GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness Courtney Myers-Keaton – Coordinator for Coalition to End Homelessness www.endhomelessnesskent.org

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness The Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness is a collaborative group, comprised of over 60 agencies and individuals in the Greater Grand Rapids area, who are committed to ending homelessness. This Coalition believes that all members of our community have the right to safe, affordable housing. Promising practices: Housing First Coordinated Entry System Performance Measures Eviction Prevention Diversion Veteran Housing Partnerships Housing First: an approach that offers permanent, affordable housing as quickly as possible for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and then provides the supportive services and connections to the community-based supports people need to keep their housing and avoid returning to homelessness. Coordinated Entry: an important process through which people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness can access the crisis response system in a streamlined way, have their strengths and needs quickly assessed, and quickly connect to appropriate, tailored housing and mainstream services within the community or designated region. Standardized assessment tools and practices used within local coordinated assessment processes take into account the unique needs of children and their families as well as youth. When possible, the assessment provides the ability for households to gain access to the best options to address their needs, incorporating participants’ choice, rather than being evaluated for a single program within the system. The most intensive interventions are prioritized for those with the highest needs. System Performance Measures: set of selection criteria for HUD to use in that require CoCs to report to HUD their system-level performance. The intent of these selection criteria are to encourage CoCs, in coordination with ESG Program recipients and all other homeless assistance stakeholders in the community, to regularly measure their progress in meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness in their community and to report this progress to HUD. While it is currently HUD-specific, it does not need to be limited to HUD and can be expanded upon based on what the community decides to use as a measure of progress, as well. Eviction Prevention: 61st District Court program. 3 main goals: Reduce the number of evictions Prevent the cascading negative effects of eviction Improve housing stability A dedicated Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) caseworker helps eligible tenants access State Emergency Relief (SER) funds and other funds to pay back rent. The property owner and tenant sign an agreement, called a “stipulation” If the tenant can access SER or other funds, DHHS uses those funds to pay the landlord the back rent The tenant stays in their home, and because the “stipulation” was fulfilled, the tenant’s credit rating isn’t affected Diversion: The main difference between diversion and other permanent housing-focused interventions centers on the point at which intervention occurs. Prevention targets people at imminent risk of homelessness, diversion targets people as they are applying for entry into shelter, and rapid re-housing targets people who are already homeless. late Oct 2017 – successfully diverted 233 families with ST case management and some limited financial assistance. Strengths-based tool to identify what resources are available to prevent homelessness from occurring. Veteran Housing Partnerships: Cross-sectoral collaboration between organizations that serve Veterans to ensure housing stability.

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness Homelessness System Definitions: Literal Homelessness Emergency Shelter Transitional Housing Permanent Supportive Housing Functional Zero How definitions evolve over time: Regulations / Conversations / Values Literal Homelessness: Individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, meaning: Has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not meant for human habitation; (ii) Is living in a publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters, transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal, state and local government programs); or (iii) Is exiting an institution where (s)he has resided for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human habitation immediately before entering that institution Emergency Shelter: any facility, the primary purpose of which is to provide a temporary shelter for the homeless in general or for specific populations of the homeless and which does not require occupants to sign leases or occupancy agreements. Transitional Housing: designed to provide homeless individuals and families with the interim stability and support to sucessfully move to and maintain permanent housing. Transitional housing may be used to cover the costs of up to 24 months of housing with accompanying supportive services.  Permanent Supportive Housing: combines affordable housing assistance with voluntary support services Functional Zero: homelessness is rare, brief, and non-reoccurring

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness Point in Time counts for last three years – this is just a snapshot from one day. The number of people who touched the homelessness system actually increased over the last few years (add numbers here). Note the number of “Persons in Families with Children” hovers around 270 – 300. This represents approximately 100 families who are in shelter, transitional housing or unsheltered but part of the homelessness system on this specific night. This is likely under representative of the real issue because many families place their children with friends or family rather than engaging with the system because they know through their own experience or word of mount that resources are limited. Next PIT Count day is Jan 30, 2019. Planning is underway.

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness People Utilizing the Homelessness System 2018 Family Shelter Data* Median # requests for shelter – 43 Median # shelter referrals – 11 Median monthly waitlist – 71 *Based on Assessments completed in HMIS 2015: 9,842 2017: 8,491

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness Length of time homeless in days. For singles, the number of people represented in these numbers range from 2700 (in 4th quarter of last year) to 3196 people (most recent quarter). For families, the number represents 644 (2nd quarter 2018) to 756 (2nd quarter 2017)- that is people in families, family sizes vary. This, in some ways, represents capacity of the system (as people move through the system, this number goes down). However, it also can indicate shortages in system resources, when

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness Part of the System Performance Measures, returns to homelessness help us understand both impact of housing services as well as changing dynamics in the community.

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness   *The above data represents youth ages 18-24 who were surveyed on Count Day. *Youth who were identified as unsheltered or sheltered through the VoYC Survey (83 persons) were added to the Youth By-Name prioritization list managed by Coordinated Entry at The Salvation Army. *Within business 3 days, 20 youth were referred to a community resource for housing solutions to meet their needs. *Youth who were surveyed who were not connected to an immediate housing resource were provided opportunities to complete Housing Choice Voucher applications and were added to the By-Name Youth prioritization list managed by Coordinated Entry at The Salvation Army. * There were an additional 15 youth under the age of 18 who were surveyed. Since the sample size was small, demographic data on these youth were not included in the 2018 Youth Count report-out. Plans for the 2019 VOYC include increased focus on improving connection to local schools in hopes of securing their participation in the 2019 count.

GR Area Coalition to End Homelessness: Updates Extension of Strategic Plan Youth Action Board & Voices of Youth Count Coordinated Entry Evaluation Report-out and Action Step Planning K-Connect Community-wide Housing Conversations Financial Modeling Report Framework Fulton Manor Project Community Rebuilders Family Homelessness Funding

Questions? Contact information: cmyers-keaton@hwmuw.org / 616.752.8624