Homelessness Prevention

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Homelessness Prevention
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• SSVF
• Homelessness Prevention
• Eligibility Services

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SSVF Eligibility

• SSVF Eligibility
• A member of a Veteran family Either (a) a
  Veteran or (b) a member of a family in which the
  head of household, or the spouse of the head of
  household, is a Veteran.
• Very low-income Household income does not
  exceed 50 of area median income.
•  
• Occupying Permanent Housing

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SSVF Eligibility Homelessness Prevention

• Occupying Permanent Housing must meet Category 1
  definition

Category of Occupying Permanent Housing Time Restriction
Category 1 If a very low-income Veteran family is residing in permanent housing. A grantee may continue to provide supportive services to a participant within Category 1 so long as the participant continues to meet the definition of Category 1.
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SSVF Eligibility Homelessness Prevention

• At risk of losing their housing and becoming
  literally homeless or remaining literally
  homeless but for SSVF assistance (strongly
  encouraged, but not required).
•  
• VA encourages grantees serving participants in
  Category 1 to assess and document that the
  household would become literally homeless but for
  the SSVF assistance. In other words, a household
  would require emergency shelter or would
  otherwise become literally homeless in the
  absence of SSVF assistance.

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SSVF Eligibility Homelessness Prevention

• Persons currently in permanent housing and
  at-risk of losing their housing and becoming
  literally homeless but for SSVF assistance may
  include persons who are
• Losing their housing in 14 days or less
• An individual or family who will imminently lose
  their primary nighttime residence within 14 days
  of the date of application for assistance AND
• No subsequent residence has been identified AND
• Lacks the resources or support networks, e.g.
  family, friends, faith-based or other social
  networks, needed to obtain other permanent
  housing.
• Losing their housing in more than 14 Days
• An individual or family who will imminently lose
  their primary nighttime residence in more than 14
  days of the date of application for assistance.
  AND
• No subsequent residence has been identified AND
• Lacks the resources or support networks, e.g.
  family, friends, faith-based or other social
  networks, needed to obtain other permanent
  housing (strongly encouraged, but not required).

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SSVF Eligiblity Homelessness Prevention

• Additional risk factors or targeting criteria to
  identify households at greater risk of
  homelessness. A few examples
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• Eviction within two weeks from a private dwelling
  (including housing provided by family or
  friends)
• Residency in housing that has been condemned by
  housing officials and is no longer meant for
  human habitation
• Sudden and significant loss of income
• Mental health and/or substance abuse issues
• Physical disabilities and other chronic health
  issues, including HIV/AIDS
• Severe housing cost burden (greater than 50
  percent of income for housing costs)
• Homeless in last 12 months
• Young head of household (under 25 with children
  or pregnant)
• Extremely low income (less than 30 percent of
  area median income)
• High overcrowding (the number of persons in
  household exceeds health and/or safety standards
  for the housing unit size)
• Recent traumatic life event, such as death of a
  spouse or primary care provider, or recent health
  crisis that prevented the household from meeting
  its financial responsibilities
• Significant amount of medical debt.

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SSVF Services

• Grantees are required to provide the following
  supportive services
• Outreach Services
• Case Management Services
• Assistance in Obtaining VA Benefits
• Assistance in Obtaining and Coordinating Other
  Public Benefits Available in the Grantees Area
  or Community

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• Homelessness Prevention
• Overview

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Why Prevention Assistance?

• Most households can successfully avoid
  homelessness with limited assistance.
• Preventing an episode of homelessness costs less
  than sheltering an episode of homelessness.
• Even more important, it helps diminish the trauma
  and dislocation caused by homelessness for the
  individual or family.

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Why Prevention Assistance?

• The cost savings generated by an efficient
  prevention program can
• Reduce the CoCs need for and reliance upon
  emergency solutions (i.e., shelter), allowing the
  community to reallocate resources towards other
  types of projects.
• Allow CoC providers more time and resources to
  address needs of persons with more severe housing
  barriers.

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Principles of Prevention Assistance

• Crisis Resolution Prevention resources are most
  effective when they are targeted directly to
  resolving a particular households specific
  crisis maintaining the housing.
• Targeting Helping those at greatest risk for
  losing housing.
• Just Enough Assistance Provide minimum
  financial assistance/services necessary for
  shortest time possible.
• Supportive Services Financial assistance
  without services is often Not Enough.

