This book provides a unique portrayal of Housing First as a 'paradigm shift' in homeless services. Since 1992, this approach has spread nationally and internationally, changing systems and reversing the usual continuum of care. The success of Housing First has few parallels in social and human services.
As an evidence-based practice, Housing First has not only been proven to be successful in ending homelessness, but is also embraced as the most cost-effective solution. Today, the Housing First model is being implemented in hundreds of communities across the United States, Canada and Europe. As the model evolves one thing remains constant: Housing First ends homelessness. Housing First is simple: provide housing first, and then combine that housing with supportive treatment services in mental and physical health, substance abuse, education, and employment.Housing First details:solid, actionable information about the program's philosophy, operations, and administrationthe composition, staffing structures, and day-to-day operations of the clinical and support servicespractices in client assessment and engagementproperty management operationsthe best protocols for assisting clients with the search for housing, relationships with landlords, and the overall "settling in" processthe research evidence for the effectiveness of the Pathways modelThe Pathways model has been remarkably successful in ending chronic homelessness. Since its founding, housing retention rates have remained at 85 – 90 percent even among individuals who have not succeeded in other programs. Not only is Housing First effective at keeping people housed and working toward recovery, it has also proven to be incredibly cost-effective.
This book provides social workers, outreach clinicians, case managers, and concerned community members with a pretreatment guide for assisting homeless couples, youth, and single adults. The inter-relationship between Homeless Outreach and Housing First is examined in detail to inform program development and hands on practice. "Pretreatment Guide for Homeless Outreach & Housing First" shares five detailed case studies from the field to elucidate effective ways of helping and to demonstrate how the most vulnerable among us can overcome trauma and homelessness. Readers will:ÿ ÿ * Expand their assessment skills and discover new interventions for helping people who have experienced long-term or chronic homelessness.ÿ ÿ *ÿUnderstand and be able to integrate the stages of common language construction with their own practice.ÿ ÿ *ÿLearn about the positive measurable impact of a Housing First approach and its moral, fiscal, and quality of life implications.ÿ ÿ *ÿUnderstand how to better integrate program policy and supervision with Homeless Outreach & Housing First initiatives.ÿ ÿ *ÿLearn how to utilize a Pretreatment Approach with couples, youth, and unaccompanied adults experiencing untreated major mental illness and addiction.ÿ "Jay S. Levy's book is essential reading to both people new to the movement to end homelessness and folks who have been in the trenches for many years. Learn how to do effective outreach with the chronic homeless population, and the ins and outs of the Housing First model. The personal stories and the success cases will give inspiration to work even harder to help both individuals and for ending homelessness in your community." Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing National Coalition for the Homeless, Washington, DC Learn more at www.JaySLevy.com Another empowering book from Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com
From the author of Homeless Narratives & Pretreatment Pathways Jay S. Levy brings us a new educationalresource entitled "Homeless Outreach & Housing First: LessonsLearned." This monograph features three written works onhomelessness inclusive of an article on moral, fiscal, andquality of life considerations, a new story entitled "Ronald'sNarrative: The Original Housing First," and an interview thatwas originally featured in "Recovering The Self: A Journal ofHope and Healing." These three documents provide a rich andfertile resource for learning, reflecting, and informing neededaction that promotes high quality outreach services andhousing stabilization for the most vulnerable among us.The Reader will... Learn about the positive measurable impact of a HousingFirst approach and its moral, fiscal, and quality of lifeimplications.Explore the relationship between Homeless Outreach andHousing First, as well as understand the five basic pretreatmentprinciples that can be applied to both.Learn how to utilize a Pretreatment Approach with individualsexperiencing major mental illness and addiction.Understand how to better integrate Housing First andHomeless Outreach initiatives with homelessness policy. Praise for Jay S. Levy "This is one of the best guides I have read about workingwith the underserved and homeless. I wonder why all citiesdon't put it into place? How we approach our homelesscan defi nitely make a diff erence. Sometimes it's not in thetechniques, but in the attitude of the case manager."--Carol S. Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views Learn more at www.JaySLevy.comFrom Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com
Chronic homelessness is a highly complex social problem of national importance. The problem has elicited a variety of societal and public policy responses over the years, concomitant with fluctuations in the economy and changes in the demographics of and attitudes toward poor and disenfranchised citizens. In recent decades, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the philanthropic community have worked hard to develop and implement programs to solve the challenges of homelessness, and progress has been made. However, much more remains to be done. Importantly, the results of various efforts, and especially the efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans in recent years, have shown that the problem of homelessness can be successfully addressed. Although a number of programs have been developed to meet the needs of persons experiencing homelessness, this report focuses on one particular type of intervention: permanent supportive housing (PSH). Permanent Supportive Housing focuses on the impact of PSH on health care outcomes and its cost-effectiveness. The report also addresses policy and program barriers that affect the ability to bring the PSH and other housing models to scale to address housing and health care needs.
