Single-Loop Learning, Double-Loop Learning and Homelessness – Part II – Rethinking Our Investments

The idea of single-loop learning and double-loop learning can be further useful in thinking about how we, as a nation, have decided (implicitly and explicitly) to address the modern homelessness crisis.

All one needs to do is look at how much we spend on the main federal program to house the homeless, the Continuum of Care Program: $2 billion. That may sound like a lot of money, however, out of a budget of $4 trillion, it is a drop in the bucket. One aircraft carrier, for comparison, costs $13 billion.

Especially over the last decade, we have become extremely skillful at building systems that maximize the impact of these $2 billion. However, as a nation, we have not explored the idea of significantly adding to that funding. We have accepted the governing variable that around $2 billion, in 2017 dollars, is enough to defeat a social ill that has been with us for forty years and counting.

Underinvestment in housing for those who are in critical need of help is not confined to the fight to end homelessness. We see this also in what the federal government calls “worst case housing needs.” “Worst case needs are defined as renters with very low incomes – no more than 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) – who do not receive government housing assistance and who pay more than one-half of their income for rent, live in severely inadequate conditions, or both.” While those experiencing homelessness at any one time, number around 554,000 persons, this other category includes around 8.3 million households! 

It’s not that we don’t invest in housing, in aggregate; it is just that federal support for housing is heavily skewed towards those on the upper rungs of the economic ladder. Will Fischer and Barbara Sard present this in a strikingly visual way. Here are just two of their charts:

 

 

They further clarify that, “The federal government spent $190 billion in 2015 to help Americans buy or rent homes, but little of that spending went to the families who struggle the most to afford housing… Federal housing expenditures are unbalanced in two respects: they target a disproportionate share of subsidies on higher-income households and they favor homeownership over renting. Lower-income renters are far likelier than homeowners or higher-income renters to pay very high shares of their income for housing and to experience problems such as homelessness, housing instability, and overcrowding. Federal rental assistance is highly effective at helping these vulnerable families, but rental assistance programs are deeply underfunded and as a result reach only about one in four eligible households.”

Of course, this is still only part of the story. Dr. Barbara DiPietro, who shared these charts with us, also shared this fascinating video, which clarifies the larger picture of income inequality in America, and how it is driven by policies we, as a nation, have put in place:  

 

Barbara urged us to think about all the policy decisions we have made as a nation. Nothing is preventing us, as a society, from investing more in ending homelessness. Nothing is preventing us from investing more in housing for those on the lower rungs of the economic scale, than we do for those on the upper rungs. Nothing is preventing us from enacting policies that will make all the investments we make, as a nation, in a more equitable manner. We can create a more equitable society, with much less income and wealth inequality.

 

 

However, there is only one way we will get there. We can’t just engage in single-loop learning. We can’t just adjust what we do. Different strategies and actions alone will not help. We need to break out of our current paradigms, and engage in double-loop learning. We need to question the values and beliefs that led to the current crises, in which we find our nation. We need to change the governing variables, and act upon them. Will we have the courage to do so?

A Vision to End the Experience of Homelessness in the Greater Dallas Area - Response to City of Dallas Audit of Homeless Response System Effectiveness

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) is committed to leading the development of an effective homeless response system that will make the experience of homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties rare, brief, and non-recurring. We strongly believe that a coordinated approach, across private, public and nonprofit sectors, is critical to addressing this important social issue. Therefore, we are encouraged that the City of Dallas is taking an active role in addressing our homeless response system.

MDHA, and the Continuum of Care, have embarked on a novel approach to addressing the experience of homelessness and enable transparent communications across a variety of agencies. In November of 2015, the MDHA Board of Directors, including representation from the City of Dallas and The Bridge, voted unanimously in an open forum to migrate to a ground-breaking, modern technology -- one that would go above and beyond traditional HMIS systems to holistically address barriers to care for vulnerable populations.

Launching an innovative information solution such as this is no easy task. “We chose to take this new HMIS implementation approach provided by the PIECES Tech IRIS information solution with long-term objectives in mind: Coordinating a data share across 38 homeless service providers, with the unique added value of building connections and resources with the broader Dallas area community based organizations outside the homeless system of care. We have nearly completed this transition.” said Cindy Crain, MDHA President and CEO.

In the past six months of being live on the new HMIS system, we have seen many successes, including full participation from the Veterans Affairs homeless programs and more complete reporting by shelters. In September of 2014, there was no documentation of individuals served by emergency shelters within the HMIS in our Annual Homeless Assessment Report submitted to HUD. By September of 2017, 57% of individuals served in shelters were documented within the new HMIS system. Tracking of this information allows us to better understand and serve persons experiencing homelessness.

