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GRETCHEN STIERS: So, to begin, I would like to introduce Barbara
Poppe who is someone I have gotten to know a little bit over the
past year in her capacity working on -- as the Executive Director working
at the Interagency Council on Homelessness. I've have had the
opportunity to be at several conferences and meetings with Barbara
and I'm glad to count her as a colleague. She has more than 25 years
of nonprofit experience working on homelessness with housing
related organizations. She served as the Executive
Director of the Columbus, Ohio based Shelter Board from October 1995-November
2009 where she provided visible leadership in achieving
communitywide homeless services and prevention objectives. She was
responsible for strategic planning and collaborative efforts, private
sector fundraising, resource development, effective governmental systems
and private sector relationships. From June 1990-October 1995
Ms. Poppe was Executive Director of Friends of the Homeless
Inc. She served as the principal investigator for two federal demonstration
grants. And I can say from hearing Barbara speak before that
she has an enormous amount of experience working with individuals
who are homeless and she brings that experience to the federal
level. And as our morning presentation and panel focused on really is
helping not only SAMHSA but all federal departments and agencies really
look differently at the issue of addressing and preventing homelessness
for individuals and for families and we are really grateful for
her experience and expertise and partnering with the Interagency Council.
So let me introduce Barbara Poppe. [applause]
BARBARA POPPE Well good afternoon. Thank you Gretchen. It's
great to be working with you and congratulations on your new policy
role. We really appreciate the partnership we've had with
you and with all of your colleagues at SAMHSA. With Pam Hyde at the
helm of SAMHSA, I have to say that I know we are in good hands.
As she worked tirelessly in her early career in Ohio focusing
on housing for those with mental illness. And I had the good fortune
to get to see her in that work and look fondly on those days in
Ohio as she led ODMH at that time.
Today, I want to thank all of you though for being here and for
spending some time with us to talk about this really important issue of
homelessness. Also, I really want to thank you for the critical work
that you do in your communities. Work that you are enabling to
connect men, women, and children who are living on our nation's
streets and in our shelters to receive lifesaving mental health care, but
most importantly to have access to a home. Homes solve
homelessness and thank you for helping them get to a safe and
nurturing home. My remarks today are laid out first to discuss
Opening Doors, the nation's first-ever comprehensive strategic
plan to prevent and end homelessness. I then want to underscore the
importance of committing to housing first practices and
then I want to talk a little bit about integrating care and dealing with the
holistic needs of people, and then finally, discuss the value of collaboration.
So before we get into the headiness thought of public policy I would
like to tell you about my friendship with Stanley. I first met Stanley
when I was running the Friends of the Homeless in Columbus.
Stanley was really active in our substance abuse recovery program
and I saw him as among the peer leaders who were helping others to
maintain their recovery. Stanley reached out to me and we discovered
in our conversations that we have in common three-year-old
daughters. Stanley graduated from the treatment program, he moved
into transitional housing and then on to his own apartment. I really
viewed Stanley as a true success and he was a real remarkable
advocate on the issue of homelessness. A few years later though I
was alarmed when I saw Stanley on the streets. He was outside of a
shelter and he was looking much older and was clearly not doing well.
Another few years passed and I ran into him in another shelter and I
learned that he had developed a really seriously health condition that
was required hospitalization. The shelter that he was staying was in
the process of being closed and I was very concerned about Stanley
and I didn't want him to move from the hospital post-surgery back onto
the streets. And so I used what little influence I had to get Stanley
prioritized for admission to a new supportive housing project. And I
was really excited because in his new supportive housing project it
seemed to me he would be able to really be on the path this time. But,
at this time Stanley continued to struggle. And at some point, he
exited the supportive housing project. So next I ran into Stanley and
he was in the inebriate shelter. And I need to say that each time I see
Stanley we talk about our daughters who are moving through their
lives. But when I saw him at the inebriate shelter he was really
looking bad. I was ever so much more concerned about him. And so
time passes and I continue to like remember Stanley and I think of his
daughter who is the same age as my daughter and I often wondered
what became of Stanley, what became of his daughter. So one day I
am out taking some VIPs in our community out to see one of our
supportive housing projects and this project was for chronic alcoholics
and so I looked up and I see Stanley standing there. And I gave him a
great big hug and the only thing I could say to him was I thought you
were dead. Stanley was deeply offended that I should think he was
dead, of course. And I realized this was not really a good thing to say
to someone. But he was looking so much better and I was feeling
really good about that. And this - you know, time has now passed.