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• Homelessness Prevention
• Program Implementation Considerations

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Targeting

• Will the program serve a geographic catchment
  area?
• Will the program target one or more specialized
  population(s)?
• How will urgency be used to prioritize services?
• Targeting criteria are in addition to SSVF
  eligibility criteria

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Outreach

• Two parts to the provision of outreach services
• Identifying very low-income Veteran families
• Focus on Veteran families at greatest risk and
  perhaps difficult to otherwise identify
• Orient and establish referral relationships with
  local partners
• Train partners on basic program eligibility and
  to assess for risk of housing loss
• Host local informational events and/or
  participate in Stand Down (or similar) events
• Screening to determine eligibility

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Outreach

• A Plan to Find Clients
• Identify the places and organizations that come
  into contact with people experiencing a housing
  crisis.
• Identify where people who enter shelter stay
  immediately before entering shelter.
• List the methods the program will use to find
  clients.
• Design materials and test them with the target
  population.

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Outreach

• Possible partners
• Local VA facilities
• Grant Per Diem Programs
• CHALENG network
• Emergency shelters
• Existing supportive housing programs
• Local information and referral agencies (e.g.,
  2-1-1, senior assistance hotlines, etc.)
• Department of Defense (DoD) Resources (e.g.,
  Transition Assistance Program)
• VA Medical Center Operation Enduring Freedom
  (OEF) / Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Care
  Management Teams
• Community agencies serving low-income populations
• Welfare offices

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Screening Assessment

• Select or design a screening tool that includes
  all criteria required for eligibility and
  prioritization.
• Select or design an assessment tool that includes
  different levels, so more intrusive information
  is requested only when necessary and useful.

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Admissions Protocol

• Draw a decision tree or flow chart of the process
  for making a decision to accept a client or
  decline services.
• Decide who will make key decisions at each point.
• Determine what happens with persons denied
  services who may have other service needs.

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Program Rules Expectations

• Identify and communicate critical rules of
  conduct.
• List the kinds of expectations that individuals
  will be required to meet for ongoing assistance.
• Define due process rights for clients whose
  services or financial assistance may be
  terminated.
• Determine how and when all clients are informed
  of program rules, expectations and client rights.

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Housing Stability Plan

• Select or design a Housing Stability Plan for use
  by staff and clients.
• The Plan may be as simple as the one-time
  financial assistance that will be provided to the
  clients landlord. In the case of medium-term
  rental assistance, it may include steps the
  individual will take to transition off the
  subsidy.
• Plans should focus on goals and steps related to
  housing retention or relocation and not routinely
  include more personal or therapeutic goals.
• Identify how and when plans should be reviewed
  and updated.

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Program Services

• What assistance and services limits have been
  established (within SSVF constraints)?
• How often will these be revisited?
• Has flexibility been baked in to the program?
• Successful programs typically are able to provide
  varying type/level/duration of assistance based
  on individual needs and program resources.
• Is a process in place for supervisory or
  management review if services or financial
  assistance exceed certain limits or to otherwise
  assure adherence to program assistance parameters
  and expectations?

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Program Services

• What public benefits has the program
  established referral relationships with? Are
  MOUs needed?
• Health care services Daily living services
• Personal financial planning services
  Transportation services
• Income support services (e.g., disability
  benefits, social security, Temporary Aid to Needy
  Families (TANF), unemployment assistance,
  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP
  or formerly, food stamps), etc.)
• Fiduciary and representative payee services
• Legal services Child care services and Housing
  counseling services.
• With exception of health care and daily living
  services, grantees may choose to provide such
  benefits though often much more cost-effective
  to partner
• Seek more formal arrangements with partners more
  critical to program success (e.g., local TANF
  office).

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Program Services

• What other services will the program provide?
  Includes temporary financial assistance or
  other services proposed by grantee and approved
  by VA. Temporary financial assistance includes
• Rental assistance
• Utility-fee payment assistance
• Deposits (security or utility)
• Moving costs
• Purchase of emergency supplies for a participant
• Transportation and
• Child care
• Are adequate policies/procedures in place to
  administer assistance?

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Program Services

• Assure focus on least costly interventions and
  those most needed by persons experiencing
  imminent housing loss
• Landlord-tenant mediation
• Case management including budgeting,
  information/referral/advocacy, etc.
• Temporary financial assistance (in combination
  with above)

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Rental Assistance

• Select the model(s) for rental assistance (within
  SSVF constraints).
• Determine how and when rental assistance amount
  or duration will be reassessed.

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Program Staffing

• Generalists, specialists, or some combination of
  both?
• Reassign existing staff or hire new staff?
• Can the program develop agreements with
  specialists for staff training and case
  consultation?
• How will the program define cultural
  competencyand how will it assure that staff are
  culturally competent?
• What are staff qualifications and duties?
• Who will provide supervision? What level of
  supervision is needed?

