Presenters: Samantha Batko, NAEH Michelle Budzek, The Partnership Center, Ltd.

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Learning Labs: Using Stakeholder Workgroups to Improve Community Interventions

Learning Lab focus:

By looking at two different communities, Cincinnati, OH and Fairfax County, VA,

this workshop will show how two different communities utilized workgroups and inclusive community processes to achieve system changes and success.

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Create a unified vision To continue to develop and implement a single, coordinated, inclusive homeless assistance system.To support homeless persons in their movement from homelessness to economic stability and affordable permanent housing within a supportive community.To be inclusive of all the needs of all the CoC’s homeless, including the special services and housing needs of homeless sub-populations.

Cincinnati/Hamilton County, OH CoC

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Steps to inclusion and success

•Create opportunities for input & listen to stakeholders

•Be focused & outcome oriented

•Use technology as your friend•Measure progress

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Listening to those we serve

Homeless Think Tank• Introductions & Around the Room•What is the Continuum of Care –

Information Sharing•What barriers did you face/are you facing

coming from homelessness to housing? What’s the biggest problem?

•What were some of the biggest helps you had?

•Design the perfect program

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Input & Listening

Listening to those who serveMake the Continuum a “year-round”

process through a Working Group System. Some examples:▫Family Shelter Partnership▫Homeless Outreach Group (HOG)▫SPC, PSH, TH Working Groups▫HMIS Advisory Committee

Focus: service delivery/coordination… policies…outcomes

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Input & Listening

Family ShelterPartnership Homeless Individuals

Task Force (HITForce)

Benefit AccessGroup (BAG)

Homeless Outreach Group(HOG)

Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)

Advisory Committee

Permanent Housing Group(PHG)

Shelter Plus Care Workgroup

Homeless

Clearinghouse

City

Homeless Coalition

County

Transitional Housing Group

Structured for input

Staff and grant management = CoC, Inc.

Listening to those who fundThe CoC process is not solely a mechanism by which homeless assistance providers apply for funding. The CoC process also serves as a multi-year strategic planning and networking tool for the homeless services system. Well-established continuums conduct multi-year, strategic planning for homeless programs and services that are well integrated with planning for mainstream services.

HUD: Continuum of Care 101http://www.hudhre.info

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Input & Listening

Opportunity for Input

Central Access Point•Clients frustrated seeking shelter.

•Shelters agree.•Shelters consider & document the current “rules for shelter”

•CoC and shelters create CAP

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Input & Listening

Creating & Using a Central Access Point

FSPP Shelter

Singles Families with Children

Two Parent Married with Children

Two Parent Unmarried with Children

Couple without Children Married

Couple without Children Unmarried

Same Sex Female Couple with Children

Same Sex Female Couple Without Children

Boys up to AGE

Shelter A Yes Yes Yes @ Hotel

Yes @ Hotel

No No Yes No Shelter – 12;Hotel no limit

Shelter B No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No 18 or under guardian-ship

Shelter C Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No 18 or under guardian-ship

Shelter D No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No 18 or under guardian-ship

Shelter E Yes Yes No No No No Yes No 11 Shelter F Yes Yes No No No No Yes No 18 or

under guardian-ship

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1. Charted the reality of Shelters before CAP

2. Made changes: married without children; teenage boys (HEARTH)

Community Expectations:•HOUSING

▫Obtain permanent housing – Outreach, ES, TH▫Maintain permanent housing – PH, PSH

▫Length of time in shelter (rapid re-housings) - ES

▫Recidivism – ALL

• INCOME▫Increasing income -ALL

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Focused

Use technology as your friend

•HMIS is not just a data collection system for APR’s it’s a way to measure your progress.

•HMIS software often supports elements other than “data collection” – befriend the system

Sharing information Case planning Screening and assessment

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Technology

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Technology

Technology Solution - Helper

Housing outcome results

•Emergency Shelter - 88% positive (obtaining housing other than streets/shelter or jail)

•Transitional Housing – 71% positive (obtaining PH)

•PSH – 3 years average stay in PSH (maintaining); of those leaving 59% exited to other forms of permanent housing.