Using rich and detailed data, this groundbreaking book explains why homelessness has become a crisis in America and reveals the structural conditions that underlie it. In Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern seek to explain the substantial regional variation in rates of homelessness in cities across the United States. In a departure from many analytical approaches, Colburn and Aldern shift their focus from the individual experiencing homelessness to the metropolitan area. Using accessible statistical analysis, they test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain the regional variation observed across the country. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a far more convincing account. With rigor and clarity, Homelessness Is a Housing Problem explores U.S. cities' diverse experiences with housing precarity and offers policy solutions for unique regional contexts.
How to House the Homeless, editors Ingrid Gould Ellen and Brendan O'Flaherty propose that the answers entail rethinking how housing markets operate and developing more efficient interventions in existing service programs. The book critically reassesses where we are now, analyzes the most promising policies and programs going forward, and offers a new agenda for future research. How to House the Homeless makes clear the inextricable link between homelessness and housing policy. Contributor Jill Khadduri reviews the current residential services system and housing subsidy programs. For the chronically homeless, she argues, a combination of assisted housing approaches can reach the greatest number of people and, specifically, an expanded Housing Choice Voucher system structured by location, income, and housing type can more efficiently reach people at-risk of becoming homeless and reduce time spent homeless. Robert Rosenheck examines the options available to homeless people with mental health problems and reviews the cost-effectiveness of five service models: system integration, supported housing, clinical case management, benefits outreach, and supported employment. He finds that only programs that subsidize housing make a noticeable dent in homelessness, and that no one program shows significant benefits in multiple domains of life. Contributor Sam Tsemberis assesses the development and cost-effectiveness of the Housing First program, which serves mentally ill homeless people in more than four hundred cities. He asserts that the program's high housing retention rate and general effectiveness make it a viable candidate for replication across the country. Steven Raphael makes the case for a strong link between homelessness and local housing market regulations—which affect housing affordability—and shows that the problem is more prevalent in markets with stricter zoning laws. Finally, Brendan O'Flaherty bridges the theoretical gap between the worlds of public health and housing research, evaluating the pros and cons of subsidized housing programs and the economics at work in the rental housing market and home ownership. Ultimately, he suggests, the most viable strategies will serve as safety nets—"social insurance"—to reach people who are homeless now and to prevent homelessness in the future. It is crucial that the links between effective policy and the whole cycle of homelessness—life conditions, service systems, and housing markets—be made clear now. With a keen eye on the big picture of housing policy, How to House the Homeless shows what works and what doesn't in reducing the numbers of homeless and reaching those most at risk.
