Homeless and Chronically
Homeless
The
Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of
2009, generally defines an individual or family as homeless if that
individual/family, “lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence,”
or “has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not
designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation,” or lives,
“in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide
temporary living arrangements (including hotels and motels paid for by Federal,
State or local government programs for low-income individuals or by charitable
organizations, congregate shelters, and transitional housing)…” The same act
generally defines[i]
a homeless individual or family as chronically homeless if that
individual/family, “has been homeless… continuously for at least 1 year or on
at least 4 separate occasions in the last 3 years,” and that individual or
family’s head of household has a disability.
Emergency Shelter
The
modern fight against homelessness can be traced to the landmark McKinney-Vento
Act of 1987. The focus at the time was on responding to homelessness as a short
term crisis through the use of emergency shelters. Today, the ideal shelter is
oriented towards housing, and serves a vital, quite distinct role from the role
envisioned in 1987. They provide temporary shelter, with the constant
expectation that they move their clients into housing as soon as possible.
Housing First vs.
Treatment First/Housing Readiness
In
the Treatment First/Housing Readiness approach (which was prevalent in the
1990s and early 2000s) the focus is on managing homelessness, linearly and
methodically making people “housing ready” and only then permanently housing
them. This approach usually requires the attainment of milestones prior to a
person being provided permanent housing (e.g. taking classes, saving a certain
amount of money, maintaining sobriety, finding employment). Housing First, a
robust, evidence based alternative to housing readiness emerged in the early
2000s. This approach argues that homelessness is a housing crisis, that everyone
is housing ready, and that homelessness is best solved by the provision of
housing, with supports and services tailored to the needs and preferences of
persons experiencing homelessness. This approach usually requires only two
conditions: Clients abide by the terms of their leases, and meet with their
case managers on a regular basis. Due to the fact, that Housing First works for
85% of clients and above, the consensus of scholars (and hence) the policy of
the Federal Government, is that all programs should follow this method.
Permanent Supportive
Housing (PSH)
Permanent
Supportive Housing (PSH) is a nationally recognized, proven and cost-effective
solution to the needs of vulnerable people with disabilities who are homeless,
institutionalized, or at greatest risk of these conditions. The PSH approach
integrates permanent, affordable rental housing with the best practice
community-based supportive services needed to help people who are homeless
and/or have serious and long-term disabilities - such as mental illnesses,
developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, substance use disorders, and
chronic health conditions - access and maintain stable housing in the community[ii].
Rapid Rehousing (RRH)
This
model first gained prominence during the Great Recession. Non-chronically
homeless individuals are quickly housed, and offered intense wrap around
services for a limited time, so they can get back on their feet and move on in
90-180 days.
Transitional Housing
(TH)
The
HEARTH Act of 2009 defines this as, “Housing the purpose of which is to
facilitate the movement of individuals and families experiencing homelessness
to permanent housing within 24 months…” These more traditional programs have
historically followed the Treatment First/Housing Readiness approach. The
Federal Government has encouraged communities to gradually move away from these
programs due their lower success rate and higher cost, in comparison to PSH and
RRH.
Continuum of Care(CoC)
A
Continuum of Care (CoC) is a geographically based group of representatives that
carries out the planning responsibilities [related to housing programs and
services for the homeless, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development or HUD]… These representatives come from organizations that provide
services to persons experiencing homelessness, or represent the interests of
the homeless or formerly homeless.” (HEARTH Act Interim Rule, page 45423) The
CoC is required to designate a collaborative applicant to apply to HUD for CoC
funding on behalf of all of the local applicants as well as designate a
Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) administrator. The local CoC (for
Dallas and Collin Counties) has designated the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance
(MDHA) as the collaborative applicant and HMIS administrator.
Homeless Management
Information System (HMIS)
The
HEARTH Act mandates that federally funded homeless service providers (CoC
programs and others) report on their performance through a Homeless Management
Information System (HMIS), to track performance and drive improvement of each
individual program and the community as a whole.
Homeless Response
Systems
The
HEARTH Act of 2009, imbued CoCs with an enhanced role. It envisioned CoCs and
their lead agencies creating comprehensive homeless response systems that,
using a Housing First approach, would efficiently and effectively, coordinate
and deliver evidence based solutions that would prevent and end homelessness.
The HEARTH Act tasked the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
(USICH), an independent federal agency, which brings together 19 different
federal entities, with writing a national strategic plan to end homelessness.
The plan titled “Opening Doors” was presented to the President and Congress in
2010, and has been updated and revised a number of times, most recently in June
2015. The revised Opening Doors plan calls for retooling the homeless response
system, by transforming homeless services into crisis response systems that
prevent homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness to
stable housing.
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[i]
Many parts of this glossary draw their language from Opening Doors, as amended
in 2015. See http://usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/USICH_OpeningDoors_Amendment2015_FINAL.pdf
