A pdf of the above image is available at https://friendsoftheunsheltered.org/wp-content/uploads/Housing-First-HUD.pdf.
During the April 24, 2023 Seaside City Council meeting Rick Bowers shared this information during the 3-minute public comment period. Here is the link (opens in a new window): https://www.youtube.com/live/_StWI3xrj_Y?feature=share&t=4300.
3-Minute Speech
Today I, Rick Bowers, would like to share some information about HUD’s “Go To” program – Housing First. It’s important to understand this program because it frequently finds its way into news articles and discussions… and is frequently misunderstood.
The Housing First model is frequently compared to the Traditional Model that has many names. In the Traditional Model a homeless individual who is using drugs or alcohol might be offered space in a low-barrier warming center. Case management might be offered. If the client is willing to meet certain conditions, like quit using drugs and alcohol, he may be referred to a transitional housing program. With success in that program, she may eventually be offered permanent supportive housing.
In the early 1990s Dr. Sam Tsemberis pioneered supporting chronically homeless people with a Housing First model. His controversial model begins with permanent supportive housing… and has three major components: “(1) program philosophy… emphasizing consumer choice; (2) community based, mobile support services; and (3) permanent scatter site housing.” Using the gold standard of research, randomized controlled trials, Dr. Tsemberis and others showed Housing First was more effective at ending long-term homelessness than the Traditional Model. In a landmark study “…individuals assigned to the Housing First group spent approximately 80% of their time stably housed compared with only 30% for participants assigned to [Treatment First] after two years.” Many studies since then, in many settings, confirm these results.
It’s hard to fully grasp how radical this approach is. First, when I say “chronically homeless”… these have been the frequent flyers into emergency rooms and jails… the most challenging. Second, consumer choice means no requirement to stop drugs & alcohol; no requirement to continue taking psychiatric meds. Instead, when requested by the client, mobile support is available 24/7. From a book on Housing First… “An absence of demands that… participants take psychiatric medications did not result in an increase in psychiatric symptoms.”
Another quote… “staff witnessed it happening, again and again: men and women leaving the streets and entering into their own apartment in a matter of days, living there as if they had never been homeless in the first place.”
I know of no program in the county that is based on Housing First and with extremely low vacancy rates, it’s probably not feasible without new housing.
Notes
- “Housing First” means radically different things to different people. The original researched, evidence-based variant is called Pathway’s Housing First.
- Pathway’s Housing First includes several components:
- Program philosophy and practice values emphasizing consumer choice;
- Community based, mobile support services; and
- Permanent scatter-site housing (multiple clients are not housed in one apartment complex or shelter).
- Variants of Housing First have also been extensively researched. For example, in some situations scatter-site housing is not available so “centralized” housing is constructed. This has been shown to be effective.
- A major barrier to Pathway’s Housing First includes a lack of affordable housing.
- “In 2010, the Obama administration released Opening Doors, the first-ever comprehensive federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness…. Over the next five years, HUD will work with its partners to deploy the solutions that we know are effective… informed by a Housing First approach….”