And our daughters are now into their 20s at this point. And so as I
continue to talk with Stanley what I learned is that he had been
diagnosed as having an underlying mental illness and that recent
diagnosis, the access to mental health treatment and medication was
really turning his life around. We also though were able to discuss the
upcoming graduations of our daughters from college and get a little
caught up on it that. So for me at that time I was thinking at last, I see
Stanley achieving long-sought stability and wellness. But many of us
in this room have seen these circumstances before and many of you
online in particular probably are familiar with this. And I think it's
important to always remember Stanley and why it is so important to
provide access to both housing and to quality healthcare. I often
wonder how his life might have been different if the treatment program
that we were running at Friends of the Homeless had looked beyond
the obvious substance abuse disorder and had diagnosed the mental
illness sooner. So I challenge us to think about Stanley and the policy
implications of treating co-occurring mental health and substance
abuse disorders in the context of homelessness. So as we embark today with the help of many
of you, we launch the first ever federal strategic plan on June
22nd. This plan is called Opening Doors. It was at a White House event
that was headlined by four cabinet secretaries including Secretary
Sebelius and the head of the Domestic Policy Council. I'd like to see
a show of hands now, if any of you in this room have actually downloaded
and read Opening Doors. That's great. You are joining 215,000
other people who have done that which is really a remarkable testament
to the quality of the plan, but as well the interest that communities
have in solving the problem of homelessness.
Opening Doors is based on the vision that no one should experience
homelessness; no one should be without a safe stable place to call
home. This vision was articulated by President Obama when he
stated simply it is unacceptable for individuals, for children, for
families and our nation's veterans to be faced with homelessness in
this country. It is a vision shared by four cabinet secretaries that
make up the US interagency on Homelessness. And we believe now
more than ever federal leadership is needed to set out clear goals,
time frames, and strategies to ensure that local communities have a
real partner in Washington. And that's what Opening Doors does. A
fiscally prudent government response is imperative obviously. Local,
state, and federal government simply cannot afford to invest in
anything but the most evidence -based cost effective strategies and
that's why Opening Doors includes only those strategies that have
been working at the local level. Opening Doors also represents a
dramatic shift in our approach to homelessness. It is based on the
idea that solving homelessness requires that people access
mainstream resources effectively and sufficiently to meet their needs
and avoid homelessness. Mainstream programs are designed for
people regardless of their housing status. Programs like Medicaid
and TNF and supplemental nutrition assistance and education
programs. Historically, the federal plan to address homelessness was
by default defined by a set of targeted programs like PATH, like
HUD's homeless assistance grants, programs which often too often
are not well coordinated to offer a seamless system of care. The new
plan places prevention at the center and brings mainstream resources
to bear. In our shift to mainstream resources we are moving to where
the dollars are. As important as targeted homeless resources have
been to our cause, we really need mainstream resources on the table
if we are truly to move the needle on homelessness. Opening Doors lays out four bold goals. First,
we will finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in the next five
years by bringing permanent housing to scale; we have reduced
the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness nationally
by one-third in the past five years. Permanent supportive housing rebuilds
people's lives and is a far wiser investment of scarce public
resources than cycling through emergency rooms, jails and detox.
Second, as the Secretary Shinseki has boldly articulated we will prevent
and end homelessness for America's veterans and families in the
next five years. Third, we will prevent and end homelessness for families,
youth, and children over the next decade. This inclusion of families,
youth and children is a major shift from the previous administration
which had focused almost solely on ending chronic homelessness.
And forth and finally, Opening Doors sets a path to ending all types
of homelessness. Opening Doors outlines ten objectives and
52 strategies. As I learned in Ohio and have seen across the country there
is not a one-size-fits-all plan. We must and will consider
regional opportunities and challenges when acting with
you, our community partners, at local and state levels.
