SOCAHOC Housing Community Forum Creating Healthy and Sustainable Communities

ORANGE COUNTY UNITED WAY  Established in 1924 as Santa Ana Community Chest  1960s: Seventeen independent United Ways and United Funds in Orange County begin to merge  1984: All local United Ways merged into one entity: Orange County United Way  Mission: To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of Orange County to strengthen OUR community

UNITED WAY’S EVOLUTION… FROM  Supporting a Family of Agencies TO  Supporting Needed Programs Based on Community Assessment and Program Outcomes TO  Mobilizing to Change Community Conditions

BACKGROUND  With our Board’s endorsement, United Way engaged in a strategic planning process beginning in May 2012  Four Board-level Committees were established focused on: Education, Income, Health and Housing  A 6-month Committee and community stakeholder engagement process was held  Look at other successful national models developed by United Way organizations

UNIQUE AND EXPANDED ROLES FUND innovative and effective programs ADVOCATE for program and policy improvement COLLABORATE to create Collective Impact EDUCATE the broader Orange County community

FACE 2024 GUIDING PRINCIPLES 1.Education, Income, Health & Housing are all Inextricably Intertwined 2.Focus on Children and Families 3.Improve Family Self-Sufficiency 4.Emphasize Prevention and Early Intervention 5.Build Public Awareness 6.Long-Term Commitment

Our Aspiration: Ensure that every Orange County youth receives a high quality and relevant education 10-Year Goal: Cut the high school dropout rate in half (from 9.5% to 5%) EDUCATION INCOME Our Aspiration: Ensure local families have the capability to become financially stable 10-Year Goal: Cut the % of financially unstable families by 25% Our Aspiration: Ensure the next generation in Orange County is the healthiest in the nation 10-Year Goal: Increase by 1/3 the # of healthy youth in Orange County HEALTHHOUSING Our Aspiration: Eliminate homelessness for children and their families 10-Year Goal: Cut the % of homeless and housing insecure children in half

POVERTY IN ORANGE COUNTY  Official Poverty Measure 12.8%  California Poverty Measure 24.3% * As calculated for Orange County by Stanford and Public Policy Institute of California

EDUCATION  Over 4,000 students drop out of high school each year  By 2018, 60% of jobs will require post secondary education

ECONOMIC IMPACT  Compared to a high school dropout, a single high school graduate yields a public benefit of over $200,000 in lower government spending and higher tax revenues  Over 4,000 Orange County high school students will drop out this year  Fiscal impact: $800 Million!

INCOME  More than 300,000 or 11.7% below the “Official” Poverty Level  Largest employment growth in the lower wage industries (e.g. hotel, restaurant and healthcare clusters)

HEALTH  226,000 residents are “food insecure”  More than 1/3 of our youth are overweight or obese  1 of every 6 Orange County residents is uninsured (as of 11/13)

HOUSING  More than 12,700 face homelessness annually, and on any given night, almost 4,300 people are homeless  Over 1,300 children live in motels  Over 30,542 students are considered homeless or housing insecure  Affording a one bedroom apartment on minimum wage would require 124 hours of work per week

HOUSING- LOCAL 211 CALLERS WITHIN 1 YEAR  Nearly 400 Veterans seeking housing  5,211 people seeking transitional housing shelters  Nearly 5,000 requests for rental payment assistance  1,800+ requests for motel vouchers  seeking cold weather shelters  4,000+ in need of utilities payment assistance

WHO NEEDS AFFORDABLE HOUSING?  Recent College Graduates  Teachers  Construction workers  Police and Firefighters  Nurses and Medical and Dental Assistants  Receptionists  Food Service Personnel  Small Business Owners

IMPACT OF HOMELESS & HOUSING INSECURITY  Home ownership is unattainable for nearly 1/2 of Orange County households  High housing costs mean fewer resources are available for things like food, medical care, education or childcare  Being forced into double and triple occupancies, leads to high-stress living situations, affecting health, safety and children’s school work

HOUSING SOLUTIONS  “Rapid re-housing” strategy moves people into permanent housing as quickly as possible and improves access to affordable, permanent housing, lessens the burden on shelters and helps residents retain their dignity  Affordable apartment housing, defined as spending 30% or less of total income on rent

FUNDING GOALS & STRATEGIES  Act as an Independent Backbone Organization  Coordinated Assessment & Centralized Intake System  Hire a Housing Resource Specialist  Support Rapid Re-Housing Programs  Support Homelessness Prevention

ADVOCACY GOALS & STRATEGIES  Support housing policies to end homelessness and increase affordable housing  Develop affordable housing advocacy plan with local advocacy groups  Establishing partnerships with local public housing authorities to allocate housing choice vouchers  Work with apartment associations and communities to endorse Rapid-Re-housing

COLLABORATION GOALS & STRATEGIES  Work with partners to problem solve on affordability and availability of housing inventory  Convene a coalition of stakeholders to support 10- year housing goal  Evaluate homeless data to ensure efficient and effective service delivery and development of a Coordinated Assessment & Centralized Intake

EDUCATION GOALS & STRATEGIES  Commission a cost study/countywide report on the cost of homelessness  Develop volunteer engagement opportunities to educate corporate partners  Provide technical assistance for retooling/ repurposing transitional housing stock to permanent supportive housing or Rapid Re-Housing

CREATE HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES United Way’s focus is to provide leadership and funding to drive collective impact on family homelessness and affordable housing solutions in Orange County

COLLECTIVE IMPACT: UNITING AROUND A COMMON GOAL  Communities working together to solve problems  Structured form of collaboration  Coordinate efforts to work toward a defined goal  Cross-sector coalition are required to make meaningful changes

5 CONDITIONS OF COLLECTIVE IMPACT

COLLECTIVE IMPACT IS WORKING  Shape Up Somerville, MA significantly reduced childhood obesity within 3 years  So. Urban Seattle is on track to double the number of students on track to graduate with a postsecondary degree or credential by 2020  Franklin County, MA reduced substance abuse alcohol (37%) Marijuana (31%) for teens in 30 towns  United Ways across the country are using the model

THANK YOU!