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Landlords

• Assess screening barriers of target population
  and determine strictness of landlord screening.
• How will landlords be recruited?
• Determine process for using credible
  intermediaries (prevention staff) with tenants
  who have screening barriers.
• Can the program provide financial incentives? Can
  the program repair common damage problems?
• Can the program co-sign leases?
• What other incentives and/or direct assistance
  can be provided that will entice landlords to
  partner and house persons with tenant screening
  barriers?

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Service Completion

• Define how staff and clients will know when
  services are completed.
• Develop criteria and processes, including a flow
  chart, for supervisory, peer and/or consultant
  review of case closing decisions.

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Data Collection Utilization

• List data elements required by VA, other
  funder(s).
• List any additional data elements that are needed
  and will be utilized by the program to assess and
  improve effectiveness, efficiency, quality and
  access.
• Design forms and a flow chart for collecting the
  right information at the right time.

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• Common Challenges Solutions

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Implementation Challenge 1 Targeting

• Targeting is extremely critical if a prevention
  program is to be both successful and cost
  effective.
• The challenge is to identify those at greatest
  risk i.e., those who will literally end up on
  the street or in emergency shelter but for the
  assistance.
• Remember - providing non-essential assistance to
  a program client will cost someone else in the
  community their housing.

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Targeting Prevention Assistance
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Targeting Households at Greatest Risk

• Examples
• Sudden and significant loss of income
• High housing cost burden
• Recent traumatic life event, such as death of a
  spouse, or recent health crisis that prevented
  the household from meeting its financial
  responsibilities
• Homeless in last 12 months
• Young head of household (under 25 with children
  or pregnant)
• High overcrowding (the number of persons exceeds
  health and/or safety standards for the housing
  unit size)

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Can the most at risk households achieve
stability?

• The majority of households that experience an
  episode of homelessness do NOT return to
  homelessness.
• The majority of households that rely on public
  benefits as their main income source do NOT
  become homeless, even without a subsidy.
• "Return to Normal" is the goal of crisis
  intervention.
• Housing stability does not imply the household
  will never again experience a financial or
  personal crisis.

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Implementation Challenge 2 Reaching the Target
Population

• Facilitating Access to Assistance
• Centralized Intake vs. No Wrong Door
• Strategic Marketing
• Strategic Partnerships
• Dealing with Volume of Applicants
• Screening/triage required

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Implementation Challenge 3 Providing Just
Enough Assistance

• Goal of prevention assistance is to address the
  immediate crisis or situation and retain the
  housing.
• Not intended to resolve all of the household's
  ongoing barriers and financial needs.
• Keeps emphasis on short-term nature of
  assistance can be used as a way to engage
  participants in establishing goals/plan.
• Allows community to stretch resources to serve
  more households.

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Implementation Challenge 4 Stabilizing
Households

• Supportive services are essential
• Household budgeting, credit repair, financial
  literacy
• Help client negotiate with landlords provide
  conflict resolution assistance
• Connection to/coordination with mainstream
  programs
• Employment/workforce services
• Eligibility screening for TANF, SSI/SSDI,
  Medicaid, etc.
• Help households apply for Section 8, HOME TBRA,
  etc.
• Referral to mental health and substance abuse
  services
• Relocation an option, if needed

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Implementation Challenge 5 Efficient
Administration of Assistance

• The challenge of prevention assistance cant
  intervene too early, but cant wait too long.
  Consequently, procedures must be efficient!
• Specialization can be more efficient. Consider a
  network of providers that can address
• Variety of issues/barriers (eviction
  prevention/legal assistance, credit repair,
  family reunification, employment assistance)
• Needs of different subpopulations (DV, youth,
  veterans)
• Needs of households spread out across large
  geographic area
• Butconsider centralizing the administration of
  financial assistance to reduce costs and the risk
  of fraud/abuse.

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Implementation Challenge 6 Measuring Impact

• Use data to assess impact of prevention efforts,
  and to make modifications as needed.
• Questions to consider
• Is prevention assistance having an impact on the
  number of persons/households entering shelter?
  Or on the characteristics of those entering
  shelter?
• Of those in shelter, where are they coming from?
  Can you intervene earlier with prevention
  assistance?
• What happens to households after they receive
  prevention assistance? What percentage ends up
  in shelter anyway? What percentage successfully
  avoids homelessness? What are the characteristics
  of those different groups?
• What is the average length of time it takes staff
  to process a prevention case (i.e., determine
  eligibility and issue assistance)? Can you make
  any changes to increase efficiency?

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• Questions?