Four goals, five areas of focus. First, federal leadership and
collaboration. Second, housing, housing, housing. Third, increasing
employment and income. Fourth, improving health and stability. And
fifth, retooling the homeless crisis response system. So let's start
with leadership and collaboration. When the President is talking about
homelessness and Secretary Shinseki and Donovan are talking about
ending homelessness and Secretary Sebelius and Secretary Solis are
joining in that call and then we add in the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, Admiral Mullen, talking about ending homelessness, people
start to think it is possible. And beyond that they think we should
solve it. Probably the one thing that has amazed me more then
anything else I have witnessed since coming here is the spirit of
collaboration that pervades this administration. It is clear the
President has set the call out that he expects collaboration. Talking
with people who have been in their positions for some 20 plus years
they report that they have never seen this level of collaboration. It
starts at the top. The White House reaching out to collaborate with
community leaders. Secretaries, working together to foster new
collaborative projects. The commitment of the President and the
cabinet infuses staff work to be more collaborative. I will talk about
that more later, but I just want to share with you that just this morning
Secretary Donovan addressed a forum that we were co-hosting with
the VA on the issue of veterans homelessness. Secretary Shinseki
came by to hear Secretary Donovan speak because they so value the
partnership between the two of them. And it's that kind of camaraderie
that is really pushing forward. Now Secretary Shinseki had spoken
the day before as had Head Secretary Solis so having him return
really is demonstration of their intention to work across those two
huge bureaucracies to get us to an end to all forms of homelessness.
So the first theme of the plan is federal leadership and collaboration.
The second is housing, housing, housing. People who are homeless
need homes. Affordable housing. For many people living in poverty,
the lack of stable housing leads to costly cycling through crisis and
institutional care. Stable housing provides an ideal launching pad for
the delivery of healthcare and other social services focused on
improving outcomes for individuals and families. HUD Secretary
Donovan is a tremendous leader on this issue and he is certainly
doing all he can to get the federal government back in the business of
affordable housing. Both through new investments and better
targeting of existing assisted and public housing. This is not going to
happen all at once. Not with this economy and this deficit but we do
know that housing needs to be a central part of ending homelessness.
Included in this area is the call for more permanent supportive
permanent housing for people who need that intensive combination of
housing and supports to stabilize and to succeed. Committing to
housing first practices is also integral to the success of that plan.
And I'm going to talk more on that later. There is a proposal in the President's fiscal
year 2011 budget for HUD and HHS to combine 4,000 section 8 housing
choice vouchers along with $16 million in SAMSHA funding and Medicaid
to serve chronic homeless individuals. I know you heard some
of this earlier today. Well we're excited because this initiative
is not just going to provide critically needed resources into your communities,
but we also believe this is a great opportunity to acquire the
knowledge necessary to bring main streamed HHS services and resources
into alignment with the mainstream HUD housing resource. We've
all talked about this for years and here's this real opportunity
to knit together the services at HHS with the housing provided by HUD.
So all of you working at the local and state level are essential to
making this work. We are going to need services, agencies, state
and county mental health, substance abuse and Medicaid agencies to
really step up to be part of the HUD HHS voucher initiative. So the
first theme of the plan is leadership and collaboration. The second is
housing, housing, housing. And the third is employment and income.
Everyone needs a home they can afford but the best defense against
homelessness is a job that pays. There is a ton of work that needs to
get done in this area even as the recession has resulted in millions of
people without jobs we must be honest with ourselves and admit that
even in the best of times we know precious little about helping people
who live in extreme poverty to get the jobs and keep the jobs that pay
a living wage. So as we work on employment we need to continue
to improve access to income supports that are available to people
who are poor. The first theme of the plan is federal leadership
and collaboration, the second is [off mic comment] all right. The
third is employment and income. And the fourth is health and stability.
Well as you know, health reform is an amazing thing. And health
reform generally, Medicaid expansion in particular is the secret
weapon in our fight against homelessness. My first few months
in DC were certainly a roller coaster. Would it pass? Would it not
pass? What was the timeline? But then in March of the seemingly
impossible happened and Congress passed and President Obama signed
into law the Health Reform Bill. The passage of the Affordable
Care Act put an incredible lift in our efforts to prevent
and end homelessness. Health reform offers new economic security. Individuals
and families are significantly less likely to be made bankrupt
or enter into a downward economic spiral when they have affordable
health insurance. For the first time ever all poor single adults will
become eligible for Medicaid. They're going to have access to health care
before they get sick. This will prevent some people from ever being
homeless. People with mental illness and substance abuse disorders
who are disproportionately represented among the chronically
homeless will especially benefit by the improvements that
will come with the implementation of parity. Another day I thought
would never come. No longer can insurance companies exclude
treatment of these disorders from the coverage offerings. Medicaid
expansion will also increase overall health for vulnerable populations
so the first theme of the plan is leadership and collaboration.
