Challenges and Responses:

Developing Supportive Housing in Rural Areas

MHSA Small County TA CallCorporation for Supportive Housing

7/21/10www.csh.org

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How Does Supportive Housing Break the Cycle of Homelessness?

Creates stability Fosters self-sufficiency Facilitates the process for securing and retaining

employment Helps tenants maintain and increase wellness

and decrease harms through flexible, available, accessible and relevant services

Encourages peer support through tenant associations, peer support groups and other opportunities for community building

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Barriers to Housing Development in Rural Communities

Lack of Available Sites Lack of Local Housing Finance Resources High Cost of Property Designing & Providing Cost Effective, Quality

Services Local Buy-In for the Projects (Political Will) Lack of Local Non-Profit Capacity Transportation

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Traditional Responses

Send folks to the cities. Refer to inappropriate agencies. Develop temporary sheltering facilities.

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Challenges for CSH

Adapting an urban supportive housing model to diverse rural communities

Helping build partnerships in local communities and helping partners understand their roles and solve tough problems

Assisting in connecting communities to resources of state agencies, including DMH and Cal HFA

Promoting best practices while allowing room for local decision making

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How CSH Provides Support

Community Support:

The most critical issue in creating non-urban supportive housing is gaining community support. CSH has many tools related to this process, including templates for creating your own flyers, informational pieces and other useful tools in organizing support for supportive housing in your community.

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Tools for Community Support

Customizable Tools and Other Community Support Materials

Supportive Housing Flyer Agenda for a Community Meeting How to Talk about Supportive Housing Addressing Common Community Concerns Project Fact Sheet SH Fact Sheet - What it is and What it Isn't Building a Core Group Sample Newsletter Articles Sample “Needs Statement” for community, funders or

government officials Volunteer Information Sheet Organizing Successful Affordable Housing Tours

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How CSH Provides Support

Project Development:

CSH has a substantial library of documents for use in developing a project. Links to CSH’s Toolkit for Developing and Operating Supportive Housing, which contains more than 150 informational pieces, tools and sample documents, will provide information on everything from finance to property management. 

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How CSH Provides Support

Coordination of Property Management and Supportive Services:

Coordination of Property Management and Supportive Services in Permanent Supportive Housing: Self Assessment Tool (2008)

The Seven Dimensions of Quality for Supportive Housing: Definitions and Indicators; Quality Assessment Tools; and Additional Materials and Resources 2009

Supportive Housing Property Management Operations Manual  2003

Best Practices Manual: Integrating Property Management and Services in Supportive Housing 2009

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Making the Case for Change

Communicate key results from research to policymakers – Focus on results instead of the problem– Keep it simple– Personal stories make an impact– Use the media

Use site visits and tours of promising projects to put a “face” on data and policy message

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Making the Case for Change

Government support is not the same as Community Support. Government support is critical for projects, but support from neighborhood and community members is also important.

Building Community Support: – Start with the goal of creating public awareness of the

need for supportive housing in the community– In small communities this means building support

from the ground up. – Develop a Core Group of people who understand the

need, are able to explain supportive housing and who are willing to spend the time helping to educate others

See CSH’s “Small Town Toolkit” for more information

www.csh.org/