CEH annual work plans
The Committee to End Homelessness in King County develops an annual work plan to provide guidance and structure for the implementation of the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness.
Work plan initiatives undertaken in 2007
1. Reduce the number of individuals exiting jails/health institutions into homelessness: Research shows that a significant number of people exiting jails, hospitals and foster care don’t have housing upon their release. This creates a cycle of homelessness that can be difficult to break. This project works to identify the role of these systems in creating homelessness and strengthen partnerships between these institutions and community providers to ensure that people aren’t discharged into homelessness. Note: Several mental health and criminal justice discharge initiatives are already in progress, and hospitals are actively working with local providers to implement a new project in 2007.
2. Increase access to market housing: Screening criteria for things such as credit reports and criminal histories, along with lack of money for security deposits, are some of the biggest barriers people face in finding housing and exiting homelessness. The Landlord Liaison Project will help landlords and service providers work together so landlords can relax some of their eligibility criteria in return for assurances by service providers that they will provide case management to residents to help them be successful tenants, and provide other incentives and protections for landlords such as security / move-in deposits, etc.
3. Increase and coordinate funding/build supported housing: It will take significant resources to fully implement the Ten-Year Plan. Although a substantial portion of these resources is already available through local, state and federal programs, more remains to be raised. This initiative will identify strategies to engage the general public, philanthropies and suburban cities in our commitment to end homelessness, generate additional revenue, and identify best use of existing resources.
4. Increase our ability to build or acquire housing units. The Ten-Year Plan contemplates the creation of 9,500 units (an average of 950 per year) with a split between new construction and securing existing housing. The development process to build or secure housing is highly complex, and we are currently producing about half of what is needed to reach our housing production goals. A Task Force has been working to identify opportunities to bring units online faster, including options to streamline the process, allow for more flexible unit or building design, better coordinate real estate financing packages, or otherwise lower construction or operating costs. A related project for the Task Force is identifying ways to increase the capacity of culturally focused providers to own and operate housing, or otherwise access housing for their constituents.
5. Support employment opportunities for people who are homeless. A recent evaluation of employment programs for people who are homeless demonstrates that people who are homeless can, and do, want to work, and that employment significantly increases people’s housing stability as it helps people engage in services and housing; expands people’s support system; increases financial independency; and increases people’s options for securing the most appropriate type of housing for their situation. CEH convened housing, treatment and employment providers to foster better connections and ensure that people who are homeless are better able to access employment and training opportunities.
6. Prevent people from becoming homeless. It is more cost effective to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. Towards that end, there are a number of projects throughout King County that help prevent people from losing their housing. However, they operate in a fairly independent manner with limited connections between the various services and partners (with a few notable exceptions.) The Prevention Task Force is identifying what an effective Prevention System should look like, what components of a regional prevention system exist and are working well, what components exist but could be improved, and what components don’t exist and need to be built, along with specific recommendations for how we can move towards a more integrated system.
Note: A disproportionate number of individuals who are homeless are people of color. (Per the 2000 Census approximately 27 percent of all residents of King County are people of color. The One Night Count indicates that nearly 60 percent of the homeless population is people of color.) Addressing disproportionality is a critical issue that is woven through all workplans.