Big Bang? That's What We Do!

Paul Quinn College:
Thursday I attended Big Bang, a day that celebrates social innovation in Dallas, at Paul Quinn College (PCQ). Before it started I was privileged to see the tail end of the men's basketball team practice, and visit with the men's basketball coach, my good friend, Chad Baruch, who is also a civil rights lawyer. (We both used to be assistant principals at Yavneh Academy.)

Dallas Mayor, Mike Rawlings, gave a wonderful opening speech. Here is a bold quote: "A great idea, if it's not scalable, it's nothing... We need capital to create more capital." Wow, that reminds me of a certain organization. It's on the tip of my tongue... Oh, yeah - MDHA! Why do I say that? Well, read on, and you'll see.

MDHA in a Nutshell:
The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. In order to end homelessness, it facilitates over $16,750,000 of annual federal funding, coordinates services, and drives improvement in more than 45 different transitional housing (TH), rapid rehousing (RRH), and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs.

Fulfilling Dallas’ Responsibilities:
Under U.S. Law, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does not directly fund service providers, rather mandates that they be funded through local Continuum of Care (CoC) organizations, led by lead agencies, which coordinate all facets of the grant application process. U.S. Law also requires all federally funded service providers to report on their performance through a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which tracks, grades and drives improvement across the CoC, and in each individual organization. MDHA is the federally designated CoC organization lead agency and HMIS operator for Dallas and Collin Counties.

Value for Money – MDHA’s ROI:
We forecast the cost of MDHA at about $1.1 million next year. This relatively small amount of money “propels” the more than $16,750,000 of annual federal funding. As each program must and does raise match and leverage funds, MDHA in effect “propels” another approximately $20,500,000 in non-federal annual funding. Furthermore, MDHA has also facilitated the Dallas Housing Authority’s housing of 3400 formerly homeless individuals and families at an ongoing annual value of over $28,000,000. In essence every $1 spent by MDHA, “propels” an additional $59! Not a bad return on investment…

Sustaining MDHA:
The federal government expects local communities to provide most of the funding for the operations of CoCs and HMIS. MDHA hopes to realize about $450,000 in earned income. The remaining costs must be raised through other means. MDHA is in the process of signing agreements with local governments that will result in $200,000-$300,000 of steady annual funding that will enable MDHA to improve services, as well as decrease its reliance on philanthropy. That said, for the foreseeable future, philanthropy will remain an essential source of income for MDHA.

Leader in the Fight to End Homelessness Set to Retire, As Agency Prepares to Build on His Legacy

Dallas, Texas – Michael M. Faenza, President and CEO of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), and a national leader in the area of mental health for the past 35 years, announced his retirement last week, effective January 1, 2015. He will remain with MDHA in a consulting role, as the agency searches for his successor. MDHA is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. In order to end homelessness, it facilitates over $16,750,000 of annual federal funding, coordinates services, and drives improvement in more than 45 different transitional housing (TH), rapid rehousing (RRH), and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs. 

Faenza, a distinguished alumnus of the University of Texas at Arlington Graduate School of Social Work, was a fixture of the Dallas social service scene from 1979 to 1993. He was the first vocational coordinator for Dallas County Mental Health Mental Retardation (MHMR), Executive and Clinical Director of the Letot Center for runaway youth, within the Dallas County Juvenile Department, and Executive Director of the Mental Health Association (MHA) of Greater Dallas. He was then elevated to President and CEO of the National MHA in Washington, D.C., a position he served in for 14 years.

Faenza returned to Dallas in 2007 to serve as the President and CEO of MDHA. Under Faenza’s leadership, MDHA took The Bridge, Dallas’ state of the art, $28 million homeless intake and service center, from a mere idea on paper to a fully functioning institution, that today serves as a model for other cities around the country. The Bridge was spun off as a separate non-profit three years ago. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, then the Dallas “Homeless Czar”, reminisced fondly about that period, “Mike came to be my partner as we put together our long term vision to service the homeless many years ago. I enjoyed working with him and never have I met a man that has a bigger heart for those that don't have a voice.”

