As part of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009, Congress allocated $1.5 billion to states and eligible municipalities for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing programs.
On March 19, 2009, HUD issued a Notice (pdf) of allocations and requirements for accessing Homelessness Prevention Funds accessible through the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP). Eligible grantees are state and local government agencies, who are in turn authorized to contract with private non-profit "sub-grantees" to implement the plans. All contracts with sub-grantees must be signed by September 30, 2009.
Target Populations
HPRP funds are to be used for homeless individuals and families (including those housed in emergency shelter), and individuals and families who are housed but at high risk for homelessness. The Notice states that HPRP "will provide temporary financial assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services to individuals and families who are homeless or would be homeless but for this assistance."
Eligible Activities
There are four categories of eligible activities: financial assistance, housing relocation and stabilization services, data collection and evaluation, and administrative costs.
Financial Assistance
Short- and medium-term rental assistance, security deposits, utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and motel and hotel vouchers are allowable expenses.
Housing Relocation and Stabilization Services
Case management, outreach and engagement, housing search and placement, legal services, and credit repair are allowable expenses.
Ineligible Activities
Mortgage costs, construction and rehabilitation, credit card bills and consumer debt, car repair and transportation costs, travel costs, food, medical/dental, clothing/grooming, furnishings, pet care, entertainment activities, work and education materials, and direct cash assistance to program participants are not allowable expenses under HPRP.
Participant Eligibility and Requirements
Individuals and families receiving assistance must have at least an initial consultation with a case manager, be at or below 50% of area median income (AMI), homeless or at high-risk for becoming so, have no identifiable appropriate housing options, and lack the financial resources and social support networks necessary to remain in existing housing or to quickly obtain new housing.
For at-risk populations, the Notice lists a number of risk factors that may be considered. See the Notice linked above for the full list, but examples include recent or pending eviction or discharge from institutional setting, sudden and significant loss of income, extremely low income, and mental health and substance abuse issues.
New York State and Albany
New York State and cities and counties within New York State were allocated funding at the time of the Notice. New York City was authorized to receive nearly $74 million in funding. Other cities and counties across the state were authorized to receive a total of nearly $42 million. The State of New York was awarded an additional $25 million. In total, nearly $133 million in funding will be available for distribution across the state starting in September 2009. All funds must be exhausted within a three year period, with 60% being used in the first two years. Albany was allocated $1.5 million.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A Step Back: Counting the Homeless
Overview
Before jumping any further into how to resolve the problem of homelessness, it should be useful to take a step back and look at how many people are homeless and more specifically how many veterans are homeless. ("Who" is homeless will follow in another post.)
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, there were 671,888 homeless persons (pdf) counted in the 2007 annual nationwide "Point-in-Time" count. Among those, 58% were sleeping in an emergency shelter or in transitional housing, and the remainder were sleeping on the streets or in other places not meant for human habitation such as in cars, boats, tents, and abandoned/condemned buildings. There were 423,400 homeless individuals (63%) and the remainder (37% or 248,500 persons) were in homeless families.
Approximately 72% of homeless persons in families were sheltered, while approximately half of homeless individuals were sheltered. At the same time, there were approximately 60,800 homeless persons in New York State, and 80% (48,640) of them were in New York City. The remaining 20% (12,160) were upstate or on Long Island.
According to the same HUD report, approximately 1.6 million individuals used a homeless shelter between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007. Importantly, this does not include individuals who opted not to use a shelter, for a number of possible factors including lack of space, refusal to comply with substance abuse rules, and a number of other understandable reasons. It also excludes women and children who sought refuge in domestic violence shelters.
Homeless Veterans
The most recent VA estimates indicate that approximately 131,000 veterans were homeless on any given night in 2008. It is estimated that over the course of a year, approximately double that number experience homelessness at least once. The first estimate is a result of an annual survey by the VA of service providers, homeless and formerly homeless individuals, and other interested individuals called Project CHALENG, who are asked to estimate the number of homeless veterans in their catchment area. This methodology has advantages (ease of administration, low cost) and limitations (accuracy).
