The New Faces of Homelessness
Published November 09, 2009 @ 07:42AM PT
Today I am live-blogging from Rhode Island's "Yes We Will" Conference on Homelessness and Housing. The first workshop of the day will examine the "new faces of homelessness" - not necessarily new categories of people experiencing homelessness, but groups that have started receiving more priorities and attention from funders and policy-makers.
10:22 - I like the note that we're starting out on: moderator Mike Burk from the RI Dept. of Children, Youth, and Families notes that many of the groups facing homelessness we will discuss today are homeless as a direct result of policy decisions. For example, Rhode Island intentionally cut off services for foster youth at age 18; homelessness has become an unintended effect.
10:23 - The commonality of all the programs covered by today's workshop? Empowerment of individuals.
10:24 - First speaker: Richard Cho from the Corporation of Supportive Housing, a national organization that helps communities create affordable housing with services to prevent and end services.
10:26 - Estiimated 154K homeless veterans nationwide. 76 percent have serious co-occurring health and behavioral health issues. Vets are also twice as likely than other people to become chronically homeless.
10:27 - Here's something we don't delineate often, differences among generations of veterans. Vietnam era vets have more complex needs. Non-combat era vets have higher rates of incarceration. Today's vets have higher rates of PTSD, but less chronic issues, which means they would respond well to early interventions.
10:33 - Trends in vets supportive housing: services must focus on mental health and PTSD (trauma-informed care), peer-support, strong emphasis on employment.
10:34 - Prevention focused models for recent veterans are less of a trend and more of a need. Many of today's vets most in need of care are many times found only after they enter the criminal justice system.
10:35 - Switching gears - turning to homeless youth and young adults. 1 to 1.6 million of them, in fact.
10:36 - These statistics never become easier to hear. Young adults who are homeless are often victims of sexual or physical abuse, and must engage in risky behavior in order to survive.
10:38 - Serving homeless youth is particularly tricky - you must realize they may behind developmentally, but not infantilize them to the point where they cannot live independently.
10:43 - Some best practices in providing youth housing include: understanding the social nature of adolescent culture and a team approach to case management (to allow for the development of relationships).
10:45 - We've moved on to a new category of homelessness: those with health, mental health, or substance abuse issues. The statistics favoring supportive housing are incredible compelling, not only for their cost-benefit savings, but their incredible rates of success. We are running through lots of numbers right now.
10:48 - Supportive housing should not wait for those who deserve it the most, but those who are most vulnerable and most at risk of dying.
10:50 - Next up: Al Signorelli of Operation Stand-Down (means "rest easy"). After a moment of silence for our soldiers and vets at home and abroad, we're jumping right into the unacceptable issue of veterans homelessness.
10:53 - Fastest growing homeless veterans sub-population: women.
10:54 - "Unless you're well-staffed, providing permanent housing can be extremely challenging. To put it mildly, my board members have a lot of heart."
10:57 - "Most of the major issues in providing homeless services is not with the clients, it's with the rules, regulations, and policies of the providers." Amen.
10:59 - Signorelli is discussing the changes he's seeing in their shelters. Domestic issues between a veteran and his/her spouse, severe substance abuse among aging veteran populations, etc.
11:01 - "A veteran who's not street-wise will not last long in my shelter. It's sad, but true."
11:02 - Common theme here: the stimulus funds could not have come soon enough to shelter providers.
11:03 - Here's a new term: "compassion fatigue." Sounds better, and is perhaps more accurate, than "burn-out."
11:04 - Hearing an interesting story about a West Point graduate who is now living in their veteran's shelter. Apparently, Senator Reid nearly fell off his chair when he met this homeless vet and heard his story. Why are we so surprised that smart, successful people can succumb to the effects of PTSD? These issues are not new, they have been around for years.
11:09 - Switching gears again; new topic, new speaker. Kimberly Rose provides housing for homeless youth in Rhode Island through the Yes Program.
11:12 - Key to the success of their programs is flexibility. Nothing is ever predictable when you're serving homeless youth.