Larry James, President and CEO of CitySquare, and a MDHA board member emphasized Faenza’s decisive impact on Dallas, beyond The Bridge: “Working with the community to bring $17 million annually back to Dallas from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for use in providing permanent supportive housing, while creatively adding hundreds of units of housing for the homeless in partnership with the Dallas Housing Authority, Mike has distinguished himself as a fierce and innovative leader. MDHA wishes him only the best while acknowledging that he will be missed.” During his tenure at MDHA, Faenza oversaw an increase in PSH units of about 350%, from 600 to 2050, a continued drop in chronic homelessness to 65% below where it was in 2004, and an improvement of more than 30% in PSH services in just the last three years.

MaryAnn Russ, fellow board member of James, and President and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, echoed these sentiments earlier this year: “Due to our partnership with MDHA, we prioritized the housing of those experiencing homelessness, and have so far housed more than 3400 formerly homeless individuals and families. In monetary terms, with an average rent of $700 per month, our investment tops $28,000,000 annually. This would not be happening, if not for Faenza and MDHA’s forward thinking.”

Faenza has continuously emphasized that the fight against homelessness is just a piece of the puzzle, in the general fight against poverty. Earlier this year he stated, “Dallas still has some of the highest poverty rates in the country, affordable housing is scarce, and the mental health provider reimbursement system is dismally underfunded.” Indeed, throughout his tenure, it has been important to Faenza to remind the community that ending homelessness, will not make these larger problems go away.

Britton Banowsky, Commissioner of Conference USA, and Chair of the MDHA board, was effusive in his praise of Faenza, saying, “Mike's contribution to the homeless in our community cannot be overstated. His passion for the cause and years of dedicated service are a great example for all of us. MDHA and our many partners that support and provide service to the homeless are grateful for Mike's leadership. Our work is already underway to find his successor, who we expect to build on the great foundation in place and take the organization to an even higher level of service.”

Perhaps the most important indicator of Faenza’s success is how his staff feels upon his retirement. David Gruber, MDHA’s Development Manager, summed it up, saying, “I know I speak for all of us, when I say that Mike is not just a leader, but a true friend and a great inspiration to each one of us. His model of leadership is one, where the absolute focus is always on those who need help, giving a voice to the voiceless, without compromise. As a tribute to him, we will carry on his vision, and continue the fight to end homelessness in our community.”

Excellent Positive Piece on PSH on NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered

Sunday afternoon, NPR’s Weekend “All Things Considered” had a great piece about LA’s Skid Row (http://www.npr.org/2014/10/26/359112842/as-downtown-l-a-grows-so-does-urgency-to-fix-skid-row). About half of the piece was devoted to an extremely comprehensive and positive portrayal of a Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) project, the Star Apartments on Skid Row, developed by the non-profit Skid Row Housing Trust. The piece succinctly explained the idea behind PSH (and Housing First, though the latter is not mentioned by name), “The best way to tackle homelessness, as well as handle all the chronic health and mental health problems, is to get people housed first and then work on the other issues — issues which can seem extremely challenging.” It profiled a specific resident, Jude Burns, and vividly described how this project essentially saved his life. It quoted Dennis Culhane, a professor of social policy at the University of Pennsylvania, “The research is very robust. It shows that about 85 percent of the people who are placed in this housing remain there one year later. Even among the people who exit, many of them are exiting to other planned arrangements. Only a few percentage is actually returning to homelessness." Finally, the piece highlighted how much money is saved through PSH, as opposed to the other options out there.

