A New Beginning, Full of Hope

Homelessness comes in many “shapes and sizes.” It can happen to people for varied reasons. I am often reminded of a quip from our good friend, Dr. Iain De Jong, that drives this point home, “If you have seen one person experiencing homelessness… you have seen one person experiencing homelessness!”

Dr. Iain De Jong (Courtesy of the Press Democrat)

One of the reasons people experience homelessness is domestic violence. Though this is not what people usually think of when they hear the word “homelessness”, it should immediately make sense. What else would you call your situation, if you left your home, to escape your abuser? Therefore, the Federal Continuum of Care grants facilitated through the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), have long included grants for housing programs for domestic violence survivors.

One thing that survivors do share with others who experience homelessness, is that they need more than just housing. Often, they can find themselves with nothing more than the clothes on their back and what they could carry in their hands.

Regina*, a domestic violence survivor, had found refuge with our grantee, Hope’s Door New Beginning Center. She was working hard on rebuilding her life, was admitted into their housing program, and was able to save up enough money to pay her required portion of the rent on her apartment. She was still missing two things, so basic to rebuilding her life and remaining housed, that most of us take them for granted, furniture and transportation.

Regina learned about the Dallas Furniture Bank, whose mission is to provide “furniture to families transitioning from homelessness.” She also learned about the DART Reduced ID card program, a DART-MDHA partnership, which allows those experiencing homelessness to ride on DART using 50% discounted passes. However, she did not have the money to utilize these services.

Aliah Henry, CEO, Dallas Furniture Bank

Now, you might ask why Hope’s Door New Beginning Center could not help her with these needs. It is not that they did not want to help her. As is often the case, the Federal grant that paid for her housing and services, could not be used to pay for furniture and transportation. What was Regina to do?

Luckily, her case manager, Jackie, knew who could help: The MDHA Flex Fund. The Flex Fund was designed by MDHA and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, with people just like Jackie in mind. The idea of the Flex Fund is simple. A person experiencing homelessness faces a minor but impactful expenditure that impedes the person from (making progress in) ending his or her homelessness. The Flex Fund pays for it. That’s all there is to it.

Jackie told Regina about the Flex Fund. She shared with her that early on MDHA had formed a partnership with the Dallas Furniture Bank to allow clients to obtain basic furniture, with the MDHA Flex Fund footing the bill. Jackie and Regina discussed what furniture would be most helpful to her. Regina chose a sofa, a chair and an end table for her living room, a table and chair set for her dining room, and a full-size bed, dresser and night stand for her bedroom. Jackie also shared with Regina that the Flex Fund could pay for her DART Reduced ID card and the remaining 50% cost of a monthly pass, as well.

A Hope’s Door New Beginning Center staff “Purple Thursday” photo

Jackie filled out MDHA’s simple Flex Fund forms, and submitted them to Shavon Moore, MDHA’s Continuum of Care Resource Manager. Shavon notified the Dallas Furniture Bank, and they called Regina in for her private appointment. It felt great to shop in style at their facility, and choose her very own furniture. Shavon also provided Jackie with a letter Regina could take to DART, certifying her homelessness, as well as a check made out to DART to cover the ID and the remaining 50% cost of a monthly pass.

Hope’s Door New Beginning Center is a true lifeline for domestic violence survivors like Regina, in bringing normalcy back into their lives. With the help of community partners like MDHA, the Dallas Furniture Bank and DART working together with them, Hope’s Door New Beginning Center can better help the “Reginas” of our community in achieving a sense of stability in a new beginning, full of hope.

* Client name has been changed to protect her privacy.

What Housing Authorities Can Do to Address Problems of Homeless People and Families

As promised, here is the handout with the main points, MaryAnn Russ, Dallas Housing Authority President and CEO, and MDHA board member, discussed during her breakout session at the annual HATS – Housing Authority Symposium Texas. Hopefully, many more housing authorities will follow her example!

1. Decide to address the problem of homelessness – this is an issue both for staff and Boards. Many homeless individuals have serious behavioral and physical health issues and PHA staff are not necessarily equipped to deal with these matters.

2. Work to build linkages with agencies that serve homeless people and people with disabilities – these alliances will be essential to succeed in this effort;

3. Understand that the issues of chronically homeless individuals and homeless families with children are often very different and respond to different solutions;

a. Homeless families with children often attempt to conceal their status because they do not want to lose their children to Child Protective Services;

b. Children “aging out of foster care” are in danger of becoming homeless;

c. A fairly high percentage of families with children become homeless due to domestic violence;

4. Consider “accrediting” agencies that work with homeless families and individuals – such accredited agencies can both verify homeless status and provide ongoing services to people the PHA houses. PHAs have something these agencies want and need – permanent housing for their clients;

5. Determine the role the PHA will play in assisting with the reduction of homelessness – is the PHA going to provide only permanent housing to people whose health issues are stabilized or is it going to provide the assistance for Permanent Supportive Housing? Both services are needed;

6. Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is housing that is linked with services so formerly homeless individuals and families can receive assistance with a range of issues in their housing;

7. Establish admissions preferences in both the public housing and housing choice voucher programs for homeless individuals and families

a. This requires amending both the ACOP and the Admin Plan as well as the Annual Plan;

b. The PHA must define what qualifies as “homelessness”. PHAs are not required to use the Hearth Act definitions;

 

c. Consider dialing back criminal history screening to cover just the Federally prohibited crimes (manufacturing methamphetamines in Federal housing, being subject to lifetime registration requirements as a sex offender);

8. Provide or obtain training and ongoing support to PHA staff so that the housing provided to homeless people can be preserved. Not much is accomplished by admitting homeless folks and then evicting them as soon as something goes wrong.

9. Assume that people who are working to recover from substance abuse will occasionally fall off the wagon and create safeguards so they can pick themselves back up.