What’s being done?
Source: forsytunitedway.com
All across America there are programs in place to help the homeless crisis. In 2009, Congress passed the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) in part with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nationally,there are large groups and organizations set up to guide and assist cities and states effectively help their residents.
Ten Year Plan
The Ten Year Plan: A Plan Not a Dream was presented in 2000 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). The Department of Housing & Urban Development is an active supporter of this initiative. There are four steps to the Ten Year Plan. These steps give community leaders a map on how to understand and help their residents in the most effective way.
Four Steps to the Ten Year Plan
Step One: Know your demographic
Who are the people that are in need of these services?
*The Chronically Homeless: Those that are chronically homeless need permanent housing linked to intensive services to achieve stability due to the prolonged periods of being homeless.
*Families: Although this group is normally only in the shelter for a short time, these families can quickly recover from homelessness with proper support and rapid re-housing options. Utah’s Workforce Services has partnered with The Road Home to aid families in getting connected with TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). Together they locate and secure affordable housing, assist with paying rents, and relieving the stress from parents while they search to gain employment. This joint effort between Workforce Services and The Road Home has helped over 1000 families quickly regain homes.
*Veterans: US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, General Eric Shinseki, have vowed to end veteran homelessness by 2015. Currently, there are 76,000 homeless veterans. Many of our homeless veterans face similar problems that the chronically homeless suffer from. For example, severe mental illnesses, disabilities and substance abuse are the leading causes of homelessness in veterans. There are benefits available to homeless vets that all veterans are entitled to. VA offers health care, mental health services, housing assistance, employment and job training. There are also supportive services for families of veterans. The SSVF (Supportive Services for Veteran Families) grants technology assistance, grants for education, assistance with health care concerns, and daily living services for those in need of a care center or other rehabilitation care center.
Step Two: Close the Front Door
Prevent homelessness by avoiding the problems that lead to it. Community leaders are encouraged to create classes that teach how to handle crisis whether it be a financial, personal, or medical. Hold poverty programs more accountable for the outcome of their clients. It is vital to intervene before severe poverty turns into homelessness. Tracking and monitoring the men, women, and families that come into these programs need follow up support and encouragement.
Step Three: Open the Back Door
Homelessness occurs in part to a lack of affordable housing. Developing and subsidizing an adequate amount of affordable housing. Houses lost to foreclosure can be purchased at a greatly reduced price, turning these homes into housing that is designated for those in great financial need is just one solution to the affordable housing need.
Step Four: Build the Infrastructure
Ending homelessness can be a building block to addressing and eliminating the problems that lead to crisis, poverty and eventually homelessness. This is the largest and most encompassing step of the plan. This step pulls community leaders to review the problems in their communities that are the pieces that lead to the crisis, the shortage of affordable housing, incomes that cannot pay for even basic needs and the lack of services to those who desperately need them.
Several cities around the country have set up programs supporting the Ten Year Plan including:
Ten Year Plan
The Ten Year Plan: A Plan Not a Dream was presented in 2000 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH). The Department of Housing & Urban Development is an active supporter of this initiative. There are four steps to the Ten Year Plan. These steps give community leaders a map on how to understand and help their residents in the most effective way.
Four Steps to the Ten Year Plan
Step One: Know your demographic
Who are the people that are in need of these services?
*The Chronically Homeless: Those that are chronically homeless need permanent housing linked to intensive services to achieve stability due to the prolonged periods of being homeless.
*Families: Although this group is normally only in the shelter for a short time, these families can quickly recover from homelessness with proper support and rapid re-housing options. Utah’s Workforce Services has partnered with The Road Home to aid families in getting connected with TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). Together they locate and secure affordable housing, assist with paying rents, and relieving the stress from parents while they search to gain employment. This joint effort between Workforce Services and The Road Home has helped over 1000 families quickly regain homes.
*Veterans: US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, General Eric Shinseki, have vowed to end veteran homelessness by 2015. Currently, there are 76,000 homeless veterans. Many of our homeless veterans face similar problems that the chronically homeless suffer from. For example, severe mental illnesses, disabilities and substance abuse are the leading causes of homelessness in veterans. There are benefits available to homeless vets that all veterans are entitled to. VA offers health care, mental health services, housing assistance, employment and job training. There are also supportive services for families of veterans. The SSVF (Supportive Services for Veteran Families) grants technology assistance, grants for education, assistance with health care concerns, and daily living services for those in need of a care center or other rehabilitation care center.