11:13 - This is a heartbreaking reality of homelessness today: case managers went to look under Providence bridges for youth to recruit into their housing programs. They found one in the morning, had her in her own apartment by the evening. Now that is rapid rehousing.
11:18 - I like this: the "5 app" rule. If young people in the program are not working or in school, they must turn in copies of 5 job or school applications per week.
11:20 - Last speaker, Eilleen Hayes of Amos House, will cover formerly incarcerated women and men. They key, she says? Community.
11:22 - There's a lot going on in these post-incarceration housing programs! Job training, case management, alcohol/drug treatment, etc.
11:27 - The coolest program at this housing program is their community outreach component. Former prisoners are going out into the community and giving back by sharing their stories with young people and trying to break the cycle.
11:34 - Great question: How do you find a job for someone with previous convictions? Answer: they have spent a long time building relationships, networking, and establishing a reputation. They work hard to teach former prisoners how be good employees, how to talk about their convictions, and what industries they will never be eligible to work in.
11:41 - Here's a question we should always be asking ourselves as advocates: Other than money, what major public policy change would you make? Here are some answers:
- Erase income limitations
- Change the way existing federal funds are used to allow for more innovation and flexibility.
- Look at the prison system as it really is - a money making entity. Consider changing this to a model based on housing and rehabilitation.
Image: Kash_if
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Comments (1)
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Author
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Shannon has worked in homeless shelters and service organizations in San Francisco, the Triangle region of North Carolina, and currently in the greater Boston area. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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There's only one thing on the list that bugs me, and I'll explain why.
"I like this: the "5 app" rule. If young people in the program are not working or in school, they must turn in copies of 5 job or school applications per week."
I don't like that - it 'smells' of the disciplinarian-attitude that is present in all too many places that offer to 'help people' but only if they do X, Y, & Z first.
And it reminds me of some rule(s?) they put in place for people receiving welfare a few years ago (ok, maybe 10 or so years ago) - where people had to work for effectively nothing to get their welfare benefits.
I knew a couple (a friends brother & his sister in-law) back then that tried this and ended up leaving town after about 2 months... they went back "on the road" = Panhandling!
I remember going with my friend over to the little house they were in (about a month before they left), and they just couldn't handle all the schedules & 'structured' B.S. the local "assistance" places were putting them through...
Only to end-up making less money than they did panhandling & staying in a run-down little house that was way worse than the cheap motels they had been staying in most of the time - they said even when the occasionally had to sleep in their car that was preferable to the all the "hoops" the welfare and "assistance" places were making them jump through.
I went and visited them with my friend often enough before they moved, that I could just tell they were being sincere about this - even their kids hated the whole arrangement.
Their mom was forced to go out and waste money on gas & whatnot, putting in "X" number applications for work/per week - in a small NM city of roughly 40,000 or so people. There weren't all that many jobs - and the ones that were available... were half-time jobs NOBODY wanted.
Now that's just one example, its a personal anecdote - but I believe it to be a fairly average representation of the way many semi- or sometimes 'homeless people' felt about the "help offered to them - it came with too many 'conditions', in my experience people resent help that comes with conditions - however well intentioned they may be.
So here's my alternative positive suggestion:
If you're going to require people (young people especially) to do something - have them read a book (a week or whatever). And then spend a few minutes talking with them about what they read, what they enjoyed, etc.
If they can't read, then they're not going to be filling out apps for anything (at least not very well), and if they aren't comfortable talking to someone about a book they read (preferably one they liked) - the aren't likely to do well in an interview.
Improving a person's reading level can be the absolute best thing in the world for them, it can help point out possible learningdisabilities , and reading a good book can be a safe "escape" for people -who might otherwise (and often do) look for a more dangerous "escape" from their current lives'.
Everyone can use a good temporary escape from time to time, one that isn't alcohol or drugs, and if it can expose them to new "worlds"...
And they just _might_ read something that leads them to pursuing some sort of life and/or profession that they wouldn't have even imagined having on their own, it could show them some possible life (or goal, or path) that they might never have known was even an option for them.
Posted by Bryan Snowden on 11/11/2009 @ 09:58PM PT
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