“We embrace our service-focused relationship with all of our partner agencies and appreciate how forthcoming they have been in supporting this process, sharing their data and seeking even more improvements to the HMIS.” said Crain. “We are removing silos between homeless providers, connecting them to a larger network of resources which is enabling more robust reporting providing transparent accountability of our performance, identifying service gaps, and innovating future solutions to help the most vulnerable residents in the greater Dallas area.”

Ending Homelessness, Homeless Response Systems and MDHA – a Link “Primer”

Would you like to learn more about ending homelessness, homeless response systems and MDHA? We recently compiled this handy link “primer” to help you out with just that. Happy learning!

Opening Doors – the National Strategic Plan to End Homelessness:

http://usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/USICH_OpeningDoors_Amendment2015_FINAL.pdf

About MDHA:

http://www.mdhadallas.org/what-is-mdha/

MDHA in Depth:

http://www.mdhadallas.org/mdha-in-depth-2/

Homelessness in Dallas:

http://www.mdhadallas.org/state-of-the-homeless-address-2016/

http://www.mdhadallas.org/2016-homeless-count/

http://www.mdhadallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/HDX-PIT-All-Summary-2016.pdf

2015-2016 Continuum of Care Strategic Work Plan – Building an Effective Homeless Response System:

http://www.mdhadallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/CoCSWP-2015-2016-FINAL1.pdf

http://www.mdhadallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CoCSWP-2015-2016-3-Q-Report.pdf

Housing First Efficacy:

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/04/it-works-sample-of-research-on-efficacy_1.html

https://www.amazon.com/Housing-First-Homelessness-Transforming-Changing/dp/019998980X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466107055&sr=8-1&keywords=housing+first

MDHA Flex Fund:

http://www.mdhadallas.org/the-mdha-flex-fund/

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/05/solomons-ticket-out-of-homelessness.html

Building an Effective Homeless Response System:

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-how-to-of-building-effective.html

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/03/dallas-commits-to-building-effective_14.html

http://www.marc.org/Community/Homelessness-Task-Force/Assets/HTF-coordinated-intake-graphic-web.aspx

Coordinated Access Blog Post Series:

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/03/coordinated-access-blog-post-series.html

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/03/coordinated-access-heart-of-effective.html

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/03/coordinated-access-in-action-in-tarrant.html

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/05/coordinated-access-in-action-in-tarrant.html

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/05/coordinated-access-in-action-in-tarrant_11.html

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/05/coordinated-access-in-action-in-dallas.html

Tent City Closure:

http://www.mdhadallas.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/I45-Encampment-Closure-Report.pdf

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/05/tent-city.html

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/05/tent-city-closed-so-where-do-dallas-homeless-go-from-here.html/

MDHA Partnership with PCCI:

http://endinghomelessnessmdha.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-data-driven-alliance-to-end_12.html

Dallas Area Selected to Join National Campaign to End Veteran and Chronic Homelessness

Dallas, Texas – The Dallas area Continuum of Care (serving Dallas and Collin Counties) has been selected, along with 66 other U.S. communities, to participate in Zero: 2016, a national campaign to end veteran and chronic homelessness in the next two years. The Campaign is being spearheaded by Community Solutions, a national non-profit based in New York City. The organization said it would work intensively with the Dallas Continuum of Care to meet the federal goals set by President Obama to end veteran homelessness by Dec. 2015 and chronic homelessness by Dec. 2016. The initiative is a rigorous follow-on to the group’s successful 100,000 Homes Campaign, which announced in June that it had helped communities house 105,000 chronically homeless Americans in under four years.

The Dallas area Continuum of Care was selected for Zero: 2016 through a competitive, national application process. The decision to apply was made jointly by local public housing authority, Veterans Affairs, non-profit and Continuum of Care leaders. The initiative will formally launch in January of 2015 during the national 2015 Homeless Point-in-Time Count, during which local volunteers will hit area streets and shelters to enumerate the local homeless population. The Dallas area Continuum of Care is exploring the integration of an evidence-based survey into that count to identify all its homeless residents by name and determine the best available resources and housing options to end their homelessness.

