rapid re-housing webinar series: community highlights
TRANSCRIPT
1
Rapid Re-housing Webinar
Series:
Community Highlights –
Scaling Up Rapid Re-
housing in Virginia
Today’s Speaker
• Kathy Robertson, Virginia Department of
Housing and Community Development,
Richmond, VA
3
Core Components of Rapid Re-
Housing
Housing dentification
Rent and Move-In Assistance (Financial)
Rapid Re-housing Case Management and Services
Webinar Series
• Core Components – Housing Identification Strategies (12/14) – Financial Assistance (1/14) – Rapid Re-housing Case Management and Services (2/14)
• Ramping Up Rapid Re-housing – Los Angeles, CA & Mercer County (3/14) – Virginia (4/14) – Houston, TX and Hamilton Family Center, San Francisco, CA
(Next month: 5/19)
• Targeted Populations/Partnerships
Why Scale Up?
• Increasing positive outcomes.
– Reduces homelessness.
– Helps people move out of homelessness for good.
– Helps move people out of homelessness quickly, reducing length of time people are homeless.
– Makes shelter systems function better.
•
Making Progress Today
• After HPRP, and without dedicated money for HPRP, many
communities scaled down their RRH interventions, returning to
the status quo or retaining only small, boutique RRH programs.
• Bold progress requires bold action
– Reducing homelessness, reducing length of stays, and achieving the
benchmarks in HEARTH Act, requires communities to ramp up RRH so it is
a predominant (or even the predominant) intervention for the vast
majority of people whose homelessness does not self-resolve.
So, communities need to:
• Re-think how to use available resources to respond to
homelessness
• Shift how funds are used and invest them in RRH
– Reallocation
– Coordination and Braiding of Resources
– Create a systemic RRH response
• Tips for Success:
– Rapid re-housing needs to be rapid
RAPID RE-HOUSING:
TAKING IT TO SCALE
Kathy Robertson
Virginia Department of Housing and
Community Development
Virginia’s System Transformation
Started in earnest in 2010
Political will
Five major strategies to address homelessness
Focus on rapid re-housing
Changing Resources
Changing Practice
System Transformation
Changing Resources
Pilot program – 4 providers; $350,000
Shifted $1M for RRH activities
Through competitive application moved ~ $4.5M to RRH
activities
Changing Practice
Capacity Building Efforts
Rapid re-housing workshops - fundamentals
Learning collaboratives – in depth changes to staffing, policies and procedures; entire culture
100 day challenge – 32 providers housed 545 families
Spending plan – using data to ensure effective use of resources
System Design clinics – coordinated assessment
Data tools – Focus Strategies (Base Year Calculator and System Performance Predictor)
Emergency Crisis Response System
Homelessness should be rare, brief
and non-recurring.
Moving to Community-based Solutions
Focused on
Shelters
Focused on Prevention and RRH
Focused on
Outputs
Focus on Outcomes
Funding Projects
Funding Community-
based Solutions
CoC-
based
Funding
Why CoC - based funding?
• Difficult to make local funding decisions at the state level
• Need to ensure resources are used effectively and
efficiently
• More requirements (state and federal) for local and
statewide coordination
• Assessment systems
• Planning
• Data
• Outcomes
15
CoC Based Application
Combined federal and state funding streams – Virginia Homeless Solutions Program (VHSP)
Eligible applicants – lead agencies for CoCs and local planning groups of balance of state CoC
Community proposed grantees
Budget by activity (shelter ops, RRH, prevention, coordinated assessment, CoC planning, HMIS, admin, HOPWA)
Contract directly with grantees
Encourage fiscal agents to ensure financial capacity to administer RRH
Working with grantees and CoCs regarding policies and procedures (removing barriers)
Two year grant – second year funding contingent on performance
CoC Based Application
Working with CoCs to right size systems
Are decisions data driven?
Are CoCs diverting when possible?
Are CoCs implementing the core components of RRH? (housing identification, rent and move-in assistance and RRH CM and services)
Do the solutions/programs address the need?
Have duplicative services been eliminated?
Results
9080
8816
8424
7625
7020
6500
7000
7500
8000
8500
9000
9500
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
22.6 % Decrease in Homelessness Total Individuals
Individuals
Results
883
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Households with Adults and Children 25% decrease from 2010-2014
10%
Contact Information
Kathy D. Robertson
Associate Director
Homelessness and Special Needs Housing
Virginia Department of Housing and
Community Development
804-225-3129