Reigning Hope
|
How to “Solve”
Homelessness in MY County Vermont Will Eberle AHS Field Director Barre and Morrisville Districts |
How to “Solve” Homelessness in ____________ County Vermont
1. Systematically scour our Coordinated Entry master list and divide it into three categoriesa
2. Further divide category A into people who are on housing waiting lists and have been accepted into programs and are waiting for an opening or provider and people who appear to be eligible but are not yet accepted/on waiting lists. Also identify households in category A who do not have good landlord references who will need help getting a foot in the door even if they can self-pay or have vouchers.
3. Engage in a rigorous research process involving comprehensive interviews of every person/household experiencing homelessness on our Coordinated Entry List (for which they are generously compensated) to understand:
4. Create a Humans of New York-style social media platform that emotionally resonates with the community at large to make them better understand that homelessness could happen to any of them at any time and many of the dynamics that have lead to it in the stories they are reading have also occurred in their own lives/their families and loved ones lives.
5. Harness this new found empathy and motivation to help with homelessness by providing the community at large with an ongoing “silent auction” type list of specific needs they can help with: Aka we need to create a $20,000 annual “Risk Pool” fund to insulate landlords taking a chance on risky tenants against damages to their units and pay outstanding rent etc, we need to find a few lawyers interested in representing landlords in evictions pro bono to reduce the costs they’d incur if they take a chance on a risky tenant and it goes south, we need a few contractors willing to volunteer their time, extra materials fixing damages in units caused by people who had been homeless who are actively grappling with extreme states, addiction, etc etc, we need to identify a network of people willing to just spend time with people, visit and talk, treat someone to a coffee, take someone to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment etc, just generally be available when someone needs a friendly face or help with some random thing. Remember – this is the kind of support most of us take for granted every day in our friends/family/colleague network.
6. Synthesize the individual root causes and needed solutions we uncover in the interviews into trends, and concrete specific goals
7. Use the trends/goals generated in part 3 to create an actionable strategic plan for solving homelessness in the county.
8. Use the stories and the beautiful strategic plan to lure as many decisions makers/budget setters in municipalities, service organizations in as broad of a geographic swath across the county as possible to actively participate in our Continuum of Care for the concrete goal of achieving our strategic plan. Cast a wide net – For example, Washington County’s CoC currently has just 2 its 26 towns regularly represented. Aspire to have most towns represented. Determine how many of which of the specific types of housing/supports etc in our strategic plan should go in which communities.
9. Present state funders with our strategic plan and narrative interviews results and invite them to fund as much of our needs as possible. Then create a crowd funding/philanthropic campaign to fund the rest.
10. Diligently work towards these goals while maintaining continuous communication and process improvement with the full network in monthly CoC meetings, always seeing what progress we’re making on our strategic plans, and what other key needs have emerged.
11. So doing, solve homelessness in our county, engage in much raucous celebration, let any other county that cares to steal our methods, and recycle our network/methods to solve the next critical social issue in our community (say, the Opioid Epidemic, for example).
The end.
1. Systematically scour our Coordinated Entry master list and divide it into three categoriesa
- A) People who are eligible for subsidized units/vouchers wrap around service packages like Choices for Care or Shelter Plus Care etc AND people who can afford to self-pay for an apartment if one can be located who are good candidates for living independently with minimal supports.
- B) People who require a residential level of care – nursing homes, community care homes, residential psych programs, residential SUD stays etc.
- C) People who are not eligible for subsidized units/vouchers/wrap around programs, who cannot afford to self-pay rent.
2. Further divide category A into people who are on housing waiting lists and have been accepted into programs and are waiting for an opening or provider and people who appear to be eligible but are not yet accepted/on waiting lists. Also identify households in category A who do not have good landlord references who will need help getting a foot in the door even if they can self-pay or have vouchers.
3. Engage in a rigorous research process involving comprehensive interviews of every person/household experiencing homelessness on our Coordinated Entry List (for which they are generously compensated) to understand:
- A. The “root causes” of their homelessness. Aka, what happened, what’s their story? and
- BWhat specific solutions are needed in every instance. Aka “Jim” hears voices, is a long term alcoholic, and won’t succeed with neighbors and needs a tiny house in a quiet patch of meadow, “Dorothy” needs to be in a nursing home, “Jenn” and her three kids would be fine in a fair market rate apartment building if she could get finish her degree to become an RN.
- USE this information to:
4. Create a Humans of New York-style social media platform that emotionally resonates with the community at large to make them better understand that homelessness could happen to any of them at any time and many of the dynamics that have lead to it in the stories they are reading have also occurred in their own lives/their families and loved ones lives.
5. Harness this new found empathy and motivation to help with homelessness by providing the community at large with an ongoing “silent auction” type list of specific needs they can help with: Aka we need to create a $20,000 annual “Risk Pool” fund to insulate landlords taking a chance on risky tenants against damages to their units and pay outstanding rent etc, we need to find a few lawyers interested in representing landlords in evictions pro bono to reduce the costs they’d incur if they take a chance on a risky tenant and it goes south, we need a few contractors willing to volunteer their time, extra materials fixing damages in units caused by people who had been homeless who are actively grappling with extreme states, addiction, etc etc, we need to identify a network of people willing to just spend time with people, visit and talk, treat someone to a coffee, take someone to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment etc, just generally be available when someone needs a friendly face or help with some random thing. Remember – this is the kind of support most of us take for granted every day in our friends/family/colleague network.
6. Synthesize the individual root causes and needed solutions we uncover in the interviews into trends, and concrete specific goals
- IE - “Based on the interviews, it looks like we need 20 tiny houses, 15 nursing home beds for people with SUDs/complex medical needs etc, 3 landscaping jobs, and a 40 unit apartment building with project based vouchers.”
7. Use the trends/goals generated in part 3 to create an actionable strategic plan for solving homelessness in the county.
8. Use the stories and the beautiful strategic plan to lure as many decisions makers/budget setters in municipalities, service organizations in as broad of a geographic swath across the county as possible to actively participate in our Continuum of Care for the concrete goal of achieving our strategic plan. Cast a wide net – For example, Washington County’s CoC currently has just 2 its 26 towns regularly represented. Aspire to have most towns represented. Determine how many of which of the specific types of housing/supports etc in our strategic plan should go in which communities.
9. Present state funders with our strategic plan and narrative interviews results and invite them to fund as much of our needs as possible. Then create a crowd funding/philanthropic campaign to fund the rest.
10. Diligently work towards these goals while maintaining continuous communication and process improvement with the full network in monthly CoC meetings, always seeing what progress we’re making on our strategic plans, and what other key needs have emerged.
11. So doing, solve homelessness in our county, engage in much raucous celebration, let any other county that cares to steal our methods, and recycle our network/methods to solve the next critical social issue in our community (say, the Opioid Epidemic, for example).
The end.
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