Veterans have long been overrepresented among the homeless population relative to their proportion of the total population, though this has not always been the case (see page 9 of pdf). World War II and Korean War veterans were less likely to be homeless than their non-veteran peers. The overrepresentation appears to go back to the Vietnam era. Veterans were found to comprise 12.7% of the total population at the time of the 2000 census. The most recent estimates suggest that veterans comprise between 23% and 40% of the homeless population. Along the same lines, the National Coalition for the Homeless notes (pdf) that approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans while veterans comprise 34% of the adult male population.
Iraq and Afghanistan Vets
Between 2005 and 2007, the VA identified 2,986 veterans who had served in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom - OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom - OEF) who had become homeless since since separation from the armed forces. As have all veterans, before them, veterans of the OIF/OEF era come with their own unique set of challenges and also their own unique set of resources to draw on. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear in considerable numbers in this population. The Congressional Research Service reports (pdf) that, between 2003 and 2007, there were 43,779 TBI diagnoses and 39,365 PTSD diagnoses among OIF/OEF vets. The Center for American Progress suggests (pdf) that 1.4 million troops had served in OIF/OEF as of March 2007. The military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported in March 2008 that more than a million troops had served in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.
While the total number of homeless veterans has been falling, the number of women veterans has been moving in the opposite direction, driven mostly if not entirely by the vast increase in the number of women serving in the military. According to recent testimony before the House of Representatives' Committee on Veterans' Affairs, more than 200,000 women have served in OIF and OEF operations, up from 7,500 in Vietnam and 41,000 in the first Gulf War. According to the same testimony, as many as 6,550 of the estimated 131,000 homeless veterans may be women.
Finally, veterans with families who are either homeless or precariously housed are another population that merits consideration. There are a number of veterans with families who have faced the possible or actual loss of their housing, and one of the problems that they face is that many emergency shelters and transitional shelters are unable to accommodate them either because of the design of their facilities or because of restrictions on funding. The extent of these problems is unclear.
Challenges in Counting
Estimates of the homeless populations at every level are subject to error from problems in measurement, actual fluctuation of homeless populations as people find and lose housing, and from differing definitions of who is "homeless."
New York City, which has employed what is likely the most accurate of street homeless population counts for large metropolitan ares, has likely understated its homeless population, though the City denies the allegations. Note that this count refers to "street" homelessness only. NYC's shelter census, as of March 11, 2009, was 35,135. Shelter counts are collected via Homeless Management Information Systems, which have proliferated under pressure from Congress since 2004. Shelter counts, for obvious reasons, vary with seasons and weather.
Homeless population counts are, as noted above, affected by definitions of "homelessness." There is not one single definition of "homelessness" under which the federal government operates, but the HUD definition has the most widespread effects on housing. The HUD definition was expanded in May 2009, but had previously excluded individuals and families "doubling up" with friends or relatives from being counted as homeless, and likewise excluded individuals and families living in motels. The National Coalition for the Homeless notes that "homeless families living in shared housing for more than two week duration and single adults and childless couples living in shared housing due to loss of housing and economic hardship" are still excluded.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimated that including "doubled up" individuals in the total homeless population count would expand the total homeless population from 744,000 on any given night by more than three million.
Before jumping any further into how to resolve the problem of homelessness, it should be useful to take a step back and look at how many people are homeless and more specifically how many veterans are homeless. ("Who" is homeless will follow in another post.)
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, there were 671,888 homeless persons (pdf) counted in the 2007 annual nationwide "Point-in-Time" count. Among those, 58% were sleeping in an emergency shelter or in transitional housing, and the remainder were sleeping on the streets or in other places not meant for human habitation such as in cars, boats, tents, and abandoned/condemned buildings. There were 423,400 homeless individuals (63%) and the remainder (37% or 248,500 persons) were in homeless families.
Approximately 72% of homeless persons in families were sheltered, while approximately half of homeless individuals were sheltered. At the same time, there were approximately 60,800 homeless persons in New York State, and 80% (48,640) of them were in New York City. The remaining 20% (12,160) were upstate or on Long Island.