Second is [off mic comment]. The third is employment and income. The fourth
is health and stability. And the fifth is retooling the
homeless crisis response system. Local crisis response systems of care
must be developed and focused on housing stabilization not just
providing emergency shelter and outreach. The community-based
systems must offer alternatives to shelter admission where ever
and whenever possible and make shelter available to all who need
it. And most importantly result in quick housing placement and housing
retention. Realigning the homelessness assistance system to reflect
what we have learned about how to best serve families and individuals
is an urgent priority in Opening Doors. As part of last year's recovery
act the federal government took the necessary step to make
this a reality. The creation of Homeless Prevention and Rapid
Rehousing program also known as HPRP and the enactment of the HEARTH
Bill will give communities a broader range of interventions.
So that's the federal plan in five easy pieces. Collaborative leadership,
housing, income, health, and retooling the homeless crisis
response system. So now let's kind of shift gears a bit and
go just little bit deeper on a couple of those topics. I want to return to
the importance of adopting housing first practices. Housing first practices
have been documented to be most successful at meeting
the needs of people who have been homeless for a long time. And
to achieve intended results for housing stability as well as improved
health. Housing first supportive housing minimizes barriers to housing
access or preconditions of housing readiness, sobriety
or engagement in treatment. Participants move directly from
the streets and shelters into permanent housing. Individualized supportive
services help residents maintain their housing and improvements
in quality of their life. These low barrier practices seek to
screen in rather than to screen out. And they end homelessness for
people with the greatest barriers to housing success. A valuation of
housing first, permanent supportive housing have demonstrated significant
improvements in housing stability and reductions in the days
of homelessness. And when it comes to cost-effectiveness there
is no better strategy for ever tightening state and local social services
budgets. The reductions and the utilization and cost of
public services from cycling through crisis and institutional care are
substantial. For instance, in Seattle, housing for supportive housing was
shown to reduce Medicaid costs by 41 percent. It reduced sobering center
admissions by 87 percent. Average total costs were reduced
by more than 75 percent after a single year of operation.
In the federal collaborative initiative to help end chronic homelessness
the demonstration program at 11 sites across the country, 95
percent of participants were in independent housing after one year.
Average cost for health care and treatment were reduced by about half
by this program. The largest decline was not surprisingly associated
with the cost for inpatient hospital care.
So some of you may be skeptical that this model works and I know I
certainly was, having been a provider, as I already disclosed to you,
of [inaudible] transitional housing using a therapeutic community
model. I was however convinced when I saw the successes that were
occurring across the country. So as you think about this, I have four
suggestions for you to assess your work in local communities.
So first of all, assess where your community is at in terms of
embracing and employing housing first models. If it is not widely
understood or used, visit or invite people who are doing this
successfully in other parts of the country. If it is being practiced in
your community, how do your past programs support or participate in
it? How can those linkages be strengthened? Focus on results for
the people who are housed and for the systems that benefit including
shelter systems, hospitals and public safety so that you can be a part
of helping educate your community and local policymakers about the
impact of this intervention. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
and the Center for Urban Community Services are recipients of this
year's exemplary practice award and they are great examples of full
service nonprofits that are also committed to permanent supportive
housing using the housing first model. So what do we mean when we say integrated
care? Well according to Ann [inaudible], integrated care means bringing
together processes or functions that are normally separate. In addressing
the needs of men and women who experience chronic homelessness,
those individuals with histories of co-occurring substance abuse,
mental illness and physical illness, integrated care brings together
housing plus mental health services plus substance abuse treatment
plus care for physical health conditions. Because the needs are so
complex and interrelated it is essential that care providers work together
to align care. A couple of weeks ago we hosted - co-hosted
a listening session with the Center for Medicaid that brought together
folks who normally don't interact with each other. A dozen practitioners
and advocates of integrated care models were people experiencing
chronic homeless joined employees from CMS, SAMHSA and the
HHS Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation Office
also known as ASPE as well as HUD and the VA. We all know that people
with mental illness have a life expectancy that is 20 years shorter
than others. Because the healthcare system does not do a good job
caring for the whole person. Listening to those innovators talk
with one another about how they provided holistic and truly integrated
care to people who presented with very complex co-occurring conditions
and long histories of homelessness, a few things stood
out. First, they had figured out how to provide
integrated care because their clients led them there. They needed
it and it was the only way to effectively serve this group. Second, two
of the most important factors for their success aren't billable.
