Thursday, August 12, 2010

Family homelessness strategies

I read a very interesting blog this week by Ralph da Costa Nunez, President of the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness, that encouraged me in our work at Hope Alive. He states that rapid rehousing – an iteration of the Housing First strategy – has become the dominant trend among the homeless policy and services community. Rapid rehousing’s 2009 federal legislation, Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) and Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (HEARTH Act), have changed the approach to family homelessness. The legislation's goal is to move the homeless as quickly as possible into permanent housing with access to support services. Granted, this strategy has proven successful in helping chronically homeless single adults exit the roles of homelessness, however, it's been much less effective when applied to homeless families.

He cites in his blog, “Rapid rehousing applies the same Housing First principle to all families, regardless of needs, and despite the fact that the causes of family homelessness are complex and families often face multiple barriers to self-sufficiency. The strategy’s short-term focus on housing ignores the multi-faceted realities of these families’ lives – relegating adult education, job training, income supports, domestic violence issues, or health problems to secondary importance. Data are beginning to show that rapid rehousing may have serious longer-term consequences for families and family shelter systems … they have not been effective in achieving the long-term goal of permanently transitioning families to self-sufficiency. Clearly, reducing the shelter census should not be the goal – permanent self-sufficiency should be.” In fact what’s happening in New York City is that recidivism rates for families returning to homelessness are skyrocketing to a projected 179% by the end of this fiscal year.

AMEN brother! So what does this mean to Hope Alive? It means we stay the course in our mission of providing transitional housing and comprehensive support services to empower women and children with Christian values, dignity and the skills they need to live self-sufficient lives filled with hope and a future. We have not and will not be swayed by government dollars or dictated trends and priorities. Housing first is not our primary objective and we stay committed to addressing the root causes of family homelessness and offering the most effective and innovative solution that helps families exit the roles of homelessness once and for all.

I encourage you to check out his very thought-provoking and informative blog – “One Size Does Not Fit All: Rapid Rehousing and Homeless Families” – at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-da-costa-nunez/one-size-does-not-fit-all_b_649338.html and share your thoughts. Until next week ...

Sue Oehmig
Founder and Executive

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