Grantmakers Site Visit in New Orleans Highlights Health Benefits of Supportive Housing for a Cross-Disability Population

After the devastation hurricanes Katrina and Rita waged on housing resources for people with disabilities, homeless and disability advocates, consumers, service providers, and state and local government agencies successfully advocated for the inclusion of 3,000 new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units in Louisiana’s Road Home hurricane recovery plan. The result is the nation’s first state-driven PSH system using integrated, scattered-site housing linked with evidenced-based mobile community supports for the most vulnerable people with disabilities - including people who are homeless and people at risk of unnecessary institutionalization - supported by cross-system partnerships that provide a structure for program design, policy development, and implementation.

Several housing production strategies are being employed to reach the 3,000 PSH unit goal, and intensive efforts were undertaken to successfully obtain rent subsidies from Congress to ensure affordability of PSH. Today 430 out of the proposed 3000 individuals and families have already moved into their new homes. With subsidies now available, that number will likely reach 1000 later this year.

In addition, the state received Community Development Block grant (CDBG) funds for PSH supportive services for five years, after which the state must sustain PSH supportive services using Medicaid and other funding strategies. The Department of Health and Hospitals is exploring various Medicaid options to help sustain services after five years.

The LA Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) designated six agencies in the hurricane affected areas to work with local homeless, health, behavioral health and youth/family service providers to identify and refer eligible individuals to housing units, and to provide access to basic housing supports and other needed care in the community. The agencies are also working collaboratively to assure the support services embody "best practices" in their outreach, clinical and continuity of care approaches. A best practice approach that has emerged relative to the PSH program is the establishment of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) initiative using a "Housing First" approach and a supportive housing intervention in the Greater New Orleans area. DHH is funding the services and a portion of the housing for this initiative which will serve over 300 people this year including 100 people diverted from the criminal justice system.

Today in New Orleans, a group of funders attending the annual conference for Grantmakers in Health will discuss these and other issues on a special site visit hosted by Unity of New Orleans and the Technical Assistance Collaborative on the topic of "Creating a Sustainable System of Housing & Services: Louisiana’s Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative."

Homelessness is a Solvable Problem

"So, does anyone else wonder how many more years the Melville Charitable Trust will be looking for a solution to Homelessness? Every night I hear on NPR that it is funding "All Things Considered" and working on finding solutions to homelessness? So, how is it going for them on this quest for the Holy Grail? Have they found a solution yet? Homelessness has increased every year for the past 20 in Cleveland, so the solutions have not made it to the Midwest..."

"...I have to wonder that all the money spent on staff, advertising, shelters, permanent supportive housing projects, National Alliance, and NPR would have helped more people by just providing a family a housing voucher for one year. They could have paid for an entire year of housing for 1,000 people in Cuyahoga County over the 10 years if they had just given away $6.5 million dollars to us. That would have doubled our Shelter Plus Care program and increased our Voucher program by over 7% with $6.5 million."

(Read full post).

-- Brian, clevelandhomeless,

We recently came across this critique on the blog for the Coalition for the Homeless in Cleveland. Melville staff member Aimee Hendrigan offered the following clarification of the Trust's overall strategy.

What do you think, either about the critique or Aimee's response? Please add your comment below.
_________________________________________________________

Hello Brian,

As a staff member of the Melville Charitable Trust, I read your comments with interest. Allow me to jump in and offer my two cents.

I think we agree that homelessness is a solvable problem. The Trust focuses on the creation of supportive housing as a key solution, one that can be used throughout the country. The Trust has spent over fifteen years funding supportive housing solutions in Connecticut (the Melville family’s home state). This focused investment in the state has contributed to significant results (thousands of units of housing) and a strong group of leaders who advocate for real solutions to homelessness, including funding for ongoing services (a very big challenge as you acknowledge).

We would be the first to say that this type of change does not happen quickly. It can be frustrating, but for us it is worth the consistent investment. You can visit one of our key grantee partner’s sites to learn more about the advocacy we support: http://www.ctpartnershiphousing.com/.

When you suggest that we might have better used our funding to pay for an entire year of housing for 1,000 people, that’s where we seriously disagree. Philanthropy cannot and should not be the direct funding solution to the nation’s housing crisis. It is not sustainable; frankly, we would run out of money – and pretty quickly.

To be most effective in addressing major social issues such as homelessness, foundations can work to leverage their funds. The Melville Trust does this on a national level when we support the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, among others. Their legislative advocacy has a tremendous impact on the federal and state allocation of funding for housing and homelessness priorities throughout the country (if interested, you can find a list of all of our grantees from the past five years on our website http://www.melvilletrust.org/).

We also work to facilitate relationships with other funders, again with the aim of leveraging funds as well as sharing ideas. The Trust is a founding member of Funders Together, http://www.funderstogether.org/, a national network of funders dedicated to ending homelessness.

Our ongoing support of NPR underwrites their tremendous contribution to airing stories about housing and poverty – important reporting you don’t hear in many other places. It is our hope that our tagline might offer encouragement/inspiration for those working in the field or impacted by homelessness, as well as awareness for others who think homelessness is an unfortunate constant in our society.

I appreciate the forum to respond and would be happy to discuss any of these issues further through the blog or otherwise.

Sincerely,

Aimee Hendrigan
Senior Program Officer, Melville Charitable Trust

Google Maps of Ten Year Plans and Permanent Supportive Housing Programs, Around the Country

Interested in finding out which cities and regions around the country have completed Ten Year Plans to End Homelessness, or want to find your local plan? Drawing upon a previous collection put together by our colleagues at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, we have created the following interactive map of completed plans from around the country. To explore plans and programs in your region of the country, view the larger version of the map and drill down as you wish.


View Larger Map

You may also be interested in viewing the following map, which incorporates various examples and resources for permanent supportive housing programs around the country:


View Larger Map

Hint: As you Zoom In on the second map, be sure to occasionally click on "Search Maps" to bring up new results within the region you are focusing on.

Housing is the Key

Promote housing-based solutions, with access to appropriate services, that are integrated in to our communities as the primary investment for ending homelessness.

Examples of Housing Solutions:

Logan Place - Portland, Maine - serving chronically homeless individuals

1811 Eastlake - Seattle, Washington - serving chronically homeless alcoholics

Solid Ground Supportive Housing Program - Chicago, Illinois - serving homeless youth

Legion Woods - New Haven, Connecticut - serving homeless veterans and chronically homeless individuals

Examples of Housing Developers Who Are Part of the Solution

Avesta Housing - Portland, Maine

East Liberty Development - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation - Boston, Massachusetts

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation - San Francisco, California

Questions for Discussion:

Do you have other examples of housing solutions that are working in your community?

What are your thoughts on what works to integrate affordable housing into a community?