Ending Chronic Homelessness in Utah Jonathan Hardy and Jayme Day Utah State Division of Housing and Community Development COSCDA March 2012

State of Utah’s Ten Year Plan House Joint Resolution 9 of 2004 General Session to support efforts to end chronic homelessness State Homeless Coordinating Committee adopts Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness by 2015 As part of plan, Utah embraces “Housing First” approach.

Housing First Approach Three Main Objectives of Housing First in Utah 1. Create cost effective solutions for serving chronically homeless ($8,000 net savings per capita annually) 2. Create Shelter Capacity through placing CH in Permanent Supportive Housing (2.4 Short Term for every CH placed) 3. Create positive life changes for those placed in PSH (Increase in Quality of Life Indicators)

How the implementation is structured State Homeless Coordinating Committee Utah Housing Corporation (LIHTC) Other Capital Funders Housing and Community Development Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund (HOME) State Community Services Office (State Funds, ESG) PSH Construction Capital Dept of Human Service (Medicaid) Dept. of Workforce Services (SSI/SSDI) Supportive Services Funding Property Mgmt Case Mgmt & Support

Project Development Timeline Pathways Scattered Site (17 Units) – August 2005 Sunrise Metro (100 Units) – January 2007 Pathways Expansion I (18 Units) – July 2007 Grace Mary Manor (84 Units) – February 2008 Palmer Court (201 Units) – June 2009 Newhouse/Avalon Apartments (51 Units) – November 2009 Kelly Benson Apartments (55 Units) – June 2010 Pathways Expansion II (30 Units) – May 2011

Capital Project Example Newhouse Hotel/Avalon House Project (51 Units) Funding Partners Amount Low Income Housing Tax Credits $3,535,103 Federal Historic Tax Credits $1,083,477 Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund (HOME Program) $ 540,000 HUD McKinney Vento Supportive Housing Program $ 307,235 Deferred Developer Fee $ 231,485 Community Development Block Grant $ 200,000 State Historical Tax Credit Proceeds $ 116,767 Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund $ 65,000 Rocky Mountain Power Rebates $ 55,726 Owner Equity $ 6,115 Total Project $6,140,908

Future Directions Focus efforts in most populated county (Salt Lake County) – 70% of chronically homeless persons are in SLCo PSH Units in SLCo 1,202; 489 are designated for chronically homeless persons; 105 of which are Scattered-site (or 21%) Emphasis on development of scattered-site units for community integration, availability of choices and scalability Created Plan for SLCo for Have staff person (PTE) dedicated to coordinating these efforts

Determining Ongoing Need Need (number of chronically homeless persons not in housing) Sheltered Point-In-Time Count (n=215) Unsheltered (n=40) Total = 255 At risk = 269 (those with disabling condition and are homeless but not yet long-term) Existing PSH Capacity Underutilization when calculating unmet need (25 available units on PIT night) Rate of exits from PSH (est. 17.6% or 86 units annually); number of positive exits is less due to transfers to other PSH Unmet Need For a single night: Total 255 not housed - 25 units available Total of 230 units needed immediately to end chronic homelessness

Housing Targets Existing Resources 38 persons potentially veterans (seek VA support) 48 units of TH/SH could be converted to PSH New Resources HPRP/ESG for rapid re-housing of chronically homeless persons initially, followed by other subsidies if necessary Continuum of Care (SHP, SPC) Have applied for 88 additional SHP units TBRA SROs for those with income and less of a desire to participate in services

Maximizing Resources Homeless Housing Set Asides Tax credit developers have committed to set aside 5% of their units for homeless persons at lower than FMR (estimated 417 units) Use proactive process to identify chronically homeless persons for units with supportive services This process would allow us to stretch 88 SHP units to 120+ if using these homeless set aside units

Maximizing Resources Centralized Tenant Selection Process Funded Housing locator/Tenant selection administrator Use all PSH and Set Aside Units as single inventory Centralized tenant selection process Identify chronically homeless persons across county (sheltered and unsheltered) Collect information on need using vulnerability index Estimate community services utilized (shelter nights, emergency services) Committee meets regularly to update list and prioritization

Supportive Services Case Management (CM) for PSH HESG for initial CM and housing location services State Trust Fund (~1 million annually or 55% of total revenue) Caseload is ~25 per CM (push to lower by accessing other existing community resources) Medicaid coverage (about 50% should qualify with mental illness) 3 year SAMSHA grant supports 80 persons Employment Pilot Coordination of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams Other Considerations: transportation, outreach, discharge planning, those unofficial chronically homeless in transitional housing, need benefits coordinator

Ongoing Quality Assurances Developed a PSH community-based protocol in 2009 with agreed upon best practices Monitor projects annually based on this protocol and adapted tool developed by SAMSHA for supportive housing Key Components Emphasis on housing retention, with congregate sites still need to be evictions if safety or welfare of tenants or staff are threatened Emphasis on tenant choice Clear delineation between case management and property management Questioning whether we need to begin more clearly separating CM from Clinical Services

Contact Information Jonathan Hardy Jayme Day Thanks!!