“The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance Continuum of Care is excited about this opportunity to utilize nationally recognized best practices to help end Veteran and Chronic Homelessness in Dallas and surrounding communities.  We can reach this goal. Locally Zero: 2016 will change lives and allow agencies to come together to coordinate and prioritize access for the most needy,” said Traswell C. Livingston III, Chair of the Dallas area Continuum of Care, MDHA board member, and Vice President and COO of AIDS Services of Dallas.

“Chronic and Veteran homelessness are urgent, solvable problems,” said Zero: 2016 Director, Beth Sandor. “These communities represent a potential tipping point. If they can show that getting to zero is possible, we think it will become untenable for other communities not to follow suit. Zero: 2016 is about bringing shared accountability to this work. Participants are making a public commitment to get to zero on time, and they are going to use that commitment to drive measurable progress.”

Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the results of the 2014 Homeless Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, which shows that homelessness continues to decline across virtually all major categories, including chronic homelessness. Veteran homelessness was singled out by the report for its particularly steep decline-- more than 30 percent in the last four years.

The Dallas area PIT Count report showed that on a single night in January 2014, Dallas had 42 veterans living on the streets, in automobiles or in abandoned buildings.  Veterans’ homelessness decreased from the previous year from 18% to 13% of the overall homeless population.   A total of 413 people were determined chronically homeless on the night of the PIT Count. Chronic homelessness continues to decrease, as permanent supportive housing increases, resulting in a 65% decrease since 2004.  Local officials said they are committed to reducing the veteran and chronic numbers to zero.

The report on the national results also showed that communities selected to join Zero: 2016 account for a combined 31,669 chronically homeless Americans and 16,218 homeless veterans. Community Solutions said it estimates an overlap of 10,000-12,000 between these two populations.

Opening Doors, the federal plan to end homelessness in America, calls for communities to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015 and to end chronic homelessness one year later.

The 67 communities selected for Zero: 2016 represent 30 different states and the District of Columbia. Among them are 51 communities who also participated in the 100,000 Homes Campaign and 16 new communities. Combined, the group represents the joint, public commitment of 234 housing authorities, local government entities, non-profit organizations, and community agencies.

Sandor said Community Solutions would work with communities to accelerate their housing efforts through four focus areas: closing the research-to-practice gap, real-time data and performance management, local systems redesign, and local team and leadership development. Community Solutions will provide hands-on coaching and data tools, and will curate a national peer-to-peer learning network to accelerate innovation across communities.

Sandor added that communities would focus narrowly on data and performance management for the first 90 days of the initiative with a goal of developing clear targets for the total number of housing placements needed locally to end chronic and veteran homelessness on the federal timetable. This number will consider projected inflow and other key factors. Each community will use this number to determine the monthly housing placement rate it will need to meet in order to succeed.

Communities will learn real-time performance improvement techniques drawn from healthcare, manufacturing and other sectors to reach these ambitious monthly goals.

“To make rapid progress, communities will need to measure the size and needs of their homeless populations in real time and use monthly data to improve their housing performance,” added Sandor. “You can’t solve a problem that you only measure once a year.”

Zero: 2016 will dovetail with other large-scale initiatives working to help communities end homelessness, including the 25 Cities Initiative, led by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Mayor’s Challenge to End Homelessness, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama. Many communities selected to join Zero: 2016 are also participating in one or both of these initiatives, and Community Solutions has coordinated extensively with VA and other federal agencies to ensure that all three initiatives complement each other as well as possible.

In addition to the Mayor’s Challenge to End Homelessness and Zero: 2016 initiatives, the Dallas area Continuum of Care has begun implementing a “Housing First” model for permanent supportive housing. It is also scheduled to deploy a community wide coordinated assessment system for the homeless in the next few months.  All of these initiatives are interrelated and when integrated will allow more efficient and effective use of resources within the community.  Investment in these initiatives will not only end homelessness but reduce the cost along the way, while producing self-sufficient citizens within the community.

MDHA is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. 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. Under U.S. Law, HUD does not fund service providers independently, rather mandates that they be funded through local Continuum of Care organizations, led by lead agencies, which coordinate all facets of the grant application process. MDHA is the lead agency for the Dallas area Continuum of Care, which serves Dallas and Collin Counties.

 
Community Solutions is a national non-profit dedicated to helping communities solve the complex social problems facing their most vulnerable residents. The organization’s work applies design thinking, quality improvement and a host of other cross-sector disciplines to issues like homelessness, unemployment, and public health. Zero: 2016 is a rigorous follow-on to the organization’s successful 100,000 Homes Campaign designed to help a select group of communities end chronic and veteran homelessness in the next two years. The initiative will formally launch in January 2015.