The MDHA Model

If you follow this blog, you already know what MDHA does. It is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. In order to end homelessness, we facilitate over $16,750,000 of annual federal funding, coordinate services, and drive improvement in more than 45 different transitional housing (TH), rapid rehousing (RRH), and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does not directly fund service providers, rather mandates that they be funded through local Continuum of Care (CoC)[1] organizations, which coordinate services for those experiencing homelessness. HUD requires all service providers it funds to report on their performance through a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)[2], which tracks, grades and drives improvement across the CoC, and in each individual organization. Increasingly, the federal government is requiring even service providers funded outside of the local CoC to report on their performance through HMIS. MDHA is the federally designated CoC organization and HMIS operator for Dallas and Collin Counties[3].

Interestingly, different communities build different models to fulfill the above CoC and HMIS functions, and these models can change in the same community with time. These functions may be fulfilled by the same organization, as in MDHA’s case today. They may also be fulfilled by two separate organizations, as it was in Dallas before 2010, when the Community Council of Greater Dallas was the HMIS operator. These functions may be fulfilled by a department of local government, as was the case with the CoC function in Dallas before 2004. Alternatively, as in Dallas today, these functions may be fulfilled by an independent non-profit organization, like MDHA. Finally, these functions may be fulfilled by an organization, that also provides some type of direct services, while in others, they are fulfilled by an organization that quite purposefully does not. Between 2007 and 2011, MDHA was an example of the former, The Bridge operating under MDHA, at the time. Now it is an example of the latter, having spun The Bridge off as a separate non-profit three years ago this month.

 
MDHA’s board and community leaders chose the current model very deliberately. MDHA serves as the lead agency for the CoC and as the HMIS operator. This enables the CoC and HMIS functions to work symbiotically, hand in hand. The CoC application process for federal funding is a competitive one, and the more MDHA can drive improvement of the service providers through the use of a high functioning HMIS, the better the odds of winning more funding. MDHA purposefully does not provide any direct services, and is an independent non-profit organization. This enables MDHA to be objective, with the exclusive needs of the consumer in mind, remaining nimble, efficient and responsive to those very needs.

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[1] See http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/hudprograms/continuumofcare

[2] See http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/homeless/hmis

[3] See https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/HEARTH_ESGInterimRule&ConPlanConformingAmendments.pdf,  http://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/docs/SSVF_Data_Collection_Guide.pdf, https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/HDX_VAInitiatesParticipationinHMIS_12.30.10.pdf

Who is Homeless According to the Federal Government? Not Even the Federal Government Can Decide!

Harry Truman once said that he needed to find a one armed economist. When asked why, he said that every time he would ask any economist a question, the economist would say, “On the one hand… but on the other hand…” and he could never get a straight answer, hence he needed a one armed economist… Now good old Harry could have been talking about many other areas of government policy too. It is many times really difficult to get a simple, straight answer! 

Since we are MDHA, we are very interested in the basic question, who is homeless? That might seem like a simple question, to which there is a simple answer. Far from it! Obviously, someone who lives unsheltered on the street is experiencing homelessness, but what about someone who lives in transitional housing? According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the latter are also considered homeless, even though they are sheltered. 

What about chronic homelessness? Is someone who has lived on the streets for a year or more not chronically homeless? Well, not necessarily, since the federal definition of “chronically homeless” is not met unless the person has a disability. (Though, as I often say to people, if I am on the street for a year, and I have not developed a disability, I would think there was something really wrong with me!)

OK, but at least the federal government as a whole agrees what the definition of homeless is, right? Wrong again! Different government departments disagree even on that basic fact. Some of the most glaring examples are the differences between how HUD and the U.S. Department of Education define homeless children and youth. Just one of the differences has to do with what is referred to as “doubling up”.

Millions of Americans, due to poverty and related conditions, live with other families, in a residence not their own, and are one step away from the street or a shelter. Are these people homeless? According to HUD, they are “at risk” of homelessness, but they are not homeless. The Department of Education, however, by law, must consider children and youth, who are, “sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason,” i.e. “doubled up” as homeless.

 
Obviously, this is very important and complicated issue, that goes far beyond what a blog post can address. We encourage you to check out the website of Hear Us Inc., www.hearus.us, to learn more, and educate yourself about this very important issue.