Eviction Prevention Planning

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Eviction Prevention Planning

• Presented by Ted A. Lovato, LMSW, CCDS, CART
• Vice President Chief Operations Officer
• tlovato_at_samaritanhouse.org
• To the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition,
• Providers Roundtable, September 15, 2009

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WHAT HOMELESS PROVIDERS DO

• WE ALL PROVIDE HOUSING AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES TO
  HOMELESS OR FORMALLY HOMELESS MEN, WOMEN AND
  CHILDREN.

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU EVICT?

• When you evict a homeless person, you make them
  homeless again.
• Joyce Grangent
• Senior Program Manager
• Corporation for Supportive Housing

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WHY ARE PEOPLE EVICTED?

• Non-payment of rent
• Drugs (using/selling)
• Violence
• Housekeeping habits
• Unauthorized occupants
• Nuisance

• Disturbances
• Pets
• Mental health and erratic behaviors
• Foreclosures
• Subleasing unit
• Lease ends
• Home Condemned
• Damaging unit

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WHAT ARE OUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS HOMELESS SERVICE
PROVIDERS?

• Provide supportive services
• Teach
• Nurture
• Empower
• Provide opportunities to learn life skills

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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DO OUR JOBS?

• We Prevent Evictions!

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HOW DO WE PREVENT EVICTIONS?

• We go the extra mile!

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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• Our clients
• are not losers!

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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• We must believe in our clients! If we do not
  believe in our clients, how can we effectively
  empower them to change?

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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• It is our job to take on the challenge of the
  difficult to serve clients and help them to learn
  new skills to improve their lives.

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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• We must be careful not to be judgmental. Just
  because we have the skills to remain housed does
  not mean your clients will have that same skill.
  You know how hard it is to keep a roof over your
  head, right? Our job is to teach those skills.

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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• Homeless people get
• the message that they
• have no value over
• and over again.

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WHO DO WE SERVE?
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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• I like to think of the clients we serve as
  tootsie pops. They have a hard shell, but the
  good part is in the middle. We have to find it!

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WHO DO WE SERVE?

• The excitement and anticipation of those we serve
  should be foremost. If it is not, maybe you are
  in the wrong job.

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THIS MEANS

• We have to
• meet the clients
• where they are.

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Why Prevent Evictions? Whats the Point?

• Makes the homeless person homeless again
• Creates a negative credit and rental report
• Makes renting for your clients difficult if not
  impossible
• Creates a vacancy in your program
• Affects your occupancy rates
• Failures reflect negatively on your agency, your
  mission and your APR outcomes
• It costs money and time to evict a client. It
  could take days and weeks.
• You feel bad, but just think how the client feels
• Finally, providing housing to hard to house
  homeless people is our job.

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Common Tenant Problems

• Drug and Alcohol Use
• Drug Dealing
• Domestic Violence
• Disturbances
• Housekeeping
• Unauthorized Visitors or Too Many Visitors
• Non-Payment of Rent
• Pets
• Erratic Behaviors and Mental Health Issues

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Care Plans

• At Samaritan House, we use Care Plans and
  Eviction Prevention Plans as leverage for
  compliance. If the resident does this, the
  Samaritan House will do that.

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Lease Violation Information
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Lease Violation Information Cont
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Example of Problem Non-Payment of Rent

• Resident consistently pays rent late, pays
  partial rent, or does not pay at all. Always
  wanting to make pay arrangements.

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Recommended Change in Care Plan

• Money Management and Budgeting Classes
• Guardianship Services
• Priority setting
• Figure out what the problem is and incorporate it
  into the EPP.

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Action taken by staff to assist resident with
improvement

• Help client with budget
• Help them manage their cash (envelope method)
• Agency Serves as Payee
• Refer them to Guardianship Services
• Refer them to Consumer Credit Counseling Services

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Remember

• The client may not have the same skills as
  others. We must reach out and teach them and
  give them resources for learning.

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Who Is The Final Decision Maker?
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Discharge Planning

• If we have done everything
• we can to prevent eviction and
• the client still fails, we must
• do good discharge planning. Remember our job is
  not done until the client is safely in another
  form of housing if possible.

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Know Your Landlords

• Build relationships with the Landlord. Case
  Workers should explain your program and your
  tenant. Let them know you are a resource to help
  them keep your client housed. Explain Eviction
  Prevention and your role in keeping the resident
  housed.

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Burnout

• We must be aware of burnout because it affects
  our work. If your client becomes too difficult
  or hard to serve, turn them over to another case
  manger. Let them try too before you give up.

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Finally

• We are not experts at Samaritan House. We are
  simply thinking out of the box and trying to keep
  people housed.
• QUESTIONS?