We joked about having a procedural code for building relationships
and trust. We talked about the need to pay for the time it takes an integrated
team to talk with each other. But third we also talked about
how our system of training and reimbursing practitioners only reinforces
the fragmented and siloed model. A model that is ineffective
and inefficient for helping people who need us to work differently and
who put an enormous strain on our systems when we fail to work
together differently. Another thing that really jumped out at me
from that afternoon was how rarely the doctors, psychologists and
the innovators in local communities get an opportunity to talk directly
with one another. You could feel the revitalization that was happening
in this room among the people that were doing immensely hard work.
Work that makes people prone to burn out especially when they
are doing battle on two fronts, first to help people who need lots
of help, but even more so, to do this in a world that is not aligned to
make it easier for them to administer and finance the very interventions
we recognize as effective best practice. To sum up we will
only end chronic homelessness when we connect housing with
care for co- occurring behavioral health issues and chronic physical
health conditions. So committing to housing first practices is the
first key take away from my remarks. The importance of integrated care
is the second and the third take away is the importance of collaboration.
Collaboration as you well know is hard work. Sometimes it is
much easier just to say I will do it myself. But collaboration is critical
to ending homelessness and here is why. People experiencing homelessness
are first and foremost people. They are people in a heightened
state of need. And the situations that threaten them with homelessness
are varied and complex. Their challenges are not neatly divided
into discrete problems. Getting there is tied to transportation
is tried to your income and where you live. Those of you in
this audience who work on the front lines of homelessness, you know
how much work it takes to navigate the systems to help your clients
get what they need. Better that those systems would work together
on behalf of your clients. At the federal level you can begin
to see the progress we have made on collaborating and breaking down
silos across the government by just looking at today's conference
agenda. This federal interagency collaboration is only
one piece of the puzzle. I can't stress it enough, collaborating at the
local level is absolutely vital.
Here are a few suggestions for immediate action. As a PATH grantee
we are asking you to encourage your sub grantees to participate in
local continuums of care and other local planning efforts. If you are a
state grantee, are you an active participant in your state Interagency
Council on Homelessness. Can you help make your state Interagency
Council more effective? We are also asking communities across the
country to be active partners with us, with one another as we
implement Opening Doors. Let us know what is working and what is
not. Help us understand how federal policy can be improved to
achieve greater impacts. We all understand that no one of us can do
it alone. Preventing and ending homelessness is truly an all hands on
deck objective. As we read SAMHSA's draft strategic objectives
it was clear to me there was a deep understanding that housing
is healthcare. Housing is critical to recovery. I am looking forward
to working with the SAMHSA team on collaborative efforts under
way related to chronic homelessness, related to integrating care
and the implementation of health reform.
So as we close today I want to say in all of my years in working to end
homelessness I have never been more hopeful that we are on the right
collective path. It comes down to commitment. Not just by the
President. Not just by Congress. Not just by Cabinet Secretaries.
And not just by interagency staff. It comes down to you. We need
you as our partners and we look forward to the years ahead in that
partnership. But right now I am happy to take your questions. So
thank you. [applause] And there are microphones. And I've been instructed
that it makes everyone's happier if you go to the microphone.
