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Mayor’s Action Plan to End Veteran and Chronic Homelessness in Boston: 2015-2018

July 2016

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Our System Needed Redesign

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Creating a Unified Homeless Response System

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Programs

Homeless Response System

Talented and committed providers using different methods and providing different services

(program-centered model)

An integrated network of providers that coordinate efforts to achieve COLLECTIVE IMPACT

(client-centered model)

Source: Modified from Houston’s Plan to End Chronic Homelessness by 2016

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Action Plan Goals

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End Veteran homelessness by the end of 2015

    • House all chronically homeless Veterans
    • No Veteran is forced to sleep on our streets
    • When a Veteran becomes homeless, it is rare and brief
    • All homeless Veterans housed or on a pathway to stable housing

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End chronic homelessness by 2018

612 chronically homeless individuals in January 2016

- 15 inactive (not seen in 90 days or longer)

- 100 housed since January 2016

= 497 chronically homeless individuals in Boston

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Success: Veteran Homelessness

  • Ended chronic homelessness among Veterans in Boston

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  • Reduced the overall number of homeless Veterans by 44% in just over 2 years

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  • Reduced length of time Veterans remain homeless

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  • Built a community response system

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  • Continue to house approximately one homeless Veteran per day

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  • No Veteran is forced to sleep on the street

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669 Veterans housed since July 2014

On a single night, 5 or fewer homeless Veterans sleep on the street in Boston – and they are offered shelter every night.

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How we’re doing it

  • Working from “by-name” lists of every homeless

Veteran and chronically homeless individual in Boston

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  • Housing “surge” events and “surge” mentality

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  • Set clear targets and used data to track progress

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  • Bureaucracies bring new resources and become more flexible

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#0 by 2015

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“Housing Surges”

  • Five “housing surge” events hosted since November 2015
    • Over 35 housing vouchers issued on the spot
    • Health insurance upgrades
    • Criminal record mitigation
    • Same-day proof of income and identification
    • Connection to housing search assistance
    • Hot meal, gift cards, and transportation

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  • Next “housing surge” will focus on chronically homeless elders (50+)
    • Connect elders with nursing home diversion services, home care, and other home-based stabilization
    • Connect elders with BHA housing units

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Interventions

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Street

Shelter

Perm. Supportive Housing (PSH)

Subsidized Housing

Market Rate Housing

Rapid Rehousing (RRH)

Front Door Triage

Goal: Return to housing quickly, by routing to either diversion, RRH, or CA

Coordinated Access

Goal: House chronically homeless individuals, free up shelter beds

Addiction Services

Goal: Harm reduction and treat root cause addiction

Window into the Warehouse

Goal: Allow providers to coordinate care for guests

Income Expansion + Benefits

Goal: Help clients pay for some or all of their housing; get clients benefits

New Units

Goal: Create enough PSH to create flow through the system

Services

Goal: Help clients stay in PSH by providing services

Street Strategy

Goal: Link street stayers with care to address root problem, not just displacement

“Moving On”

Goal: Move individuals in PSH into mainstream subsidized housing

Diversion

CA

RRH Expansion

Goal: Prevent more extended stayers from becoming chronic

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Public and Nonprofit Partners

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NONPROFIT PARTNERS

  • Pine Street Inn
  • New England Center and Homes for Veterans
  • Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance
  • HomeStart, Inc.
  • St. Francis House
  • Hearth, Inc.
  • Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership
  • Bay Cove Human Services
  • Vinfen
  • Volunteers of America Massachusetts
  • Veterans, Inc.
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless
  • Project Place
  • Boston Rescue Mission
  • Casa Esperanza
  • Commonwealth Land Trust
  • Children’s Services of Roxbury
  • Brighton Marine Health Center
  • Friends of Boston’s Homeless

PUBLIC PARTNERS

City of Boston

    • Department of Neighborhood Development
    • Office of Veterans’ Services
    • Elderly Commission
    • Boston Housing Authority
    • Boston Public Health Commission

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

    • Department of Veterans’ Services
    • Department of Housing and Community Development
    • Department of Mental Health
    • Department of Public Health
    • Executive Office of Elder Affairs
    • Department of Criminal Justice Information Services
    • Department of Transportation
    • MassHealth
    • Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness

Federal

    • Department of Housing and Urban Development
    • Department of Veterans Affairs
    • Interagency Council on Homelessness

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What We Need

  • Funds
    • Landlord incentives, brokers’ fees, first/last/security
    • Landlord risk mitigation
    • Whatever-it-takes funds (rent/utility arrearages, lay-z-boy chairs, etc.)
  • Friends:
    • Brokers who will donate their services
    • Landlords who will rent to homeless voucher holders
    • Fundraisers who will donate their time to the effort
    • Advocates who will participate in advocacy efforts (neighborhood projects, state funding, etc.)
    • Forums that will donate their space to community events
    • Furniture companies that will donate furniture for homeless individuals moving to housing
    • Moving companies that will donate moving trucks and movers
    • Restaurants that will donate food for “surges”
    • Handy-people to repair and ready units
    • Volunteers to coordinate events and provide support to formerly homeless neighbors after they are housed

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