-
Linda Kaufman
Community Solutions
Built for Zero
1
Housing First
Nuts and Bolts
-
1. History
2. Success
3. First time you heard of Housing First
2
Why Housing First….?
-
What is Housing First?
3
A mental health and housing services program
based on the philosophy of consumer choice that
offers people who are homeless and who have
psychiatric disabilities immediate access to an
apartment of their own, without “readiness
requirements”.
-
Underlying program philosophy:
4
Consumer Choice
Housing is a basic human right
Recovery is possible
Integration into community
-
CHOICE A
-
CHOICE B
-
Housing First…levels the steps
8
Outreach Permanent Housing
and Support Services
-
9
Requirements for permanent housing
Most programs mandate abstinence from drugs and alcohol to
obtain/maintain housing.
Most also mandate psychiatric treatment.
Some people can achieve this, but many others (especially those
who are dually diagnosed) remain homeless.
-
Essential Elements of
Housing First
10
1. Consumer Choice
2. Separation of Housing and Services
3. Recovery Orientation
4. Community Integration
-
#1. Choice: What do consumers want?
Housing, first!
11
When asked, almost every person who is homeless (with or
without mental illness) says they want housing first
Will accept housing and services on own terms
Very effective with so called ‘hard to house’ or ‘treatment
resistant’. Truth: we have not presented the acceptable
solution yet.
-
Consumer choice as a continuous process
in Housing First programs
12
People continue to choose the type and sequence of services once
housed.
Choices include the right to risk; people make mistakes and
learn from that experience, dignity of failure
Continued practice in making choices leads to making the right
choices and the experience of success
-
LIMITS to consumer choice:
practical and clinically informed
not absolute
13
There are clinical and legal limits to choice:
1) Danger to self or others2) Any agreements from the subsidy-
ex:
monthly HVR.3) Others (abuse, violence, legal issues, etc.)
-
#2: Separation of Housing and
Support Services
14
1. Housing: Scattered site independent apartments rented from
community landlords or site-based programs
2. Treatment: Treatment and support services provided using
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Teams, Housing Support Teams,
Case Management, or other off site services
-
#3. Recovery focused services…
15
Convey hope, offer choice after choice
Are respectful, patient, nurturing,
compassionate
Seek to discover capabilities
Create new possibilities
-
#4. Community Integration
16
Housing that is normal housing- not program housing
Housing where the services can walk away from
the person who no longer needs them (or return
if necessary)
-
What Are People Asking For?
17
A safe affordable place to live
Community
Services appropriate to their needs
Choice
Money enough to live on
A role in the community and in their families
A chance for their children and themselves to get ahead
-
Housing is a powerful engagement tool!
18
Relationship building.
Establishing a trust/belief that housing will
happen.
Many promises made, many promises broken.
Build a relationship of trust so that we can
conduct assessment and develop a plan.
DESC – 76 units
-
Assessing Housing Needs
19
Demographics - Singles v. Families, Age, Subpopulations
Income History
Education and Employment History
History of Paying Rent and Holding a Lease
History of Maintaining an Apartment or a House
Homelessness History
Family Size and Special Needs of Children
Level of Engagement in Criminal and Other Anti-social
Behaviors
Ability to Negotiate Systems, Solve Problems and Access
Services
-
Assessing Preferences
20
Location
Costs
Safety
Privacy
Amenities
Housing and Program Requirements
Pets, Visitors and Other Rules
Proximity to Social, Family and Community Supports
-
Tenants’ Rights
21
Eviction is a legal process.Discrimination and ADA.
Accommodation Reasonable accommodations.Guests – based on
lease/tenant law, not program
rules Length of stay Activities: legal vs. illegal Keys
Right to accept/refuse services
-
Responsibilities in
Leased Based Housing
22
Expectations of tenancy
Rent payment
Quiet enjoyment (both tenant and their
neighbors)
Maintaining apartment (HQS)
Financial Realities- planning/budgeting
Application process and timelines
-
Common challenges to maintaining tenancy
23
Drug related activity impacting other tenants.
Rent payment: process for dealing with problems
Damaging the apartment.
Tenant unable to keep apartment habitable: Excessive trash
Hoarding Cigarette burns in carpets/floors
-
24
Partners in Housing
Landlords Medical providers PO Family Landlord Housing Authority
Police Friends Landlords
-
25
Think about
Locksmith Handy person Notary public Cleaning service Peer
advocates/friends/mentors Home Health aides Transportation Friends
Groceries
-
26
What People Need: Skills
Cleaning Planning social outings Meal planning Grocery shopping
Laundry Budgeting Apartment maintenance What goes down the
toilet/sink/disposal
-
Motivation to stay housed
27
Hope you took Motivational Interviewing
Hardest work you ever love
Hiring folks:
clean toilets
Stages of interviewing: screen, team, shadowing
Probationary period
Philosophical challenges
-
Wrap-up and Questions
28
Contact Information:
Linda Kaufman
[email protected]
202-425-0611
