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Prevention: Building a Coordinated Response Hamilton Family Center Partnering in a collaborative effort to prevent fami

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Prevention: Building a Coordinated Response Hamilton Family Center Partnering in a collaborative effort to prevent fami

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  1. Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponseNational Alliance to End HomelessnessFamily ConferenceBeth StokesFebruary 13th, 2009BStokes@hamiltonfamilycenter.orgContributors to this Presentation Cindy Ward Deputy Director, SF Dept. of Housing & HomelessnessJose CartegenaProgram Manager, Homeless Prevention Programs, CCCYO

  2. Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponseHamilton Family Center Partnering in a collaborative effort to prevent family homelessness • HFC began providing move-in and security deposits to families living in shelter in 1998. • First Avenues, a program ofHFC, is the hub of the organizations Emergency & System Prevention efforts. • First Avenuesprovides a number of homeless prevention tools, including a designate Eviction Prevention staff position, move-in funding, security deposits, shallow rent subsidies, home-based case management, eviction prevention financial assistance, Pathway’s to Technology Program, and Myhousing.org. • First Avenues funding includes approximately $70,000 for move-in and security deposits; $200,000 for shallow subsidies, and approximately $150,000 for eviction prevention. This includes multiple funding sources. • Since 2006, First Avenues has provided 118 families with shallow subsidies and over 300 families with emergency eviction prevention assistance.

  3. Pre 2006 HFCand other homeless family providers had limited, or no homeless prevention city funding Catholic Charities, SOS, & RADCO main providers of family move-in and eviction assistance from 1997 until 2006. Providers of emergency assistance not formally coordinated with system of family homeless providers Emergency Assistance dollars limited to one time only Emergency Assistance dollar amount not adequate for high cost of housing in SF Emergency assistance not flexible; unable to address barriers other then back-rent No city funded shallow subsidies available Post 2006 Human Services Agency (HSA) sponsored a family homeless system redesign HSA accepted Evic Prev/Rental Assistance recommendations from redesign process New Funding for Shallow Subsidies Increased flexibility of Eviction Assistance funding for barriers other then back rent Increased amount of Eviction Assistance Spread out homeless assistance dollars. Essentially merging the Emergency Prevention System with the agencies that provided Homeless Systems Prevention An Emergency Prevention Collaboration was born-partly out of necessity. *Prevention Collaboration began using the same RAP Intake Form, created by Catholic Charities HSA began hosting Bi-Monthly “Housing First Workgroups” for both Shallow Subsidy providers and Eviction Prevention providers Centralization of data via HMIS Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponseA City’s Collective Vision Coming into Focus

  4. First Avenues 2008: 87 Families received Emergency EP Shallow Subsidy Avg. grant $421; rent $1,042 $690 Average Rent $939 Average Emergency Grant $2,377 Average back rent (range $400-$8,400) $1,659 Average income for EP clients Top 3 Reasons for EP Assistance: 46% Loss of earned income, 38% Unbalanced budget, 11% Loss of Benefits Collective Efforts There are six main providers in the collaboration Fiscal Year 07-08: Collaboration funded 844 applicants for prevention assistance $899 Avg Emergency Prevention grant in the collective 26% SF Housing Authority residents; $102,000 spent in 07-08 Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponseData Snapshot & Funding Streams

  5. Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponseCapitalizing on a Community’s Strengths • Collaboration is a synthesized hybrid of centralized and decentralized homeless prevention providers • Flexibility and adaptability; emergency prevention often requires a quick turnaround • Collaborative partners are a generalist blend of frontline family service providers, eviction defense, and city government. • Pooling and coordination of funds maximum resource impact • Multiple points of access • Families only have to go to one of the partnering providers • Collaborative partners have one intake document (RAP) • Allows for maximum leverage of each partnering organizations individual strengths and resources • Some partners have access to shallow subsidy funding; linking families facing eviction with access to a wide range of homeless prevention funding and tools • Many partners have home-based case management, as well as emergency prevention follow-up outcomes • The SF Family Eviction Prevention Collaboration (FEPCO) was the recipient of the 2008 Mutual of America, Community Partnership Award

  6. Prevention: Building a Coordinated Response

  7. Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponseAddressing a Community’s Challenges • Housing Costs in Bay Area • Unemployment rate in CA is 9.3%, 6.6% in the Bay Area • Shelter waitlist doubled from April 2008; longer wait to access shelter, stays lengthened once in shelter • Only 13% of families in HFC shelter have been able to access training and employment assistance via CalWorks • Some partners in collaboration limit number of intakes per week, either by having a set number of appointments or a lottery system due to funding limits • Most of the collaborations emergency funding limited to San Francisco • Coordination with Employment Development providers needs to be strengthened • Limited marketing & outreach coordination to providers outside of collaboration • Limited success in tracking long-term impact of emergency assistance grants • Limited collective analysis of collaborations empirical knowledge for use in funding and policy decisions

  8. Prevention: Building a Coordinated ResponsePromising Practices • Start conversation now to identify family homeless prevention priorities in your community • Flexible funding and adaptation of model if not working in this economy • Pool homeless prevention funding to move beyond funding caps; or increase limits • Fund staffing for homeless prevention programs • Build collaborative systems and partnerships that are efficient and will work in your community; e.g. all family providers in your continuum can fill out applications • Collaborative community efforts need to look at all points on the homeless prevention continuum; i.e. unfunded childcare costs, subsidizing livable wage vocational training programs, extending shallow subsidies, develop outreach & intervention strategies at all access points, including those on shelter waitlists • Funding commitment to collection and analysis of data to inform and adapt your model, funding, or policies • Coordinated targeted outreach • For communities where CBO’s are the access points, efficiency improves with consistent eligibility and documentation requirements across collaboration • Online applications and submissions • Regional coordination

  9. Prevention: Building a Coordinated Response

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