According to the same HUD report, approximately 1.6 million individuals used a homeless shelter between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007. Importantly, this does not include individuals who opted not to use a shelter, for a number of possible factors including lack of space, refusal to comply with substance abuse rules, and a number of other understandable reasons. It also excludes women and children who sought refuge in domestic violence shelters.
Homeless Veterans
The most recent VA estimates indicate that approximately 131,000 veterans were homeless on any given night in 2008. It is estimated that over the course of a year, approximately double that number experience homelessness at least once. The first estimate is a result of an annual survey by the VA of service providers, homeless and formerly homeless individuals, and other interested individuals called Project CHALENG, who are asked to estimate the number of homeless veterans in their catchment area. This methodology has advantages (ease of administration, low cost) and limitations (accuracy).
Veterans have long been overrepresented among the homeless population relative to their proportion of the total population, though this has not always been the case (see page 9 of pdf). World War II and Korean War veterans were less likely to be homeless than their non-veteran peers. The overrepresentation appears to go back to the Vietnam era. Veterans were found to comprise 12.7% of the total population at the time of the 2000 census. The most recent estimates suggest that veterans comprise between 23% and 40% of the homeless population. Along the same lines, the National Coalition for the Homeless notes (pdf) that approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans while veterans comprise 34% of the adult male population.
Iraq and Afghanistan Vets
Between 2005 and 2007, the VA identified 2,986 veterans who had served in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom - OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom - OEF) who had become homeless since since separation from the armed forces. As have all veterans, before them, veterans of the OIF/OEF era come with their own unique set of challenges and also their own unique set of resources to draw on. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear in considerable numbers in this population. The Congressional Research Service reports (pdf) that, between 2003 and 2007, there were 43,779 TBI diagnoses and 39,365 PTSD diagnoses among OIF/OEF vets. The Center for American Progress suggests (pdf) that 1.4 million troops had served in OIF/OEF as of March 2007. The military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported in March 2008 that more than a million troops had served in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.
While the total number of homeless veterans has been falling, the number of women veterans has been moving in the opposite direction, driven mostly if not entirely by the vast increase in the number of women serving in the military. According to recent testimony before the House of Representatives' Committee on Veterans' Affairs, more than 200,000 women have served in OIF and OEF operations, up from 7,500 in Vietnam and 41,000 in the first Gulf War. According to the same testimony, as many as 6,550 of the estimated 131,000 homeless veterans may be women.
Finally, veterans with families who are either homeless or precariously housed are another population that merits consideration. There are a number of veterans with families who have faced the possible or actual loss of their housing, and one of the problems that they face is that many emergency shelters and transitional shelters are unable to accommodate them either because of the design of their facilities or because of restrictions on funding. The extent of these problems is unclear.
Challenges in Counting
Estimates of the homeless populations at every level are subject to error from problems in measurement, actual fluctuation of homeless populations as people find and lose housing, and from differing definitions of who is "homeless."
New York City, which has employed what is likely the most accurate of street homeless population counts for large metropolitan ares, has likely understated its homeless population, though the City denies the allegations. Note that this count refers to "street" homelessness only. NYC's shelter census, as of March 11, 2009, was 35,135. Shelter counts are collected via Homeless Management Information Systems, which have proliferated under pressure from Congress since 2004. Shelter counts, for obvious reasons, vary with seasons and weather.
Homeless population counts are, as noted above, affected by definitions of "homelessness." There is not one single definition of "homelessness" under which the federal government operates, but the HUD definition has the most widespread effects on housing. The HUD definition was expanded in May 2009, but had previously excluded individuals and families "doubling up" with friends or relatives from being counted as homeless, and likewise excluded individuals and families living in motels. The National Coalition for the Homeless notes that "homeless families living in shared housing for more than two week duration and single adults and childless couples living in shared housing due to loss of housing and economic hardship" are still excluded.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimated that including "doubled up" individuals in the total homeless population count would expand the total homeless population from 744,000 on any given night by more than three million.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Permanent Supportive Housing
What is it?
