 Housing
Housing is the linchpin of the 100 Homes Campaign. It is also an immense challenge to find housing for homeless individuals that is permanent, appropriate and affordable. The Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) is currently advocating for improved access for the homeless to existing public and community housing stock, and further investment in affordable housing.
In The NewsWhat NextThe 100 Homes Campaign approach is based on the idea that medically vulnerable people need priority assistance, and particularly need housing. The information gathered during Registry Week has identified entrenched and vulnerable homeless individuals in Austin to be identified, with information about their individual needs and situations, and this group will be the initial focus for the 100 Homes Campaign.Providing the most vulnerable homeless individuals with permanent housing and effective support is expected to result in significant improvement in their health, wellbeing and opportunity to move back to self-sufficiency. It is also envisioned that effective implementation of the project will see significant cost savings, as has been demonstrated in other communities across the country. Housing someone who has been homeless, and giving them the support services they need to tackle their problems, costs less than ‘maintaining homeless individuals in a cycle of hospital admissions, jail and crisis accommodation, temporary shelters, and other support. For example, the cost of a three-day hospital stay following an emergency room visit is approximately $17,034 and cost of keeping someone in jail approximately $223 a night. Unsheltered homeless individuals are frequent users of these costly services; one man interviewed had been admitted to the Emergency Room 15 times in the past 3 months due to a chronic condition that could not be effectively treated while he remained on the streets. Once someone is supported in permanent housing, and their health and overall situation is stabilized, reliance on these services is significantly reduced, as they are better able to address their conditions in a preventive manner.
| BackgroundThe 100 Homes Campaign aims to identify and engage with the most long-term and medically vulnerable homeless individuals in order to find them a permanent home and support to improve their health, wellbeing and opportunities. ‘Vulnerability’ refers to those who are likely to die within five years unless they are housed. Austin’s campaign is part of the national 100,000 Homes Campaign. The campaign takes a ‘Housing First’ approach, prioritizing housing people first and then using that stable base to begin tackling other challenges and support needs like mental health and substance abuse.Austin Registry WeekAustin’s 100 Homes Campaign Registry Week took place from November 7 – 9, 2011. Over three mornings of intensive outreach more than 80 volunteers took to the city’s streets, homeless shelters, hospitals, and parks to find homeless individuals and gather information from them using a Vulnerability Index survey. The Vulnerability Index survey asks people to self-report on their histories of housing and homelessness, their state of health, where they usually sleep, what support they are able to access and who they stay with. Every individual who was surveyed consented and did not have to answer questions they did not want to. A photo was also taken (also with consent) to ensure people can be easily identified in the future as part of the effort to prioritize housing and services for the most vulnerable. The data from the Vulnerability Index survey was entered by volunteers into a database that generates reports identifying the individual’s medical vulnerabilities and barriers to housing. Volunteers completed 289 surveys.Please see the 100 Homes Community Briefing for the results.
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100 Homes Campaign |