I also understand we are joined by a virtual audience who will
have the opportunity to also pose some questions. And I understand they
will cut us off so you all get to eat lunch. So. [laughing]
Not to worry. Not to worry. QUESTION
I have a question from the virtual audience. Okay, how can I as a
PATH provider move this plan forward? BARBARA POPPE
So as a PATH provider in local communities I think the most important
thing to do is to get connected with the local continuum of care, the
local planning efforts around homelessness and look at the ways that
the PATH resource could be better integrated into a crisis response
system that is focused on housing placement and then provide the
supports to help folks have a housing outcome. What we often hear
from housing providers is they have a hard time figuring out how to
connect with the behavioral health services so making that connection
is really important. The plan lays out 52 strategies. I think as you
look through those strategies in the local community you can say look
here is the place that we could have some impact. Let's pick up that
strategy and see what we can do locally. Probably the most important
thing we are asking communities to do though is to commit to the four
goals. Commit to ending veterans and chronic homelessness over
the next five years by 2015. Commit to ending family and youth
homelessness by 2020 and commit to actually measuring progress
toward those goals. It's often said what gets measured gets done.
And I think the PATH program could bring that message forward. We
are certainly encouraged by the integration work you're doing as it
relates to HMIS to make it easier to really understand the shared
population. Great question. Thank you. QUESTION
I have another one from the virtual audience. How does our ten year
plan and our community and the data from it relate to this federal plan?
BARBARA POPPE There are well over 300 10-year plans that
were - that have been developed over the last ten years, not surprising.
Actually most plans got developed after 2000, 2002. Many of the
plans focus solely on chronic homelessness but a good number of
the plans actually are focused on all of the populations that experience
homelessness. So what we are encouraging communities to do
that have active ten year plans is one be sure to be using the plan
and reporting out the progress you have and look to whether there
is an opportunity to update the plan to address the needs of all
populations. So perhaps broadening it for chronic homelessness, but
also to be sure that the plan is being implemented with the advocates
as well as local elected leaders to get the resources that are needed
to move the plans forward. For communities that haven't yet
developed a local plan or states that haven't developed plans or need
to redo them, what we are really encouraging is look at the federal
strategic plan perhaps as a framework, apply it to your local community
and determine what is most effective and important to do. I think
as you all well know, just as there are federal policy initiatives, so
much of the policy decisions get made at state and local levels so it's
really important to apply these best practices in a local environment.
Those communities that have actively committed to plans and have
been reporting out results and have invested the resources and aligned
them in new ways actually are showing measurable results in
reductions in homelessness even in this really tough economic
time. So we encourage communities to make the best use
of those documents. FEMALE SPEAKER
Barbara, I have a question. I know we've been working a lot with the
Interagency Council and HUD and HHS around housing. And I like the
housing, housing, housing kind of phrase and we'll use that if you
don't mind. But one of the things I would be curious to hear a little bit
more about is around the employment and income work that the
Interagency Council is doing. BARBARA POPPE
First, I want to talk just a little bit about employment. We are very
excited, this month we will elect a new chair for the council. Right
now the HUD Secretary Donovan chairs it. Next in line will be Labor
Secretary Hilda Solis and she has a very inspired vision that she
would love to see their agencies step up and do even more on the
issue of employment among homeless people. They have a particular
focus within the Department of Labor programs on the issue of
veterans and they have aligned resources within that. Beyond that
though they have also been working on increasing employment
services for young people through the job core program and then
where -- actually we're meeting tomorrow with their team to talk about
what other resources within their Employment and Training
Administration, their disability services that they offer could be
brought to bear in this. So we are hopeful that we will see a better
alignment with the Department of Labor programs then we've seen in
the past. On the issue of actually access to benefits. Income
supports beyond employment, we have been looking for -- Jennifer
can probably help me on this but we've got a couple of different places
where activity is going on. One is there have been initiatives within
the White House about better coordination and looking to places that
have used online screening as well as online application process for a
myriad of benefits. This was done in Ohio under a project called the
Ohio Benefit Bank. Those have been replicated in some other states
in the White House has been quite interested in those projects. There
also has been work at HHS around what are the mainstream services
and resources that are available and I believe there's a working group
within HHS on this topic. I'm looking for Jennifer's nod so I may have
this wrong. [off mic comment]. Okay. So yes Gretchen is confirming
it. [off mic comment] they have been talking about it. And the third
piece is there is a rather large study that HUD released in May on the
issue of benefits and services. If you haven't looked at that, it is quite
a dense read I will warn you, but in that dense read there's actually --
it gives you a real strong understanding of some coordinated benefit
approaches that have worked in local communities. You are honoring
the Colorado Coalition of the Homeless; they're one of the groups that
was in the document. So I think there are some places there. The
innovation is going to I think really need to happen on local levels to
coordinate across it because even as these are federal benefits the
decisions on how they are administered is that a state and local level.