On any given night, there are over 643,000 homeless peopleresiding in shelters and on the streets across America. What can we do to help? "Levy crafts stories of characters who sear the memory: OldMan Ray, the World War II veteran who resents the VA system andregards himself as the de facto night watchman at Port Authority;Ben who claims to be a prophet disowned in his own country, crucifiedby the government and enslaved by poverty finds a bridge tothe mainstream services and a path to housing through the commonlanguage of religious metaphors, including redemption andforgiveness; and Andrew who has been 'mentally murdered' ishelped to understand his own situation and gain disability benefitsthrough the language of trauma; among others. These stories are deftly interwoven with theory and practice as Levy constructshis developmental model of the engagement and pretreatment process. The outreachworker strives to understand the language and the culture of each homeless individual, builds a bridge to the mainstream services, and helps those providers to understandthe special circumstances of these vulnerable people. Levy bears witness to thecourage of these pilgrims who wander the streets of our cities, and his poignant bookis a testament to the healing power of trusting and enduring relationships." --Jim O'Connell, MD - President and Street Physician forBoston Health Care for the Homeless Program The reader will... Experience moving real life stories that demystify homeless outreach and its centralobjectives and challenges.Learn about effective strategies of outreach & engagement with under-servedpopulations.Understand and be able to utilize the stages of common language construction inyour own practice.Learn about pretreatment principles and their applications with persons experiencinguntreated major mental illness, addiction, and medical issues.Discover new interventions via outreach counseling, advocacy and case managementwith people experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness.Understand how to better integrate policy, programs (e.g. Housing First), and supervisionwith homeless outreach initiatives. About the Author Jay S. Levy, LICSW has spent the last 20 years working withindividuals who experience homelessness. He has developed newprograms and provided clinical staff supervision. Jay is one ofthe architects to the Regional Engagement and Assessment forChronically Homeless Housing program (REACH). This wasadopted by the Western Massachusetts Regional Network as aninnovative approach toward reducing chronic homelessness. Learn more at www.JaySLevy.com From the New Horizons in Therapy Series at Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com SOC025000 Social Science: Social Work PSY010000 Psychology: Psychotherapy - Counseling POL002000 Political Science: Public Policy - City Planning & Urban Dev.
Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibited discrimination in the sale, rent, and financing of housing based on race, religion, and national origin. However, manifold historical and contemporary forces, driven by both governmental and private actors, have segregated these protected classes by denying them access to homeownership or housing options in high-performing neighborhoods. Perspectives on Fair Housing argues that meaningful government intervention continues to be required in order to achieve a housing market in which a person's background does not arbitrarily restrict access. The essays in this volume address how residential segregation did not emerge naturally from minority preference but rather how it was forced through legal, economic, social, and even violent measures. Contributors examine racial land use and zoning practices in the early 1900s in cities like Atlanta, Richmond, and Baltimore; the exclusionary effects of single-family zoning and its entanglement with racially motivated barriers to obtaining credit; and the continuing impact of mid-century "redlining" policies and practices on public and private investment levels in neighborhoods across American cities today. Perspectives on Fair Housing demonstrates that discrimination in the housing market results in unequal minority households that, in aggregate, diminish economic prosperity across the country. Amended several times to expand the protected classes to include gender, families with children, and people with disabilities, the FHA's power relies entirely on its consistent enforcement and on programs that further its goals. Perspectives on Fair Housing provides historical, sociological, economic, and legal perspectives on the critical and continuing problem of housing discrimination and offers a review of the tools that, if appropriately supported, can promote racial and economic equity in America. Contributors: Francesca Russello Ammon, Raphael Bostic, Devin Michelle Bunten, Camille Zubrinsky Charles, Nestor M. Davidson, Amy Hillier, Marc H. Morial, Eduardo M. Peñalver, Wendell E. Pritchett, Rand Quinn, Vincent J. Reina, Akira Drake Rodriguez, Justin P. Steil, Susan M. Wachter.
Whenever a major earthquake strikes or a hurricane unleashes its fury, the devastating results fill our television screens and newspapers. Mary C. Comerio is interested in what happens in the weeks and months after such disasters, particularly in the recovery of damaged housing. Through case studies of six recent urban disasters—Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina, Hurricane Andrew in Florida, the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in California, as well as earthquakes in Mexico City and Kobe, Japan—Comerio demonstrates that several fundamental factors have changed in contemporary urban disasters. The foremost change is in scale, and as more Americans move to the two coasts, future losses will continue to be formidable because of increased development in these high-hazard areas. Moreover, the visibility of disasters in the news media will assure that response efforts remain highly politicized. And finally, the federal government is now expected to be on the scene with personnel, programs, and financial assistance even as private insurance companies are withdrawing disaster coverage from homeowners in earthquake- and hurricane-prone regions. Demonstrating ways that existing recovery systems are inadequate, Comerio proposes a rethinking of what recovery means, a comprehensive revision of the government's role, and more equitable programs for construction financing. She offers new criteria for a housing recovery policy as well as real financial incentives for preparedness, for limiting damage before disasters occur, and for providing a climate where private insurance can work. Her careful analysis makes this book important reading for policymakers, property owners, and anyone involved in disaster mitigation.