Step Two: Close the Front Door
Prevent homelessness by avoiding the problems that lead to it. Community leaders are encouraged to create classes that teach how to handle crisis whether it be a financial, personal, or medical. Hold poverty programs more accountable for the outcome of their clients. It is vital to intervene before severe poverty turns into homelessness. Tracking and monitoring the men, women, and families that come into these programs need follow up support and encouragement.
Step Three: Open the Back Door
Homelessness occurs in part to a lack of affordable housing. Developing and subsidizing an adequate amount of affordable housing. Houses lost to foreclosure can be purchased at a greatly reduced price, turning these homes into housing that is designated for those in great financial need is just one solution to the affordable housing need.
Step Four: Build the Infrastructure
Ending homelessness can be a building block to addressing and eliminating the problems that lead to crisis, poverty and eventually homelessness. This is the largest and most encompassing step of the plan. This step pulls community leaders to review the problems in their communities that are the pieces that lead to the crisis, the shortage of affordable housing, incomes that cannot pay for even basic needs and the lack of services to those who desperately need them.
Several cities around the country have set up programs supporting the Ten Year Plan including:
- Denver, CO,
- Fayetteville & Cumberland County, NC.
- Harrisburg and Dauphin County, PA,
- Hudson County, NJ,
- Kittias County, WA,
- Laredo, TX
- Lee County, FL,
- Southeast Minnesota
- Tulsa, OK
- Washington County, OR
Source: housingfirstvhsla.com
Housing First
Housing First is one national program that emphasizes stable permanent housing as its primary strategy. It focuses on getting families and individuals out of shelters and into rental housing as soon as possible. They provide services to promote housing stability and well-being. They offer budget counseling to educate and hopefully prevent future financial crisis that can lead to future homelessness. Housing First offers programs for families that include healthy living nutrition classes and individual and family counseling. They offer assistance with the first month’s rent, security deposit, or back rent payments that may be due.They provide services to help families find permanent housing without conditions. With this help, families achieve independence and very few end up needing additional services. Through federally funded programs, Housing First is able to coordinate help and assistance (NAEH 2013). The National Alliance to End Homelessness and Housing First are just two of the federally supported organizations that help the homeless.
Housing First is one national program that emphasizes stable permanent housing as its primary strategy. It focuses on getting families and individuals out of shelters and into rental housing as soon as possible. They provide services to promote housing stability and well-being. They offer budget counseling to educate and hopefully prevent future financial crisis that can lead to future homelessness. Housing First offers programs for families that include healthy living nutrition classes and individual and family counseling. They offer assistance with the first month’s rent, security deposit, or back rent payments that may be due.They provide services to help families find permanent housing without conditions. With this help, families achieve independence and very few end up needing additional services. Through federally funded programs, Housing First is able to coordinate help and assistance (NAEH 2013). The National Alliance to End Homelessness and Housing First are just two of the federally supported organizations that help the homeless.
Conclusion
The facts and statistics on homelessness are overwhelming. Men, women, and children sleep on the streets, in parks, and fill shelters every night. One cannot fully understand what it feels to be homeless unless they have experienced it firsthand. Every person has their own story and personal experiences that we may not ever understand. We cannot assume that all homeless people are the same. Many of us who walk by give a quick glance, never having a second thought to try and understand what has led these people to shelters and the streets. Making negative assumptions about the homeless is an unfair and uninformed way to view these people in our community. Local churches, such as the Cavalry Chapel and the Rescue Mission, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, offer outreach programs that provide basic necessities and more importantly show love and compassion to a group of people that often feel rejected and neglected (S. Hooper). There are homeless outreach programs that need your help. They need your hands to pass out sandwiches and soup, to distribute warm coats, and to pass out socks and gloves. They need you to offer a smile and an ear to listen. They need you. Donate your money. Donate your time. A special thanks goes out to those in our community that love and care for the homeless.
"Faith in action is love-
and love in action is service"
-Mother Teresa