So we are hoping to see some good progress in that area. One more
question yet. QUESTION
I'm glad to hear the emphasis on housing, housing, housing. Because
I think all of us would agree it would be a lot more effective if we had
places to put people in. But, the one thing I think I have not heard a
lot about and that's including criminal justice reform at this table. One
of the things that we face is that people who have criminal histories
who are often mentally ill don't access housing, can't access housing
for long periods of time because they have restrictions in terms of
landlords allowing people with criminal histories in their buildings. And
as a result, we engage people and lose them because we can't offer
them any housing. So that's a critical piece for a big subset of the
population, kind of a subclass and outcast class that needs to be in
consideration. BARBARA POPPE
Absolutely the issue of persons with criminal histories at the forefront
of - it was the first question I got from the mayors on a conference
call we did in the spring is what are we going to do about housing
folks with criminal histories. There's a couple of practical things I
would offer to you. I'll just say they are not complete solutions but one
is local housing authorities often or too often are more restrictive than
the federal correctional mandate is. So the first piece is to educate
yourself on who is running your public Housing Authority, who sits on
that and get them to modify their local plans to not be as restrictive
because often they are much more restrictive on the criminal histories
then they are congressionally mandated to do. So that is one practical
piece. Another piece I would offer is that it is possible to get networks
and private landlords who are more accepting of it and I just had this
conversation with folks in Connecticut yesterday about could they get
a landlord or property manager network who was willing to work with
folks who had these criminal histories, particularly older criminal
histories that were not germane to that. The third piece is within the
homeless system of care there are two types of housing that have
very limited restrictions on them one are programs called shelter plus
care which has really low threshold for criminal histories. Pretty much
I think just sex offenders are the only exclusion to it. The same would
be true with the HUD Bash Program. Both of those cases though your
local implementation could be more restrictive. It does not need to be,
but those are specific federal resources for homelessness that could
be less restrictive. And then finally, within the continuum of care
those that get what's called SHP funding they also can have a lower
admission piece to it. So it's important for local communities to really
inventory and understand what the array of housing resources are and
what I encourage communities to do is make sure you are doing the
right matching so that if you have -- if you particularly want to serve
this population you're going to make sure they get a carve out of
some of the resources more available to them. A really creative
example that I saw was in the state of Utah. Utah is just really
amazing about their integration of services. But I toured a permanent
supportive housing project that they had developed with their local
housing authority and they used different subsidies because they
wanted to be sure at that housing facility that chronically homeless
men and women could be accommodated regardless of what they're
histories were. They even did private fundraising so that a couple of
units could be set aside to serve those who were undocumented and
would not have otherwise been eligible for federal assistance. So its
that, unfortunately that's a level of creativity we have to get to but it
was a beautiful project and the units all look the same and they were
doing a great job of really matching the need with the resource and if
you want to learn more about what is going on in Utah, and I just think
they are a model for the country in terms of integration. So I don't
know if anyone is here from Utah. Right here. They're just pretty
amazing. And in their intention it as a community to be inclusive. I
think at the core the community has to intend to be inclusive and that's
where the work that we all have to bring back to it that we would want
to create these inclusive communities and it becomes around that
work, to make it be. It is a tough issue and more to be done. Just to
also say the Department of Justice is one of our partners and they are
promoting practices related to drug and alcohol -- or drug and mental
health and other kinds of homeless courts and also we can do that.
The VA has a really strong initiative around in reaching into prisons
because half of homeless veterans have criminal history. So they're
quite focused on it and it's great to have General Shinseki, the VA
Secretary talking about the importance of serving people with criminal
histories which he's got more credibility than I got on that topic so it's
good stuff. Yes, you had a question. QUESTION
So for the gentleman who had the question about criminal records and
everything - in Chicago, IL with the legal clinics in everything we have
you can -- QUESTION
I have a question from our virtual audience. Can you identify
communities that have successfully implemented programs aligned
with Opening Doors? BARBARA POPPE
Opening doors was launched in June and it was based on best
practices across the country. So I will say I think one of the model
states that I have not visited all states, but Utah really -- I attended
their housing forum in October. It was very impressed about the way
they had outlined all of the federal funding streams from HUD, from
Labor, from HHS, Social Security was at the table. It was pretty
impressive the way that things were aligned and their focus at least on
the chronic homeless population. My challenge to them was what
about homeless youth. How do we better serve families with children?
