Chicago’s Community-Wide Housing First Approach Betsy Benito Chicago Department of Housing NAEH Conference 2007

Selling Points for System-wide Change We were serving significant numbers of both individuals and families, and neither very well Emergency Response System, designed to expand and contract with need, was not contracting Other characteristics:  Too many people entering shelter  Inconsistent services  No clear path to housing  Everyone lined up for supportive housing resources, even if they didn’t need the support Change can happen with current resources

Chicago's Homeless System Composition 2003

Guiding Documents Supporting Community-wide Housing First “Getting Housed, Staying Housed” (2002) Program Models Chart (2003) System Assumptions and Conversion Methodology (2004) Implementation Schedule (2005)

Hallmarks of Chicago’s Plan System Projections Prevention Resources and Infrastructure Conversion of Transitional Housing Targeting Resources  Low-income individuals and families  Housing and services for hard to serve individuals

System Projections Create a set of assumptions about the people who use your current services  Disability rates  Length of homelessness  Exits to unsubsidized housing  Family size Use national statistics if you don’t have your own data Determine of those who are homeless today, what housing would they need/qualify for with homeless resources Figure in what are the needs of those who are “newly” homeless - are they different from the current homeless population?

Current and Future System Projection

Increased Focus on Prevention Prevention is a cost effective investment - easy sell as a place to put additional resources We have associated prevention outcomes with decreases in shelter use over the past 4 years New infrastructure is being put in place to streamline access to funds and capture data on people who request resources

Conversion of Transitional Housing Conversion of Transitional (1-2 year programs) to either 120-day Interim Housing or Permanent Housing is the linchpin of Chicago’s Housing First approach Program conversions changed the expectation of services provided and the associated outcomes- particularly in relation to permanent housing placement and retention Technical assistance has been provided - paid in large part by private foundations - first to get agencies thinking differently about homeless programs, and now on using specific strategies to meet or exceed outcomes

Chicago's Homeless System Composition 2006

Targeting Resources Targeting new resources - or existing resources - can help understand how different populations respond to a housing- first approach Can you “cream” households able to pay rent and use mainstream services into unsubsidized housing? Can people who live on the street succeed in permanent housing with services?

Success and Challenges We had to make change and movement with little to no new resources We now have received a new commitment of housing resources for long-term homeless to jumpstart movement out of shelter 2006 had the lowest number of homeless households since before the Plan began Monitoring “fidelity” to program models and evaluating client outcomes