Posted at 5:00 am.
Clear priorities
Mike Nichols, head of the Houston Homeless Coalition, points out that its leaders determined from the outset about a decade ago that rapid access to housing must be a top priority to end homelessness in the city. NGOs already operating in the sector were told they were free to continue working in silos without joining. At the same time, it was warned that they were unlikely to have access to government financial assistance in such a context. The initial core of 30 to 40 organizations quickly grew to around a hundred today.
Difficult harmonization
The pooling of resources did not go smoothly. Kelly Young, director of Career and Recovery Resources, an organization that supports homeless people who have found housing, points out that the first few years were difficult. “Everyone looked at each other a little askance. But in the end, people agreed that the approach taken was the fairest and most equitable,” she notes. The coalition, for its part, encouraged local organizations to specialize rather than trying to provide all the services they offer themselves. Three or four different organizations may take turns assessing a homeless person’s case, helping them settle into housing, and then providing them with the help they need.
A uniform assessment
While the coalition has opted for the “housing first” approach, it has defined that the most vulnerable people – those “at risk of dying on the streets” – are those who should prioritize long-term housing . These are usually people who have been living on the streets for years and suffer from a physical or mental disability. To identify them, local authorities developed an analysis grid that has become standard. The data is collected using software that allows remote access to the person’s profile and the history of the interventions from which he or she has benefited. Local organizations cannot “select” the homeless people most likely to be reintegrated in order to create a good image for themselves, a practice that has not been uncommon in the past.
Help for the private sector
The coalition counts on the support of many private owners who agree to rent their apartments to homeless people. James Gonzalez, who is responsible for the dossier in the coalition, notes that landlords are usually offered rents in line with the market. The price for a one-bedroom apartment is currently around $1,500. Homeless people in care typically have to pay 30% of their monthly income, with the rest funded by Washington through a housing assistance program. The coalition, Mr. Gonzalez said, also argues that each of its “clients” is served by a liaison officer who can intervene in the event of a problem. “Building trust with owners is key,” he emphasizes.
An empathetic population
Mike Nichols points out that the results achieved in Houston show that the “Housing First” approach has been adopted for the first time in New York in the early 1990s, operates on a large scale. Almost 90% of the people who benefited from it still have a roof over their heads two years later, the administrator notes, citing studies on this topic. Several cities that have tried to follow this approach with varying degrees of fidelity have nevertheless achieved less conclusive results, notes Mr. Nichols, who attributes some of the success achieved in Houston to the empathy of the local population. The natural disasters that have struck the city, including Hurricane Harvey in 2018, mean that “no one feels safe from temporary homelessness,” he says.
Experiences in Canada
Several Canadian cities, including Montreal, experimented with the Housing First approach from 2009 to 2013 as part of a pilot project led by the Mental Health Commission of Canada with federal funding. The organization concluded that the program had proven its effectiveness in the metropolis and would “significantly reduce” the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness if implemented on a large scale. The report also found that the approach had “relatively low” costs. The National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services concluded in 2014 that the approach should be “considered” by incorporating modalities to meet the diverse needs of those targeted. However, no large-scale program was subsequently implemented.