So I see them as a leader in those areas and I am thinking they will
pick up that and we can point to that. In many communities there's a
lot of work that needs to be done around the issue of homelessness.
We have not met that needs of youth from 15-24. They struggle with
a lot of legal issues. I really hope communities -- there probably are
other great examples out there of communities that have kind of the
full array. QUESTION
There is a challenge that the state of Vermont [inaudible] it looks like the current administrator [inaudible]
BARBARA POPPE In housing, first it can be implemented in a
rate of communities and as they come to understand the model and the
single site and the ability to use case managers and teams and all the
different approaches, it really is an important tool that was not available.
The HUD Secretary Donovan likes to say that now that we've proven
we can serve the most vulnerable we should be able to serve
everyone. That is one of the things we have learned.
QUESTION My name is Eileen. [inaudible] my question
relates to the plan to end homelessness and how we as a state [inaudible]
outreach and coordinate services [inaudible]
BARBARA POPPE Thank you for bringing up the topic of homelessness
[inaudible]. It is a new day at the VA. The secretary's leadership
-- he has been quite clear that they are to reach outside of the
laws [inaudible] and out into the community and so as I have talked to communities
across the country's a lot of folks get frustrated with
the VA and they relay to me that stories that I called the VA and they
didn't return my phone calls. And I say when did you call them and they
said that was a few years ago. And they say give them a call today.
As complicated as you all are, I can learn all the federal acronyms.
I tried and I just give up on it but what I learned about the VA is that with
each of their medical centers and their major ambulatory outpatient
programs they have a homeless coordinator. That is one person you
should all know. It is who is that homeless coordinator within their
medical centers. You should also know that at their regional level,
I think there are 20 some regions they have a homeless coordinator over
all of the medical centers and there is an identified person
that you can reach out to. Their homeless services all come out of their
mental health services division so you should be able to talk well
with the many who speaks mental health. Their mental health director
is the one who has the overall piece to it. They also have identified
what they call champions within the facilities or the [inaudible] so
reach out there. They have recently updated the VA website and actually
I can navigate it and they have locators in there. If you want to
know who these folks are, and use that locator. They also have a 1-800
number that is their new homeless hotline. That hotline is supposed
to also be able to help you find out who are the right people. As you
speak with them I would say to be persistent and you are trying to offer
assistance and -- [inaudible] and services that the VA. And
you know them, but they don't know them and they understand that.
So just as you are working to integrate your data into HMIS the VA is
also and it's reinforcing the notion of bringing that data together. There
is also a call out right now to have a better count of veterans to experience
homelessness. So if Fred did not plug it this morning, I will.
Please participate in the annual point in time count in your communities.
It only comes every other year on a mandated basis across the
country. At the ICH we want to make sure we have a fantastic progress
or that counts everyone. We want to make sure we don't miss
out on counting veterans and [inaudible] cases. We are not
confident we actually capture this. So they will also be open to
that partnership as well. QUESTION
We have been trying to integrate with -- one thing that is helpful for us
is because honestly when you talk to them they say [inaudible] we had
one program in Detroit that managed to find an undersecretary.
BARBARA POPPE In Michigan you are really lucky because [inaudible]
had a vision for that area and he's absolutely a champion on
that. Michigan I would say give Mike a call and [inaudible]. Beyond
that there should be guidance coming from the VA. They are working
on it right now as it relates to participation in HMIS. They have
a new veterans Center that is on data that is headed by [inaudible]
and Dennis is the researcher [inaudible]. They are -- it's just
-- as many bureaucracies it takes a while. In the meantime there is
some progress missing -- there are contracted providers who provide
services and there's no barriers to them participating, in Columbus,
where I came from, our VA contracted providers were a part of the
HMIS. There was not a barrier. The issue is about the VA medical
Center and their Bash program because they are part of the [inaudible].
But, in the meantime you should be able to get all the contracted
providers. Thank you Gretchen. [applause]