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Measuring Success

Family Recidivism – over 10 years

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Measuring Success

40.3%

15.9%

11.7%

11.2%

20.8%Individual adult male

Individual adult female

Unaccompanied youth

Adults in families with child(ren)

Children in families with adults

Annual system counts

Official federal counts of the homeless include persons living on the streets, in emergency shelters and in transitional housing. In 2010 that’s 6,965 different persons—down 5% from 2009.

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Measuring Success

Where are we today

•Learning and adapting as we go

•Focusing on the “assets of the client” not the weaknesses to encourage movement.

•Retooling the system

•Collecting and reviewing our data constantly

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Fairfax County, VA• Geography: 395 square mile suburb of Washington, DC• Population:

▫ More than 1 million residents▫ Over 45% are ethnic or racial minorities

• Economy: ▫ Median Household Income $105,241▫ The number of residents in poverty increased 33%

between 2000 and 2009• Housing:

▫ Average rental cost in 2010: $1,383 FMR One Bedroom – $1,318 FMR Two bedroom - $1,494

▫ Vacancy rate of 6.2%▫ In 2009, 46% of renters were housing cost burdened

(paying over 30% of their income towards housing)

Fairfax’s Ten Year Plan

Vision:

“Every person in our community will access and maintain decent,

safe, affordable housing.”

Key Strategies of the Plan

•Place a strong focus on preventing homelessness,

•Provide integrated access to housing and services in the community,

•Increase the availability and choices of permanent housing, and

•Create a community-wide partnership to implement the plan.

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Implementation Task Groups

Task Group Coordination•Co-Chair Group, Training and Change

Management Group•Coordination of Task Group work plans

▫Universal Work Plan▫Division of Overlapping work products

•Prioritization of work needed for HPRP implementation▫Data▫Discharge Planning▫Intake and Assessment ▫Community Case Management

Keys to Effective Task Groups

•Stakeholder Involvement•Ownership•Accountability

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Stakeholder Involvement

•Co-chair selection▫Appropriate County employee▫Nonprofit Stakeholder

•Task group participants▫Public▫Nonprofit▫Private

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Ownership•Task Group is responsible for work products

from conception to training:▫Develop independent work plan and timeline.▫Produce work products independently.▫Work Products approved and disseminated by

Office to Prevent and End Homelessness.▫Train larger community on work products.

•Every participant’s voice is taken into consideration/counts.

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Accountability

•Overarching Task Group Chaired by Program Manager of Office to Prevent and End Homelessness▫Important role that leaders play

•Regular Partner Update (email newsletter)

•Annual Snapshot, Governing Board

Qualitative Accomplishments• Discharge Procedure Manual approved by area

hospitals and jails.• New intake and assessment process, development

of new tools, including Housing Targeting Tool.• Conversion of Transitional Housing Units to

Permanent Supportive Housing Units.• Conversion of one shelter into Single Room

Occupancy units (construction in progress).• Housing database, establishment of County-wide

Housing and Landlord Outreach Coordinator position.

• Community Care Management Procedure Manual.

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Outcomes• 10.75% decrease in overall homelessness from

2009 to 2010 (from 1,730 to 1,544)▫ 14.22% decrease from 2007

• Decrease of 18.51% in chronic homelessness from 2009 to 2010 (from 297 to 242)▫ 34.95% decrease from 2007

• Decrease of 16% in family homelessness from 2009 to 2010 (from 1,067 persons in families to 892 persons in families)▫ Following an increase of 17 percent between 2005

and 2008▫ Lowest level ever documented by the community

Where We Are Now

•Ongoing monitoring of data and outcome evaluation are helping to inform ongoing modifications.

•New task groups to tackle newly identified issues:▫Shelter Intake Redesign – tackling wait

lists, shelters being the only gateway to housing assistance

▫Housing Options – addressing affordable housing issues in the County