Is it possible to significantly decrease the number of homeless individuals and families?
According to Heading Home, a Greater Boston non-profit organization, it is.
Heading Home has taken an innovative approach to decreasing the number of homeless people through its shelter and transitional housing programs, which create a supported bridge toward the end goal of providing permanent housing. Its model begins with a home and offers critical services such as life skills, education, financial literacy, and job training. The model has proven to be very effective. In fact, 91 percent of the people housed through its program have remained housed.
According to Heading Home’s Executive Director, Tom Lorello, on any given night in Greater Boston more than 7,000 people are homeless, including 3,000 children. On the family side, Heading Home sees that most situations involve a young single mother at the average age of 26 years old with 1 to 3 children. Almost half of the kids are under 6 years old and about the other half are under 10 years old. On the individual side, it is generally the disabled population with problems such as mental illness or drug use.
Board member, David Weinberg, said “Many people don’t realize that homeless individuals and families are just like everyone else and are not all street people. In many cases, the cause of homelessness is a run of bad luck or bad choices, and those that end up homeless just need assistance to get back on their feet and stay there.”
In 2001, Heading Home decided to look at an old problem differently. The organization changed its focus from emergency shelters to housing first and became a model for Greater Boston. At the forefront of this new idea was to give the homeless the opportunity to get housing first, provide support, and then let them prove to be good citizens. It became very clear to Heading Home that housing is the foundation for people to turn their lives around.
Former board member, Phill Gross, Managing Director of Adage Capital Management, said “housing first gives people mindshare, and that enables them to focus on fixing the problems they have.” If people are on the street, they are in survival mode, making it very difficult to focus on getting treatment and turn one’s life around. Believe it or not, it costs society a lot less to put homeless people in housing with support than for them to be homeless, because homeless people frequently end up in Emergency Rooms or hospitalized when on the streets.
The current public welfare system presents part of the challenge because of the loss of services for those who make above a certain amount of money. If someone makes $15 per hour, certain services such as childcare will be taken away, and it is difficult to afford childcare at that amount of pay. To provide an incentive for people to get off the public welfare system while housed, Heading Home designed a program to reward families that work toward self sufficiency with cash and housing. Its participants are given a monetary account that can be used for necessities such as purchasing a reliable car to get to work, a computer, or a down payment on a home.
Instead of lifetime public housing, program participants receive an 8-year voucher. During years 3 through 8, the financial assistance decreases. At year 5, participants receive education on home ownership. After 8 years, the payout from the escrow on their account can be used for a down payment on a home. Currently 36 out of 40 parents working 6 months or more have assets and an account open.
To assist with the transition into housing, Heading Home’s Up and Out Council furnishes and decorates the housing and provides children with items such as toys. That added touch is often an overwhelming relief for the families that are housed, as they don’t have to worry about things like not being able to afford curtains to put in the windows.