Real Solutions for Ending Homelessness

​​Wayne NiederhauserUtah Homeless Services Coordinator
and former Senate President of Utah​Rosanne HaggertyPresident and Chief Executive Officer
Community Solutions

 

The consensus from the speakers on the homeless problem was an optimistic appraisal that the problem is solvable. They provided the Forum with effective models and reported encouraging data on cities where these models have been implemented.

Insights from Utah

Hon. Wayne Niederhauser is a former Senate President and in 2021 became Utah’s first State Homelessness Coordinator, when the State Office of Homeless Services (SOHS) and its Council were established. Their goal is better coordination between state and local services that address homelessness to implement effective solutions.

As someone new to the problem, Sen. Niederhauser engaged in conversations with 100 homeless people, exploring how they became homeless and learning about their conditions, experiences, and needs. He reported that intergenerational poverty is a factor that puts people at risk of being unsheltered from the start. A second factor is children who age out of foster care, 25% of whom become homeless. “Shelters and encampments also create public health and security risks,” Sen. Niederhauser observed. This realization led the Utah Legislature to allocate $11 million to fund SOHS and to tackle the problem of homelessness.

Of the 17,500 people who have engaged with the SOHS homeless system, most stay housed once they received assistance; however, 3,500 people still remain unsheltered or in shelters. These persistently homeless people may have mental health, addiction, or behavioral health issues. Many have suffered loss, harm, and trauma.

​Supportive housing, which addresses both a person’s housing need and individual mental and behavioral health needs, is the key to an effective program.

An effective supportive housing program must address both needs: mental/behavioral health and housing needs. Unfortunately, the current system is complicated, siloed, and splintered. In the face of this complexity, Sen. Niederhauser stressed the critical importance of coordinating services. He noted that the SOHS funds the same agencies and non-profit groups as does the Department of Health and Human Services. Support services can be paid for through Medicare, and low-income housing tax credits can provide most housing. The Utah Legislature also provided gap funding for $1 million to $2 million per project.

​The current system is complicated, siloed, and splintered.

​Supportive Housing – How To Fund It?

 

 

 

He also cautioned that “a program does not turn lives around. Relationships do.” This insight was central to Utah’s development of a cadre of Ambassadors, a group of trained people who meet homeless people one-on-one, and guide them through the bureaucratic and personal hurdles to achieve permanent housing. Sen. Niederhauser ended his presentation with a video featuring the challenges and improved situation of a homeless man.

​A program does not turn lives around. Relationships do.

The Community Solutions Approach

Rosanne Haggerty, President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Solutions, was in full agreement with Sen. Niederhauser that homelessness is solvable: What is needed is a coherent, accessible, and accountable system. Her organization has worked with 107 rural and urban Continuum of Care (CoC) communities. CoC is a HUD-developed designation to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness.

Community Solutions is a nonprofit that leads “Built for Zero,” a movement of more than 80 cities and counties using data to radically change how they work and increase the impact they can achieve — and proving that it is possible to make homelessness rare and brief. As Sen. Niederhauser observed, most people get out of homelessness on their own. The remainder are those who need additional help and support.

The goal is “functionally zero homelessness,” which requires staying ahead of newly unsheltered people. Her organization stresses the importance of data and makes use of the Public Health system to detect and track when a person becomes homeless. This is a dynamic problem, Ms. Haggerty noted, and it is changing every night.

Assessing the Current Situation

An analysis of the steps required for a homeless person to get sheltered reflects the chaos and complexity of the current system. Ms. Haggerty’s team found processes and systems that weren’t designed for the user. On average, it was taking 300 days and 47 steps for people to move from the street into housing — and that was only if a person could navigate the appointments, paperwork, and general hoop-jumping of this process. Consider the impossibility of navigating such complexity when there are mental, physical, or behavioral health problems derailing a person’s efforts and attention.

5 Elements of the Solution

The short story of ending homelessness could be told in 5 concepts: Leadership; Shared Aim; Coordination; Data; and Flexibility and Accountability. The words are simple, but the reality is not. Ms. Haggerty provided a more robust discussion of the 5 essential elements to build an effective intervention to address homelessness.

1.  Leadership that fosters a shared aim to end homelessness must be embraced among all stakeholders.

2.  Coordination of a nimble team and community resources that embrace the shared aim.

3.  Real-time data allowing the team to know people by name, and willingness to create relationships with them, as well as a data feedback loop to monitor results for each individual.

4. Flexible arsenal of resources without restrictive or limiting conditions.

5. Accountability for results.

​Five Things Every Community Needs

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Community Solutions’ “Built for Zero” program has harnessed the power of these 5 principles to produce tangible results: .

•  145,000 people have been housed since 2015.

•  14 communities have functionally ended homelessness.

•  45 more have achieved measureable reductions.

