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A Once-In-The-State Opportunity

As I sit here wearing my red, white and blue outfit in honor of the holiday that just passed celebrating our nation’s freedom, I find myself thinking about our nation more as the land of opportunity and having similar thoughts about our beautiful Commonwealth of Virginia.

Virginia has so much going for it: natural beauty; wonderful art and history; a diverse & thriving economy in many places; higher than average median income; and unemployment at about the national average.  Virginia also has about 40,000 people each year who experience homelessness.  But we have a tremendous opportunity in Virginia to finally do something about this problem, thanks to Governor McDonnell and his Senior Economic Advisor, Bob Sledd.

In April, the Governor issued an Executive Order to develop a Housing Policy Framework for the Commonwealth that included guiding principles, one of which was to “address the needs of homeless Virginians by focusing on the reduction of chronic homelessness, ensuring the continuing … safety net of shelters and services, and investing in transitional and permanent supportive housing.” 

To that end, the Governor appointed an Advisory Group of State agency representatives across several secretariats as well as private agency representatives from across the state that is charged with developing recommendations to help prevent and reduce homelessness in the Commonwealth.  I am honored to be part of this Advisory Group lead by Bob Sledd and especially heartened by the caliber of people at the table, to include Secretary Bill Hazel, Commissioner Jim Stewart and DHCD Director, Bill Shelton. 

The group’s charge is to develop a plan to leverage state resources more effectively, maximize the effectiveness of State services and resources for people who are homeless, realize efficiencies through enhanced coordination, and reduce the number of individuals who are homeless.  And, these guys mean business—we only have until October to deliver these recommendations, which must be realistic, doable, and specific!

There is also an opportunity to get input from providers and anyone in the public who would like to weigh in on best practice solutions and ideas for removal of any barriers to effective coordination and use of resources through four input sessions in different parts of the State that will be held during the next 30 days.

This is a great opportunity to make a real difference in Virginia.  This is our chance to help improve coordination, identify more efficient use of resources, impact the allocation of resources and funding priorities, influence State policy and most importantly help prevent and reduce homelessness in the Commonwealth.

What are YOUR thoughts on the issue of homelessness in Virginia and what our state needs to do to end it? Please take the opportunity to comment directly to this blog or to attend one of the input sessions.  I promise to listen to your input and to do my best to make sure this opportunity does not go by the wayside.

Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness

Last week, the federal government unveiled its very first strategic plan to confront the problem of homelessness in the US on an unprecedented scale. The new plan, called Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, identifies four key goals: ending chronic homelessness in five years; preventing and ending homelessness among veterans in five years; preventing and ending family homelessness in ten years; and setting a path to ending all types of homelessness.

Strategic collaboration is the key to the successful accomplishment of these goals. Spearheaded by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the federal plan outlines an ambitious interagency collaboration that involves the active participation of nineteen federal housing, health, education, and human services agencies.

According to the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH), the federal plan “provides an excellent framework to guide Virginia’s efforts to align strategies and resources to bring us closer to the day when no Virginian will experience homelessness….The critical component to preventing and ending homelessness…is putting in place a system to prevent homelessness before it occurs and end homelessness as quickly as possible.”

Alice Tousignant, CEO of Virginia Supportive Housing, agrees. “While the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness seems a bit short on specifics, I am very encouraged by the overall effort and am particularly pleased with the Plan’s six Core Values which are right on target.  I have made similar statements many times recently.  They are:

• Homelessness is unacceptable.
• There are no homeless people; but rather people who have lost their homes and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
• Homelessness is expensive; it is better to invest in solutions.
• Homelessness is solvable; we have learned a lot about what works.
• Homelessness can be prevented.
• There is strength in collaboration; and USICH [the US Interagency Council on Homelessness] can make a difference.

“As VCEH emphasized, collaboration is critical…Here in the Greater Richmond area, we have Homeward and in South Hampton Roads, there are similar efforts being coordinated by The Planning Council. If all of us as a community embrace these six core values in our approach to prevent and end homelessness, we indeed can make a real difference.”

The Ultimate Happy Ending: Reconnecting With Family

What would you do if you woke up one day with no clear memory of who you were or where you came from, no money, and no family? Fortunately, most of us don’t have to contemplate how we would function under those circumstances. But not too long ago, a young woman named Sarah Jones* found herself faced with these exact difficulties. Her situation could have ended tragically, but thanks to Virginia Supportive Housing’s A Place To Start program, Sarah’s story concludes with the ultimate happy ending.

Sarah was referred to the APTS team in the summer of 2008. At the age of 25, she had been living on the streets of Richmond for at least three years and had experienced multiple psychiatric hospitalizations due to symptoms of her schizophrenia.

