July 2010
THE TOP FIVE RECENT SUCCESSES
- Full Implementation of the Funders Group The Funders Group was officially established in 2009. It created its priorities and work plans and began reporting progress to the Governing Board. The Funders Group consists of King County, the City of Seattle, A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH), suburban cities representation, the Seattle Housing Authority, the King County Housing Authority, Building Changes, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and United Way. The funders group coordinates our efforts across the system to ensure that we fully support the programs and system changes we desire and to create system wide accountability. The level of coordination created by the Funders Group is extremely unusual and has drawn national attention and recognition. The Funders Group’s initial priorities were: production of new housing; increasing access to existing housing; coordinated entry for chronically homeless single adults; coordinated entry for families; and full implementation of the Safe Harbors data system. As many of those are now well under way, the Funders Group recently added priorities around: implementing the Gates Foundation Homeless Families Initiative; coordinating with mainstream systems, particularly K-12 and the child welfare system; coordinating with the state and national Five Year Plan to End Veterans homelessness; and working to increase funding flexibility.
- Continued Robust Production In 2009 we added 329 new construction units and 736 dedicated vouchers for a total of 1,065. Our cumulative 4,111 units opened or in the pipeline is a very impressive number even as we seek to increase it.
- Changing How the System Works In addition to coordinating our funding through the Funders Group, we are changing the very way the system works. The Client Care Coordination project has pooled information on all chronically homeless single adults in our system and is matching them to appropriate housing and supports as projects come on line, dramatically changing the old practice of looking to fragmented individual agency wait lists. Similarly, coordinated entry for families will ensure uniform assessment across the county and agencies taking people off a placement list based on the needs of the families and the services available at the agency, avoiding the endless trip from agency to agency that families experienced and avoiding the placement of families in programs with two much or too little services simply because that was the first open slot.
- Empirical Proof of Success We always postulated that housing with services was much less expensive than leaving people homelessness, and a study published in the April 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association has shown a $4 million cost avoidance in the first year alone of the 75-unit 1811 Eastlake Project.
- Making a Difference on the Ground We are in the worst recession in 50 years. Other parts of the country are seeing increases in homelessness of 20% to 30%. In our One Night Count not only did the number of people on the streets drop by 5% (same area to same area comparison), the total number of people on the street and in emergency shelter dropped by 4%. Our 4% drop is in stark contrast to the counts in other cities New York saw a 34% increase in street homelessness and a 7% increase in its sheltered population, Baltimore County saw a 25% increase in homelessness. A recent email from the National Alliance to End Homelessness stated that of jurisdictions reporting so far, Seattle/King County is the only large jurisdiction to show a drop.
PREVENTION
- Local prevention programs continue to help thousands with emergency financial assistance (over 5,000 people were helped in 2008). More than 80 percent of these households were still housed six months after receiving this assistance. This continues the pace that we achieved last year, but the need is increasing. The Community Information Line (211) saw its calls for rental assistance increase 29% in 2009 (after a significant increase in 2007 and 2008). Fortunately there is a portion of the stimulus package that is investing over $6.4 million in King County for a combination of prevention and rapid re-housing beginning in late 2009 and continuing for three years. Foreclosures continue to increase, with 211 calls for mortgage assistance rising 94% in 2009.
RE-HOUSING
- When we speak of the 4,111 new units that have opened or are in the pipeline, we sometimes lose track of the fact that almost 1,000 of those have not yet opened and many are still working to fill remaining capital or service funding needs. As these projects open they will continue to increase our capacity.
In 2009 we saw openings of Rainier House, Frederic Ozanam House, McDermott Court and Bret Harvey apartments and groundbreakings for Compass Center’s Renton Vets Center, Monica’s Village, A.L. Humphrey House and Canaday House. Using these new facilities and existing housing and rent support resources, the Ten-Year Plan partners are helping more than 3,600 households exit homelessness into permanent housing each year.
INCREASING EFFICIENCY
- CEH Funders Group In addition to its coordination of new investments, the Funders Group has been working on a complete inventory of all homelessness related fund sources and their current uses, with the goal of identifying which funds can be reprogrammed or realigned to carry out the work plans.
Two of the Funders Group’s priorities focus on increasing efficiency by ensuring that clients are assigned to the program that exactly fits their needs – no more and no less.
- The Client Coordination Team addressing chronically homeless single adults is already beginning to function, structuring the way in which programs opening this year will screen and admit residents.
- The Gates planning effort for their second round of major homeless family investments has engaged in considerable community outreach and has generated general consensus and support for coordinated entry and uniform assessment using a limited number of “hubs” with highly trained screening personnel who will then direct families to the correct programs countywide.
- Landlord Liaison Project The Landlord Liaison Project, designed to persuade landlords to waive what have traditionally been barriers to housing (prior evictions, prior bankruptcies, criminal records) has received a very warm welcome with 94 private landlords or property managers signed up representing almost 200 properties, 35 agencies on board, and 271 people in 147 households were housed in 2009. 71% of the people housed have been chronically homeless, and 19% have been veterans. The softening rental market indicates that this could be a favorable time to expand use of existing housing.
BUILDING POLITICAL WILL
- Homelessness continues to be high on the list of public concerns – perhaps more than ever given the current economic crisis. Several organizations, including the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, the Gates Foundation and Building Changes have been conducting intensive research on public attitudes, and have discovered that the public is very well informed about homelessness and the factors that create homelessness. Somewhat to our surprise, the public is much less clear about the issue of “affordable housing” and the general housing crisis. We are working across advocacy organizations to develop common messages and to coordinate public awareness work and legislative advocacy.
MEASURING RESULTS
- Safe Harbors will soon issue its 2009 report. Records collected increased over prior years and more complete data was reflected in the report.
- Safe Harbors has implemented a new generation software system for data collection and outcomes reporting in 2009. Agencies are beginning to utilize this tool as a means not only for data collection, but for reporting outcomes tracking and case management. It is anticipated that we will see significant improvement in the information we are able to report as agencies embrace the new system and it’s potential. Nevertheless much work remains to be done both at the system and the agency level.
CHALLENGES
- The Economy The first challenge is posed by the recession, which has put many more people at risk of homelessness and many more households seeking help.
- State and Local Funding Cuts There have been significant cuts in human service funding at both the state and local level, and additional cuts look likely unless new revenue sources are found or the economy rebounds.
- The Natural Challenges of Revising a System A number of our efforts focus on substantial changes to our existing system, which always creates challenges. For example, revising our McKinney investments to make our application for funding more competitive and bringing about the changes in intake and services necessary to achieve the goals of the new Gates Sound Families II initiative will require both funders and providers to change the way they do business in substantial ways.
- Starting the Fifth Year of a Ten Year Effort Social efforts traditionally have short life spans. We are in the fourth year of a Ten Year Plan. It is very encouraging that public support remains strong. The leadership of the Governing Board and our key partners is essential to keep that momentum.
OPPORTUNITIES
- We are beginning to capitalize on the opportunities created by the Stimulus Bill and by the Funders Group. In this economic crisis, we have the opportunity to truly link to mainstream program to ensure that everyone in our community gets the help they need. We need to capitalize on the increasing awareness and concern over homelessness that is being created as the risk becomes more real for all of us and our acquaintances. We must create a general consensus that a first world nation simply does not allow homelessness; and we must convert that consensus into support for the investments that we know can and will end homelessness.