•  65 communities now have access to real-time data.

An interactive map providing details and case studies of “Built for Zero” programs in different communities can be accessed here: Interactive map

The organization also is working with several states to design state agencies that will be able to scale up the local model, and is working to integrate healthcare stakeholders onto its teams.

In closing, Ms. Haggerty advised that every investment and program must add up to achieving equitable reductions in homelessness over time. She stressed the critical need for measureable data to know how well these objectives are being met and to identify the need to pivot quickly when change is required.

 

 

 

Discussion

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Moderated by

Tom Finneran

 

Sen. Robert Stivers
President of the Senate, Kentucky
Why are people homeless?

 

Ms. Haggerty
President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Solutions
About 25% of homeless people are those who aged out of foster homes. Another 35% have mental or behavioral health or substance abuse issues. Others are people transitioning from institutions who have no family support. Others are re-entering society after incarceration and cannot get jobs. Reasons for homelessness vary, and that’s why an individual relationship with each person and individual data on each person is essential.

​Reasons for homelessness vary, and that’s why an individual relationship with each person and individual data on each person is essential.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang
Chair, Senate Joint Budget Committee, Arkansas
Is your recommendation that the state take an inventory so we know how many homeless people we have, who they are, and what their specific needs are — and then coordinate services to address each individual case?

Ms. Haggerty: We are currently working with some CoCs in Arkansas. The CoC may include a mayor, a County Executive, housing authorities and non-profit agencies. We start with a facilitating agreement to embrace a shared aim: getting to zero homelessness. The shared aim facilitates coordination because stakeholders can now work together toward “our community’s outcome,” not “my program’s outcome.”

​The shared aim facilitates coordination because stakeholders can now work together toward “our community’s outcome,” not “my program’s outcome.”

Shared specific information on the individual people who are homeless allows you to identify a smaller subgroup with specific issues that work groups can address: for example, veterans, or the young homeless just out of foster care, or people just out of hospitals or institutions.

​The goal is to create a knowable network of people.

Sen. Niederhauser
Utah Homeless Services Coordinator and former Senate President of Utah
It’s essential to break the problem down into smaller subgroups and to break down silos. The state agency should be the support organization, not the dictator. Establishing a new state-level office created awareness of the problem and also fostered discussion and policy-making as a result.

Sen. Matthew Huffman
President of the Senate, Ohio
The “get tough on crime” focus and the criminal code have created a permanent class of unemployable people. We have an enhanced program of expungement where people can get training while incarcerated and then get a job when they are released.

Sen. Niederhauser: Some non-profits are enrolling people as they get released and are getting them into training programs, and these agencies should be part of the homelessness solution team. It’s reasonable to expect that 90% of people are going to get out of jail. Planning for their release from the time they are incarcerated is important, such as providing training in healthy living, life skills, and work skills. It is essential to provide supportive housing as soon as they are released, or they may end up back on the streets committing crimes, or in shelters or using drugs again.

Ms. Haggerty: Hartford, Connecticut, offers a good illustration. In this city of 1.4 million people, two zip codes covering 24,000 people account for 25% of homelessness. These two areas have the worst educational outcomes and the worst health. The families are often homeless, and repeat incarceration is frequent. Any effective program to end homelessness must take into account the long-term consequences of incarceration.

Joe Durso
Pernod Ricard USA
How does privatization impact low-income housing? It seems that many housing authorities are not up to speed.

 

Sen. Niederhauser: The state should not be providing homeless services, but rather coordinating and providing oversight. Currently, the services are siloed and splintered, not coordinated, so a hand-offs approach between agencies doesn’t work.  By creating a “partnering coordinator” position, transitions can be more effective.

Ms. Haggerty: The key is not who does the work but the effectiveness of the work. Working back from outcomes data, the state can be the quality overseer and can clear the path toward the desired outcome.

​“Now that we know we can end homelessness, every grant and investment should also have the expectation to measure achievement of this outcome.”— Rosanne Haggerty

Sen. Mo Denis
Senate President Pro Tempore, Nevada
This reminds me of the mental health discussion. There’s not a single finite solution that fixes everything, but rather, we need to continue to maintain oversight at the state level and provide coordination. What recommendations do you have for how to bring the siloed parts together?

Sen. Niederhauser: It took one year of work before we could show positive results from the state of Utah taking a strong oversight role. We conducted safety reviews at public shelters, and integrated the Health and Human Services, Corrections and Homeless office leadership into the discussion of the problems and the solutions.

Ms. Haggerty: It requires a population-based, systems-based approach. It’s a leadership issue, requiring the will and stamina to move people out of their silos. It takes time to get people integrated into a team with a shared aim. Community Solutions can provide coaching and facilitate coordination. Then you need to be using 21st century problem-solving tools (such as Tableau) to get good data analytics.

