and educational experience changed their perceptions about homelessness and helped them to see that “[homeless people] are people, too, just like us.”

High school students from The Lovett School, participated in RCOH’s Street to Home outreach and Celebrating Success events. After learning about the challenges and hearing success stories of previously homeless individuals, seniors have taken on special projects around homelessness and the Student Services Board selected RCOH and Trinity Community Ministries to receive a generous donation.

Universities in Atlanta have also stepped up their involvement around homelessness. Georgia State University partnered with RCOH to offer their expertise in public relations, Emory University students also partnered with RCOH and other organizations for a spring break “Homeless Immersion” week. Inspired by Elizabeth Hearn from the Paideia School, sophomore Shyama Appareddy organized the five-day simulated homeless experience to raise awareness about the issue. “I wanted Emory students to have the opportunity to break out of the ‘Emory Bubble’ and reduce the distance between us and our neighbors in the greater community,” says Shyama. Kennesaw State University put on a Homelessness Awareness Week giving students and faculty an opportunity to learn more about the “invisible and stigmatized sector of society.” Computer science students from Georgia Institute of Technology have taken it a step further by creating a very useful database for RCOH’s Street to Home program.

This kind of meaningful engagement is what cultivates involvement that ultimately contributes to ending chronic homelessness in Atlanta. Discovering what homelessness means, and exploring ways that we can all become socially responsible, has made a lasting impact on these young people—the future leaders—in metro Atlanta.

Expediting the SSD/SSI Application Process through SOAR

By Rebecca Stoll

SOAR (SSI/SSD Outreach, Access & Recovery) is a SSI/SSD benefits application program targeted specifically to individuals experiencing homelessness. Donna Morgan of the Bridgeway Center in Fort Walton Beach, Florida says the SOAR process is specifically designed to address the transient nature of homeless individuals. Two features make this program both unique and effective: the use of case managers as client representatives and the creation of “health narratives” which allow Social Security employees better understand the physical and mental health challenges of applicants.

Bridgeway clients have had significant success with the SOAR process, with the average turn around time being 60 – 90 days.

Through SOAR, homeless individuals work closely with case managers to complete their benefits application. The case manager becomes the client’s representative, acting as an alternative point of contact. The representative receives all notifications sent to the client, including letters and appointment confirmations.

The health narrative is created by the case manager, using worksheets provided by SOAR, and provides snapshot of the client’s disability and how it affects his or her functioning including everyday struggles. This narrative can be signed by a doctor and used as medical evidence.

Any social worker or counselor can participate in a SOAR training. To learn more about the program and find out when the next local training will take place, visit http://www.prainc.com/soar/ .

For those already using SOAR, Donna shares some tips:

• Get to know the employees at your local Social Security office – building relationships makes the communication process easierWhen faxing applications, always make sure the barcode is on top of the application stack

• Case managers should get their representative forms signed right away

• Case managers need to “stay on top” of application paperwork

• SSI/SSD applications are time consuming and can take up to 40 hours per case, so Donna recommends case managers only take on three to four cases at a time

To learn more about the Bridgeway Center, visit http://www.bridgewaycenter.org/ .

Chattanooga, TN, Agency Partners with Local Faith Community

Churches, temples, mosques and other faith communities are the source of caring community members, and their help can go a long way towards augmenting local agencies’ programs. The Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition (CRHC) has experienced great success incorporating local churches into their Housing First model. The faith community’s donations, both of their time and resources, have proved an effective alternative to expensive to implement interventions. This initiative, which focused on a tent community with 27 residents, combines the efforts of the churches and agencies that provide primary health care, mental healthcare and housing services. Tent city residents had been homeless average of three years and five months, and none had been connected to traditional homeless services. Here’s how the imitative works:

• A representative form Mustard Tree Ministries, a faith-based group which ministered to all residents of the tent community, announced the opportunity to access services and distributed an intake survey, which was completed by all interested parties.


• CRHC social workers reviewed the surveys to identify each individuals’ needs and connected each person to corresponding services, such as obtaining identification, and mental health and primary healthcare services. CRHC staff and volunteers helped individuals apply for benefits, rental assistance and other housing supports.


• Individuals searched for housing, either with the help of church volunteers or on their own. A network of five landlords and two property management companies provided housing options for those who faced significant barriers to obtaining housing.


• Each household received a Church group sponsor; the sponsors donating furniture and house wares, and coordinating move-in dates and transportation


• Church sponsors provided social support by getting to know the residents through a mentorship program: mentors provide encouragement and listen to clients’ concerns, and help clients acclimate to the change from the activities needed to survive on the streets to the responsibilities of maintaining housing. If a volunteer notices a need, he or she can contact the Coalition social worker for support.


• Clients do not need to attend church to receive assistance from church volunteers


• Initiative success: of the 27 individuals living in the tent city, 70% were housed within the first 30 days of the program and 89% within the first 60 days. The program kicked off around Thanksgiving, and since then 24 have entered housing, and three are in temporary housing and are approved for vouchers.

CRHC will follow these 27 individuals for 12 months to monitor the program’s long term outcomes.

Mary Simons (pictured), Executive Director of Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition, makes the following recommendations:

• Sunday school/Bible study classes have been very receptive to helping – each group or class can work together as a unit


• Ask each group/class what they’d like to do and fit it into the program (instead of mandating what they must do)


• Let group/class members know that this is a great way to connect to members of the community and that they will learn a lot from the experience as well.

Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition plans to implement a similar model with an additional 14 homeless individuals.

Reducing Recidivism through Relationship-Based Care

For agencies working with individuals reentering the community after incarceration, a significant challenge is breaking the cycle of recidivism. To address this challenge, Hialeah, Florida-based Citrus Health Network, which provides mental health and primary care services and also assists individuals with accessing housing, adopted a relationship-based model of care, which is proving to have significant success. Manuel Sarria (pictured above) of Citrus Health Network has done research of the programs efficacy and found this model is proven successful in creating strong relationships between client and service providers.

• The relationship-based care model operates on the premise that healthy relationship qualities such as respect, connectedness, and empathy, are important to engaging individuals in therapy and empowering them to take responsibility for their lives


• This model uses motivational therapy techniques, including expressing empathy and indirectly confronting clients by helping them see the discrepancy between their aspirations and current situation


• Clients must be included in the intervention-development discussion
  

Here’s how it looks in practice

• Stage One: During the engagement process, motivational interviewing techniques establish the foundation


• Stage Two: Clients begin to feel secure and safe, leading to greater stability and commitment and stronger relationships with staff - It is not uncommon for individuals to remain in the second stage; however, those who progress beyond stage two were more likely to experience long-term positive outcomes


• Stage Three: Clients have an “awakening” and experience a desire for more than just meeting their basic needs


• Stage Four: client maintains stability, shows signs of psychological flourishing, practices new adaptive behaviors and is ready to transition to independent living


• Access to mental health and primary care must be a priority

This model is best suited for agencies that, like Citrus Health Network, provide integrated care: primary care, mental healthcare and housing services. Integrated services allow for easier care coordination and effective clinical staffing sessions.