Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness

announced by the Federal Government

“The poor you will always have with you….” (Matthew 26:11)

Cindy Oelke, Gwen Teeple and I have recently returned from the annual National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in Washington D.C.

Federal Plan to End Homelessness: This plan is the result of seeds planted ten years ago when the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) announced as their goal, “ending homelessness in 10 years”. It was interesting to listen to Nan Roman president of the NAEH report that the first plan to end homelessness within 10 years is now 10 years old. Clearly some progress has been made and homeless numbers are going down in certain areas but increasing in others. Homelessness among families is dramatically increasing nationwide; the recession has certainly played a part in that increase.

The HEARTH Act which was passed by Congress in May of 2009 is the first major change to homeless programming and funding in over a decade and it completely changes much of what we have come to know and understand as “the rules”. Final regulations that are not yet issued-but due soon-are changing the playing field.

We are hearing frequently about Rapid Re-Housing and Prevention. The former is intended to alleviate the need for emergency shelter by shortening each person’s stay; the latter is meant to prevent emergency shelter usage altogether for some people. There is little discussion about the continued need for Emergency Shelter, since if the above are successful, the need for emergency shelter is (conceptually at least) greatly diminished. Emergency Shelter Grants provided by HUD are now renamed Emergency Solutions Grants. This single word change speaks volumes about the direction of future HUD funding, and it bodes ill for government funding of Emergency Shelters which has for a long time not amounted to all that much in any event. The funding focus will continue to be upon efforts aimed at reducing the number of homeless people that a community reports to HUD.

There is also a primary focus on Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). Permanent Supportive Housing differs from Transitional Housing in three significant ways. PSH has no time limit; many PSH projects in the future will be based on the Housing First principle; and when you live in PSH, you are no longer counted as being homeless.

The Housing First principle is the theory that housing should be provided first to homeless people before addressing any other issues they may have. Also, there would be no requirement for the client to participate in any of the services offered. The only requirements for a client to continue in a permanent supportive housing unit would be the typical tenant requirements, such as: pay rent, do not get involved in any criminal activity, and do not destroy the property. In a traditional “Housing First” project, participants are not required to maintain sobriety, avoid illegal drugs or activities such as prostitution that are viewed as non-violent activities. These are described as low-impact programs. Clearly any Stephen Center PSH project would be of the “sober housing” variety and have reasonable restrictions representative of community values and our Stephen Center Strategic Plan.

Even those who have long opposed the concept of “sober housing” are now rethinking their beliefs. We at Stephen Center have known this since the beginning. Many people wanting to overcome addiction are best served in an environment where drugs and alcohol are not tolerated and their needs and desires should be respected and addressed. I believe that it is in the best interest of society to make certain that every man, woman and child have a roof over their heads-it doesn’t much matter what we call it, but one size does not fit all.

If you have a Permanent Supportive Housing roof over your head you will no longer be counted by the government as homeless. However, the challenges of mental illness, addiction and poverty all remain. You are the same person, have the same family dynamics, presumably you have the same challenges in your life, but you are no longer homeless. The need for services for this group will not diminish.

I find it comforting at times like these to consider our mission statement. “The Stephen Center partners with the community, families and individuals to overcome homelessness, addiction and poverty.” Our goal has always been to provide shelter, food, clothing, referrals, case management, treatment options, etc. to those among us who except for our assistance would find it difficult to survive.

Under this new federal direction, shelters will be challenged on one hand with lower levels of federal funding, while being challenged on the other by the continuing need to provide people shelter until they can find appropriate housing. The only real solution from my perspective is a dramatic increase in the numbers of Permanent Supportive Housing options we are able to develop within the community. This goal will take time and have a high cost.br />
Ultimately as we think about replacing our deteriorating shelter with a new facility, it may be that it will be configured differently than we originally imagined but we will still be providing critically needed services to “the poor” among us-whom the bible promised “will always be with us”. We may no longer categorize someone as “homeless” because of the particular program they might be served by, but the person and the challenges they need to overcome will still exist and they will need our help. I believe we can expect the Stephen Center to be a key provider of services to those in need for many years to come.

WWhile we would all like to see an end to homelessness, those of us in the trenches and those who volunteer, donate and otherwise support our mission at Stephen Center, find the concept of “ending homelessness” a challenge to imagine, and remain focused upon serving those who are homeless, addicted and poor today as proposed by our mission statement.