 

Sen. Ann Millner
Chair, Senate Ethics Committee, Utah
What policy levers have you used to get alignment among stakeholders?

 

Ms. Haggerty: Policy levers include:

1.  The shared aim – to reduce/end homelessness: Are our policies pointing in the same direction? How will we measure our success?

2.  State policy to incent having quality data (not just a point-in-time reading). Provide the resources to get quality public health data (like measles reporting).

3.  Build capacity of the agencies to do outreach, incent collaboration, and interpret data.

4. American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds can be used for durable investment, such as housing.

5.  Embedding in state policy the idea of measuring improvement and then adjusting strategies. Even if your contract is specific, you need the latitude to change directions if needed.

 

Sen. Dean Kirby
Senate President Pro Tempore, Mississippi
Has the legalization of recreational marijuana impacted homelessness?

 

Ms. Haggerty: The availability of cheaper street drugs has been shown to increase homelessness; however, the data are not known on marijuana impacts.

Sen. Niederhauser: We have medical marijuana in Utah and many people  in the homeless community are using it. It may keep them from using stronger drugs like fentanyl or meth.

Tom Finneran (Moderator): In a declining economy, what kind of pushback will Senate leaders face? For example, non-profit agencies that don’t want to cooperate and want to protect their own funding; community resistance to low income housing (NIMBY, or “not in my back yard”); problems of healthcare access.

Sen. Niederhauser: Utah created the Office of Homeless Services, which took on the responsibility for coordinating agencies and funding. Senate policymakers can create and fund an Office of Homeless Services, and then that office becomes the arbiter of where the money goes, and can provide oversight on accountability and outcomes.

Ms. Haggerty: Addressing the NIMBY concern, once you have a real grasp of the number of people, which is often far fewer than people think, the idea of housing them becomes more manageable and more palatable for communities.

Turning to the issue of a stressed healthcare system, it is better to get people out of the hospital emergency rooms (ER) and into housing. In fact, Community Solutions is working with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to share data, use influence, and access real estate to keep people who do not need to be in the hospital out of the ER and into appropriate housing.

Sen. Matthew Huffman: Low-income tax credits are allowing developers to make too much profit – they make money on the construction and then on running the facilities.

Sen. Niederhauser: Low-income tax credits are not sufficient to solve homelessness. People will also need vouchers to pay their rent, and services to keep them housed. There’s no profit in it. Non-profit agencies are providing those services.

Ms. Haggerty: Low-income tax credits are inefficient; even if they work for the developers, they do not meet the objective of reducing homelessness.

Presenter Biographies

Wayne Niederhauser

Utah Homeless Services Coordinator 
former Senate President of Utah

 

Wayne Niederhauser is a former state legislator serving in the the Utah State Senate for twelve and a half years, six of those years as Senate President. His administration was marked by a measured and collaborative approach to policy. He helped lead the state out of the Great Recession into an era of great prosperity. The focus of his efforts and leadership was centered around the need to address the challenges of Utah’s amazing growth and the need to modernize tax policy. Senator Niederhauser sponsored the very successful tax reform effort in 2007. He also led major advances in government transparency and accountability.

Outside of public service, Wayne is a Certified Public Accountant and Real Estate Broker. He received his education from Utah State University where he earned a Masters Degree in Accounting. While attending the University, he met and married his wife Melissa Barrett. They have been married for thirty nine years and have five children and two grandchildren.

His public service now consists of serving full-time as the Utah Homeless Coordinator and on the boards of several non-profit organizations. He is a member of The Board of Trustees at Utah State University and is a board member on the Olympic Legacy Foundation, Shelter the Homeless, The Utah Sports Commission, the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games (Olympics) and is the co-chair of the Utah Debate Commission.

Rosanne Haggerty

President and Chief Executive Officer
Community Solutions

 

Rosanne Haggerty is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Solutions. She is an internationally recognized leader in developing innovative strategies to end homelessness and strengthen communities. Community Solutions assists communities throughout the US and internationally in solving the complex housing problems facing their most vulnerable residents. Their large scale change initiatives include the 100,000 Homes and Built for Zero Campaigns to end chronic and veteran homelessness, and neighborhood partnerships that bring together local residents and institutions to change the conditions that produce homelessness. Earlier, she founded Common Ground Community, a pioneer in the design and development of supportive housing and research-based practices that end homelessness.

Ms. Haggerty was a Japan Society Public Policy Fellow, and is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, Ashoka Senior Fellow, Hunt Alternative Fund Prime Mover and the recipient of honors including the Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism from the Rockefeller Foundation, Social Entrepreneur of the year from the Schwab Foundation, Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award and Independent Sector’s John W. Gardner Leadership Award. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Full bio

 

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​With thanks to our guest speakers, all slides presented at the live Forum are available on request. If you would like a copy, please contact us.