In October of 2008, Sarah was permanently housed and the APTS team set about helping her to live more independently. They provided weekly cooking lessons, taught her how to make a grocery list, assisted her with grocery shopping, and connected her with community resources.

The next step in stabilizing Sarah was to file for disability on her behalf. However, she seemed to have no idea where she came from and had no birth certificate, no social security number, no picture ID, and no school records. Without these documents, the team was limited in what it could do for her. Eventually, it was the safety, security, and comfort that Sarah increasingly felt in her stabilized environment that unlocked the mystery of her past.

Soon after moving into her apartment, Sarah said something in French that the APTS peer clinician overheard. This led to a conversation in which Sarah was finally able to share that she had been born in Haiti, adopted by a family at a very young age, and relocated to Boston.

Attempts to track down Sarah’s adoptive family through the Haitian Consulate and Refugee & Immigration Services were unsuccessful. However, in December of 2009, Central Intake received a phone call from a woman identifying herself as Sarah’s sister. Arrangements were made immediately for the family to drive to Richmond, and Sarah was reunited with her siblings and niece for the first time in seven years.

Sarah spent the Christmas holiday with her family in Boston before deciding that she wanted to return permanently.  The APTS team spent a great amount of time making sure that she and her family would have access to appropriate services in Boston. In March of 2010, she officially moved back with her sister and niece, but she has not forgotten the team that made this happy ending possible. Sarah calls once a week “just to say hi.”  
 
*Not her real name

In their own words…the Cloverleaf Community Garden

In December 2009, VSH received a generous grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to install a community garden at our Cloverleaf property in Virginia Beach. This exciting project will serve as a pilot for gardens at other VSH properties and will be jointly maintained by Cloverleaf tenants and volunteers.

Community gardens provide a lot more than fresh produce. Here is just a sampling of what the garden has meant to the tenants…

“For me it touches my heart…To be in difficult life turmoil, and homeless…we at Cloverleaf share that common reality…the garden has been a bonding experience of all involved. We all face trials sometimes in life and knowing others truly care…gives each of us [a] new and healthier prospective on life…” – Nancy

“We now have the ability to produce our own flowers and vegetables. Which I feel is very rewarding and a blessing.” -Robin

“I learned a little more about planting seeds, plant[ing] different type[s] of flowers and vegetables. I learn[ed] to eat healthier where I lost 15 lbs and my diabetes is under control, what a great thing.”  – Tyanna

“Community living can be difficult at times, but the garden is a tranquil and therapeutic place, and helps when I’m feeling down or overwhelmed. Each day I am excited to go out to my garden plot and I’m so amazed at how well the plants are thriving.” – Mary

To learn more about the Cloverleaf Community Garden, visit VSH’s Facebook page.

Human Suffering Should Not Be Acceptable And Cannot Be Ignored

I have asked Alison Jones-Nassar, VSH’s volunteer program coordinator, to write this week’s blog. Thanks, Alice

This morning, as I waited for my mom to come out of surgery, I scanned the NY Times for items relating to homelessness, thinking I would surely find at least one brief mention of the issue. And sure enough, as soon as I turned to the Op-Ed page, my eyes fell upon the heading, “Still No Shelter.” But as I continued reading, I realized it did not refer to homelessness after all, or at least not as it concerns NYC or even the US. Instead this column bemoaned the lack of progress in Haiti, where it claimed, “More than a million people are displaced [from the earthquake]…and Haiti’s government has no clear strategy to get them…into more secure shelter any time soon.”

Needless to say, this is an urgent situation and there is no question that it needs to be a high priority for the entire region. Human suffering on this scale, regardless of where it is, should not be acceptable and cannot be ignored.

But meanwhile, homelessness has been on the agenda in this country for more than three decades. Since 1980 billions of dollars have been spent nationwide on the problem. And yet the number of individuals experiencing or at serious risk of experiencing homelessness only continues to climb. On any given night, almost 700,000 people in the US lack a safe place to sleep at night and have no secure access to food, clothing, or sanitation – never mind employment, transportation, or health care.

What is our government’s “clear strategy” for getting these suffering human beings “into secure shelter”? The good news is that, after three decades of merely managing the issue of homelessness, our nation is finally beginning to shift resources toward strategies that solve the problem. Permanent supportive housing is an evidence-based cost-effective model that works. With even the hardest-to-serve populations, the rate of success is around 90% and the expense to taxpayers is a fraction of what we have been spending.

If we are really serious about responding to human suffering at home and abroad, then we need to get serious about ending homelessness now. By implementing permanent supportive housing on a large scale to meet the large need confronting our society, we could achieve that goal within our lifetime. Only then will we be in a position to judge the response strategies of other countries. And only then will we be in a position to respond ourselves.