Housing Work Group

Aug 19, 2015

9am-11am

Street-Jones Building

1000 E. 11th 78702

Co-Chairs: (Both Absent) Darilynn Cardona-Beiler (ATCIC) & Sharon Lowe (Foundation for the Homeless); Preston Petty; Casey Cork; Bree Williams; Katie Rose; Niki Paul; Becky Casey (ECHO Staff); Chris Laguna (ATCIC); Dylan Shubitz (HACA); Rick Rivera (Salvation Army); Whitney Bright (Goodwill); Jill Smith (Travis County); Jim Ward (Front Steps); Lauren Avioli (NHCD); Amanda Lokey (VA); Tracey Fine (National Church Residences); Melissa Wheeler (Caritas); Emily Rogers (Travis County Justice Planning); Lucy Bercik (HUD VASH);

Minutes

9:00-9:10Welcome and IntroductionsCo-Chairs

9:10-9:40Task Group UpdatesCo-Chairs

  • Housing Specialist/Landlord Outreach
  • Discussed homeless preference
  • Discussed OneKeyATX-what is working? What needs improvement?
  • Monthly ECHO Listings training-discussed landlord outreach best practices from NAEH Conference
  • Veterans Initiative
  • Strong involvement with Mayor Adler’s office
  • Veteran Boot Camp-called 56 veterans who have completed a CA but are not yet enrolled
  • Functional Zero-need for consistency in definition and community education
  • Employment and Income
  • Niki to meet with Sam Woollard and Chris L. at LifeWorks to start organizing first stakeholder group around discussing initiatives and better practices for employment and income

9:40-10:00Healthy Communities Collaborative UpdateChris Laguna, ATCIC

  • HCC has money to spend by the end of August
  • Continued commitment for coordinated assessment process and staffing
  • Expecting to receive money from DSHS-Requested money for new SOAR specialist and RRH
  • Community First will be up and running soon

10:00-10:10Coordinated Assessment ReportPreston Petty, ECHO

  • Salvation Army officially open as a front door for CA-new coordinated assessment flier with Salvation Army’s walk-in hours
  • Low return rate to shelters for diversion-1 out of 47 clients
  • 2,187 unique households have been assessed to date
  • About 1/3 need PSH;1/2 need RRH; 12% need minimal intervention
  • Referrals:
  • 144 HH’s have accepted referrals by PSH programs
  • VASH targeting highly-vulnerable clients for vouchers
  • 46 have successfully completed move-in
  • 312 HH’s have had referrals accepted by RRH programs
  • 84 have successfully completed move-in
  • RRH-singly largest unmet need in our community at 934 HH’s waiting for RRH services
  • 3 things that will help end homelessness in Austin/Travis County
  • Existing programs (i.e. ASA) committing any slots to most vulnerable clients on CA list
  • Agencies/programs that do not have housing options but will commit and ongoing assistance to help sustain housing (i.e. Goodwill, Any Baby Can)
  • Agencies that will commit to creating a new program that will directly address the need for housing/assistance (i.e. ATCIC RRH Pilot)
  • HACA Housing Choice Voucher:
  • If client receives VASH vouchers first but no longer needs VA case management, client can be moved to regular housing vouchers to free up a VASH voucher

10:10-11:00Rapid Rehousing Community Wide DefinitionPreston Petty, ECHO

  • General feedback request: Core baseline definition for RRH program
  • Core components of RRH: (not required that a single entity provide all three services, nor that a HH utilize all three services)
  • Housing identification
  • Financial assistance for rent or move-in costs
  • Case management and services
  • Some BSS+ programs offer RRH, homeless prevention, and/or other services-Need to clarify which BSS+ programs do or do not offer RRH
  • Housing first? Issues with requirements
  • Sobriety
  • Income requirements:
  • Easier to house
  • Concerns with zero income
  • Requirement would be too subjective
  • Consistency needed with housing first requirements
  • Best practices-feedback and concerns:
  • Home visits-Caritas moving towards home-visit model
  • Pros:
  • Building landlord relationships
  • Helps with housing stability
  • Helps with no-show/lost staff time
  • Potential issues:
  • Requires 2-3 times staff cost
  • DV program
  • Credentialing
  • Reduce caseload size
  • “Fall back” bridge-vulnerable HH who does not reach stability in RRH would be eligible to transfer to PSH
  • If still receiving supportive/financial services from HUD-funded programs – client will obtain homeless status
  • Need to clarify which programs are actually RRH-some programs will not align with National definition
  • Definition ideas:
  • Add housing first-possibly added as a recommendation?
  • Specify “due to funding requirements”
  • Align with National best practices as goal
  • Distinguish other types of programs that are not RRH specific
  • This could alienate programs
  • “Best practice” to define goal for community for housing first
  • Need to continue conversation on desired definition

***SEPTEMBER LOCATION CHANGE****

Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 16th, 2015, City Hall, Executive Session Room (Rm 1027, 9AM-11AM