Mental Health and Homelessness: What Funders Should Know (Part 3)
Despite the many challenges it presents, homelessness is solvable. Because homelessness is a complex problem, it requires multidimensional solutions across prevention, crisis response, rehousing, and provision of mental health, educational, or employment services. There is not a single one-size-fits-all solution, so adaptability is essential in applying the approaches outlined below. There are numerous effective, evidence-based solutions to homelessness that vary in scale, focus population, and theory that informs the strategy. Here are some key approaches that funders can support to solve homelessness.
Approaches to Ending Homelessness
Affordable Housing - Inability to afford housing is the key driver of increases in homelessness. Interventions such as Housing Choice Vouchers are designed to alleviate some of the financial burden of rent for low-income families, preventing them from being in a financial situation that could too easily lead to homelessness.
Coordinated Systems - A data-driven approach that transforms a community’s collection of individual programs and agencies to a community-wide, centralized response to homelessness. The coordinated systems approach uses data about the needs of those experiencing homelessness to inform how they allocate resources, services, and programs.
Crisis Response - Effective crisis response systems use outreach, coordinated entry, diversion and prevention, emergency shelters and interim housing, and permanent housing together to identify those experiencing homelessness, prevent homelessness when possible, connect people with housing quickly, and provide services when needed.
Income Opportunity and Services - Programs designed to assist low-income people increase their income are critical to supporting housing stability, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or unemployment compensation. Often, however, people experiencing homelessness find these programs to be inaccessible and the benefits offered may be insufficient to help them achieve stability.
Housing First - A rights-based, client-centered approach that provides immediate access to safe, secure, and permanent housing with no readiness requirements (such as sobriety, treatment, employment, income, or absence of criminal record). This approach runs in contrast to “treatment first” approaches which require people experiencing homelessness to address specific personal issues before being deemed “ready” for housing. Housing First prioritizes flexibility, individualized support, client choice, and autonomy when it comes to both housing and treatment.
Permanent Supportive Housing - An intervention that combines affordable housing assistance with case management and voluntary support services to address the needs of people experiencing chronic homelessness. Permanent supportive housing is a proven solution to homelessness for the most vulnerable.
Rapid Re-Housing - An intervention informed by the Housing First approach which provides rental assistance in order to help people obtain housing quickly with the goals of increasing self-sufficiency and maintaining housing. It is offered without preconditions, and the resources and services provided are typically tailored to the needs of the person. Rapid Re-Housing is typically utilized for individuals and families who are experiencing episodic or transitional homelessness and are not part of a Housing First program.
Functional Zero - A threshold that indicates a community has measurably ended homelessness for the local population, by keeping the number of people experiencing homelessness below the average number of people exiting homelessness in a month. Functional Zero methodology involves unifying the efforts of key agencies working locally to end homelessness, collecting and maintaining real-time, person-specific data, and collectively using that data to redesign their homelessness response and strategically target resources.
As organizations and communities seek to address homelessness, these strategies can be implemented on their own or in tandem with each other. For instance, Houston has utilized coordinated systems and the Housing First methodology in an integrated approach to address the issue of chronic homelessness in the city. These efforts have moved 25,000 people experiencing chronic homelessness into permanent supportive housing, creating a roadmap from which other cities have modeled their own continuums of care.
To explore working with Mindful Philanthropy on mental health and homelessness, contact us at info@mindfulphilanthropy.org.
