SHARPP

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SHARPP

• Spokane Homeless Assistance Response Prevention
  Partnership
• A Correctional Institution Community Re-Entry
  Program
• Funded from the Homeless Grant Assistance Program
  (HGAP) of Washington State Department of Commerce
  and Spokane County Community Services, Housing
  Community Development Department

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Project Goals Highlights

• Ultimate goal of project is to reduce
  homelessness and recidivism
• Multifaceted approach
• Collaborative partnerships
• Partners include Spokane County, Volunteers of
  America, Transitions for Women, Goodwill
  Industries
• Using Spokanes HMIS system
• Emphasis on systems change

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Description

• All people (estimated at 600 over three years)
  without a home exiting institutions will have
  access to vocational training, responsible renter
  program, expedited access to medical, food, and
  other needed services. They may also access
  housing referrals, landlord guarantees and
  incentives.
• Approximately 200 people over three years will
  have access to transitional beds. These staffed
  homes will include intensive case management,
  treatment aftercare, vocational assessment,
  training, and mentoring. After completing this
  phase, they will then receive rental assistance
  and landlord incentives to offset rents as they
  transition into their own homes.

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Why Spend Scarce Resources on Criminals?

• Nationally, more than 650,000 people are released
  from state prisons and an estimated nine million
  are released from jails each year.
• In the United States, the number of people being
  released from prison has increased 350 over the
  last 20 years. During this same time, the number
  of people who are homeless has swelled
  dramatically, to the current level of up to
  850,000 on any given day.
• More than 10 of those going in and out of
  prisons and jails are homeless before their
  incarceration and 49 of homeless adults have
  reportedly spent five or more days in a jail over
  their lifetime.
• Locally in 2007, Spokane County Jail released
  20,782 people, while another 5,000 were released
  from Geiger Corrections Center. The Department
  of Corrections released 843 prisoners into
  Spokane County.
• Shelter use, both before incarceration and after
  release, is associated with an increased risk of
  return to prison or jail. Studies show that this
  risk of going back to jail increases by 17-23 if
  homeless.

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What is the CREST Team

• SHARPP is a collaborative program. It
  consists of a project team, called the Community
  Re-entry Service Team or CREST. Its mission is
  to provide wrap-around and coordinated supportive
  mainstream services. This new team includes a
  Housing Resource Specialist from Volunteers of
  America Program Manager and Employment
  Specialists from Goodwill Industries Community
  Development Specialist from Spokane County and
  additional support for transitional housing
  through Transitions and Volunteers of America.
  The Responsible Renter Program from Transitions
  will be used and actually is taught within
  several institutions.

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Role of Volunteers of America

• Housing Resource Specialist
• CREST team member
• Housing referrals to all clients
• Administers Tenant Based Rental Assistance and
  Landlord Incentives
• Mauds House North and South
• Transitional Homes with six beds for men in each
• Staffed with on-site residential advisors and
  House Manager
• Myriad of services provided at home in order for
  clients to successfully transition into community
• Treatment aftercare management
• AA/NA meetings
• Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)
• Responsible Renter Certification classes
• Living Skills
• Vocational training and mentoring while in
  transitional phase

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Roles of Transitions for Women

• Administer and provide certificates for
  Responsible Renter Certification curriculum
• Provide Transitional Housing Units for single
  women and women with children
• CREST team member
• Provide instructor to teach Responsible Renter
  curriculum within Geiger, Eleanor Chase, Womens
  Hearth and other institutions

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Roles of Goodwill Industries

• CREST team member
• Evaluate vocational assessments from incarcerated
  applicants
• Provide vocational assessments, training, and
  mentoring to clients exiting incarceration
• Provide MRT Vocational classes
• Pays for bus passes, food handlers cards, birth
  certificates, ID, drivers license

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Roles of Spokane County

• Project Coordinator
• CREST team member
• Assessment of potential clients
• Case Management for Transitional Housing Clients
• Measurement and Evaluation of Project
• HMIS input for homeless people exiting
  institutions

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Other important partners and colleagues of SHARPP

• Spokane County Jail and Geiger Corrections
• City of Spokane Human Services Department
  Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
• Department of Corrections Community Justice
  Center
• Eleanor Chase and Brownstone Work Release Center
• Spokane County Prosecutors, County City Public
  Defenders, Drug Court, Mental Health Court,
  Spokane Courts
• Washington State Juvenile Rehabilitation
  Administration (JRA)
• DSHS
• Pioneer Services/Spokane Residential Re-Entry
  Center

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Current Status

• Five staffed transitional homes
• Two -Single men two 6 bed
• Single women 2 beds
• Woman with children 1 apartment
• Teaching Responsible Renter Program Curriculum in
  transitional homes, Geiger Correctional Facility,
  Eleanor Chase House, Brownstone W/R, Spokane
  County Jail and Goodwill
• Vocational assessments, training, and mentoring
  at Goodwill for all homeless people exiting
  incarceration
• Housing referrals and assistance, along with
  applicable landlord incentives to all applicants
• Tenant-based rental assistance to people
  successfully exiting transitional houses
• TBRA Lite for those programming but not going
  through transitional houses

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How does it work?

• A person commits a crime, is sentenced, and finds
  themselves incarcerated without a house to go
  home to.
• This person becomes aware of the SHARPP program
  and asks for an initial application
• A meeting within the institution is scheduled
  with the applicant and members of the CREST team,
  whereupon in-depth application and assessment
  material is provided
• Person starts the Responsible Renter Program
  (RRP) and Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)
• Assessments are scored and applicant is placed on
  appropriate housing lists
• Person is staffed by CREST - placed on housing
  lists, Goodwill lists
• Person exits incarceration, either to
  transitional home or elsewhere.
• Re-entry process starts, vocational training at
  Goodwill, housing resources provided upon
  completion of RRP.
• Upon completion of RRP, MRT progress, job,
  savings, and time at transitional houses is
  eligible for Tenant Based Rental Assistance.

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• FUTURE DIRECTION

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For more information

• Spokane County Community Services, Housing
  and Community Development Department
• Julie Driscoll
• SHARPP Program Coordinator
• 312 West Eighth Avenue, Fourth Floor
• Spokane, WA 99204
• [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• jadriscoll_at_spokanecounty.org