National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference

Published: 03 August 2018

Last month the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) held their annual National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Washington, D.C. The staff of many Richmond homeless service providers and agencies attended the conference, with several local professionals serving as panelists at conference sessions.

Each year, Homeward sends staff members to the national conference in order to build the local, state, and national partnerships that will continue to facilitate the decrease in number of people experiencing homelessness in our region. Through our participation in the conference we come to better understand:

• The changing nature of homelessness in other communities
• What innovative collaborations are delivering effective solutions to homelessness
• How we can further build on the success of our homeless service programs in Richmond

Want to know more? Here's what you can do to learn:

1) Take a look at the conference agenda to understand the focus of the sessions

2) Visit NAEH’s website to see how the data-driven model of best practices in a coordinated homeless services system is supported and implemented at a national level.

3) Keep an eye on Homeward’s blog, website, and newsletter to see how the ideas we engaged with at the conference will be translated into services designed to help our neighbors experiencing homelessness overcome their crisis.

Homeward’s History of Strategic Co-location

Published: 08 June 2018

As we’ve mentioned in previous communications, on Wednesday of this week Homeward moved our offices from our location of 10 years at 1125 Commerce Rd. to 9211 Forest Hill Ave. Suite 200 Richmond 23235.  We are thankful that the building on Commerce Rd is being converted into more than 100 units of income-based housing, a much needed resource in our community, but we will surely miss being co-located with our friends and colleagues at CARITAS. Sharing a building with CARITAS, an organization that provides 4 programs of direct services to hundreds of people in crisis, offered strategic insight into how Homeward could best coordinate services to meet the needs of our friends and neighbors without housing.

Co-locating with strategic partners has, and continues to be, a cornerstone to Homeward’s ability to plan and coordinate homeless service delivery in Greater Richmond. When we started in 1998 we shared space with United Way on E. Broad in what is now the VCU police station. As a new planning agency this gave us the opportunity to partner with an organization with great success in coordinating across sectors to bring about system-level change.

In 2005, Homeward had the opportunity to move into a space on E. Franklin St. that we shared with Virginia Supportive Housing. This was our first time being co-located with a homeless service provider partner and it set the stage for our next move to share space with CARITAS on Commerce Rd. in 2008. This proved to be our home for the greatest length of time so far and during the last 10 years we have seen our community’s collaborative ability grow to reduce homelessness by nearly 50%. We know that no one agency can solve the difficult issue of homelessness and so we are thankful to have had the opportunity to partner in location and work with these organizations.

Our strategic co-location with other community-focused organizations continues, as we are now sharing a floor with the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission (RRPDC). Like Homeward, RRPDC is a regional planning agency serving the same geographic footprint as our community’s network of homeless service providers. We look forward to the opportunity to build new partnerships that will push the needle of public policy on the issue of homelessness so that our community can continue to see a decrease in the number of people without stable housing.

In closing, we must admit that earlier this week we were feeling a bit nostalgic in saying goodbye to our old office space. Ten years in one location brought with it a lot of memories-from two staff members saving a catfish displaced on Commerce Rd.(presumably by a bird, but who really knows?), to flooding on the second floor, to all the impromptu collaboration between Homeward and CARITAS staff-and for each of them we are thankful. That being said, we are also VERY thankful that our new office has windows! And while our staff is still enamored by the fact that we can see outside, we are already hard at work in our new space. So come by and see us at 9211 Forest Hill Ave. Suite 200 Richmond, VA 23235.

Why PIT Count Matters

Published: 06 July 2018

Twice a year, Homeward leads our community in a Point-in-Time (PIT) count, a one-day census of people experiencing homelessness in our region. To accomplish this we recruit over 200 volunteers to survey the residents of emergency shelters, guests of community meal programs, and people living on the streets. We often communicate that the data we collect from the PIT count helps support the network of services that can help our neighbors living in shelters and on the streets get into housing. Today, we want to share with you what we mean by this in more detail.

A few years back, the PIT survey was updated to collect information about the accessibility of technology for people experiencing homelessness. The purpose of this update was to learn how people access resources and services. Based on the outcome of this survey, our community was confident that a majority of clients had access to a cell phone. In 2017, this finding inspired our community to launch the Shelter Diversion Line, a hotline which focused on problem-solving in order to prevent a client from entering homelessness.

In 2018, a follow up PIT question showed that an even stronger majority of clients had access to cell phones. Based on this data, the Shelter Diversion Line was expanded to be the primary access point for emergency shelter referral in Greater Richmond and was rebranded as the Housing Crisis Line.

As we worked towards easier access to homeless services for clients in the counties, without transportation, or unable to come to a set location, we also expanded our PIT volunteer base. We increased the number of community members that we engaged and gave them the ability to offer unsheltered people the option to be entered into our community-wide data system. Through this database, we are able to match clients with the services they need.

During the street outreach portion of the 2018 winter PIT count, one of our volunteers connected with a veteran who had been living outdoors in one of the counties for over two years. The man had only change in his pocket and no means to come to the city to seek services; however, he did have a cell phone. He was willing to take the survey and allowed our volunteer to take his information for the database. Days later, this vet was matched with an open shelter bed and was on the path to housing. By administering the surveys and connecting unsheltered clients with our data system, our volunteers are contributing to the programs that get people like this veteran off the streets and into housing.

Our summer 2018 PIT count is in two weeks and we still have a huge need for volunteers. Please help support the work of your local homeless service nonprofits, and help your neighbors overcome their crisis. Sign up to volunteer at the PIT count today!

*Photo by nickseitz.com

Memorial Day Reflections on Veterans Experiencing Homelessness

Published: 25 May 2018

This Monday, on Memorial Day our nation will honor the memory of the men and women who died in active military service. While we prepare to do so, it is important to look at how our military veterans are represented among our neighbors experiencing homelessness and how they are getting connected to stable housing.

Twice a year, Homeward coordinates a Point-in-Time count, a one-day regional census of people experiencing homelessness in our community. In our January 2018  count, 19.4% of the people surveyed identified themselves as veterans. This number has held relatively steady in Greater Richmond for several years. In fact, in 2015 Virginia was the first state to functionally end veteran homelessness. To functionally end veteran homelessness means that veteran homelessness is rare, brief, and one time in our community. It does not mean that no veteran will ever experience a housing crisis again, or that there aren’t still homeless veterans today. It does mean that a process is in place to effectively respond to the crisis of homelessness as it arises, and that we continue to house more veterans each month than the number who enter the homeless services system.

Like Virginia, most states have seen remarkable reductions in veteran homelessness, however, the trend does not hold nationally. In the past year some major cities saw dramatic increases in veterans experiencing homelessness, driving the national average up 1.5%.

So what drives the success of service delivery to homeless vets in communities like ours? Earlier this week, Virginia Public Radio published a story that cited taking a “Housing First” approach to homelessness as being a key factor. Housing First is a principle that focuses on solving homelessness by offering low-barrier access to housing and then offering additional services as needed to help the families and individuals exiting homelessness maintain stable housing.

While adopting a Housing First approach has been a dynamic force in our community, it isn’t the only reason the number of veterans living on the streets has decreased. Public policy, increased targeted funding, strategic cross-sector partnerships, and collaborative client-focused programming have aligned to address the specific needs of each veteran who enters into our network of homeless services. It is this collaborative effort that has worked in our community and many others to make great strides in getting homeless vets into housing, and it is through this same effort that we can see homelessness for everyone who experiences it become rare, brief, and one time.

This weekend, as you remember those who died during active military service, remember those vets who are living on the street and support the network of organizations that are working to get them into stable housing.