Permanent supportive housing is permanent community-based housing for individuals with “wrap-around” supportive services including case management for various facets of life. These can include health issues (including mental health and substance abuse), job preparation and search assistance, personal financial management, opportunities for socialization with peers and others.
Permanent supportive housing is permanent community-based housing for individuals with “wrap-around” supportive services including case management for various facets of life. These can include health issues (including mental health and substance abuse), job preparation and search assistance, personal financial management, opportunities for socialization with peers and others.
Who is being served?
Chronically homeless individuals are being served. HUD, HHS and the VA all define a chronically homeless individual as "an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years." The VA estimates that, of all homeless vets (not just chronically homeless), 45% suffer from mental illness and more than 70% have alcohol and other drug abuse issues.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, approximately 44,000 to 64,000 veterans were chronically homeless in 2005.
What resources are available and where are they coming from? Public resources? Private resources?
The vast majority of resources for permanent supportive housing for vets come from the federal government. The primary source of funding for chronically homeless veterans is through a joint HUD/VA program called HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH). The HUD-VASH program provides rental subsidies and tie those subsidies to wrap-around supportive case-management services. Ten thousand vouchers were approved and funded in FY 2008, and an additional ten thousand were approved and funded in FY 2009.
The vouchers are permanent housing subsidies, usually attached to the veteran, and the vouchers fund a portion of housing (generally, the portion of rent above 30% of income, capped by the fair market rent for the area) and a supportive case management services component provided by the VA. An additional ten thousand vouchers have been released for federal FY2009. No additional funding has been proposed in the President's FY2010 budget, but Congress may appropriate funds regardless. Each release of ten thousand vouchers costs $75M.
Who are the organizations providing these and related services?
New York: Albany Housing Coalition, Black Veterans for Social Justice, Jericho Project
Nationally: Swords-to-Plowshares, Corporation for Supportive Housing
What is not being done that should be done?
While vouchers have been distributed, veterans have run into significant problems in using the vouchers to access apartments. Of ten thousand vouchers distributed in 2008, less than four thousand veterans were able to use the vouchers in the first ten months of operation. Barriers include credit and employment history problems, discrimination, and insufficient inspectors to perform required apartment inspections prior to lease signing. A current push to "project-base" the vouchers could alleviate these problems by dedicating vouchers to buildings geared toward supportive housing for homeless veterans. Project-based vouchers are dedicated to a particular location and encourage developers to build or extensively rehabilitate buildings by eliminating the portability of the vouchers, thereby eliminating much of their risk.
Additionally, there are simply not enough HUD-VASH vouchers to house all chronically homeless veterans. Approximately twenty thousand new vouchers are in circulation to meet the needs of 44,000 to 64,000 chronically homeless veterans.
This is, to a large extent, a policy problem. At $75 million per year for every 10,000 vouchers, an additional $150-300 million annually would be needed to close the gap.
Where are the opportunities for innovation?
The “Housing First” model appears to have won the academic and policy debate as the preferred solution for housing the chronically homeless. For veterans, there tends to be a preference toward sober housing, which differs from the "Housing First" model.
The Housing First model is premised on the theory that chronically homeless individuals need housing before all else, and that mental health and substance abuse issues cannot effectively be addressed until an individual has a permanent, stable home.
What kinds of return on investment can we get?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
House All Vets blog
This blog is a tool for me to organize my thoughts around issues facing veterans who are homeless or who are at high risk of experiencing homelessness. Through this blog, I plan to tackle the following areas:
"...and until we reach a day when not a single veteran sleeps on our nation's streets, our work remains unfinished." - President Barack Obama, March 16, 2009
- Preventing and ending homelessness among Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom veterans
- Preventing and ending family homelessness among veterans
- Ensuring housing for women veterans
- Ensuring jobs, income and access to all benefits and entitlements available to veterans
- Health and homelessness among veterans, including mental health and substance abuse issues
- Criminal justice issues as they pertain to housing, particularly prisoner re-entry and access to housing and employment opportunities
"...and until we reach a day when not a single veteran sleeps on our nation's streets, our work remains unfinished." - President Barack Obama, March 16, 2009
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