Newsletter!

I am so excited to have our first Did You Know Newsletter! Each month, I will be answering any how-to questions and including them at the monthly HOPE general membership meetings. This month we answered questions about how to get a disabled persons discounted monthly bus pass, new ways to access free medicine, and a great way to see what a client is qualified for on the Social Security website! Feel free to contact me at kbierbaum@nwlahope.org with any questions. Just think, next month, your questions could be featured!

-Kristi

Homelessness is a CONSEQUENCE, not a CHOICE

Most Vulnerable Homeless

What we have realized as the HOPE for the Homeless coalition is that our system of assisting with getting people off the streets and into housing and social services is broken. We have been helping the "easy clients" because they are compliant, have good behavior, and are willing to easily fit into the rules and regulations of a housing program. This is backwards thinking if we want to help the people who need us most. The ones who need us most are the ones who have not lived in housing in years and do not know how to. They are the ones who bounce from program to program and never seem to get the intervention that helps them progress. This is why we as the coalition started working with a national 100,000 homes campaign (100khomes.org). Check out the nationwide progress so far!

What we have done is surveyed all of the homeless people in our region and used the survey to compose a list of the most vulnerable people. These people are vulnerable because they have a set of complicated medical, mental, and substance abuse issues.  This group of people are the ones that if we do not do something to house them they will die on the streets. We know this is a fact because we have already lost two men from this list. We have had this list since March 1st and this is what we know we have done so far.......

Agency                                                                                  # Housed

Easter Seals………………………………………………………… 3

Bossier Housing Authority (S+C)…………………………………… 7

Southern Oaks Nursing Home………………………………………..1

VOA Mental Health SIL Program………………………………..…..2

VOA Veterans Program………………………………………...……1

HOPE Street Outreach…………………………………………….…8

Housed By Family……………………………………………………2

**Transitioning waiting to get into housing……………………………………. 5

We are making a difference and are encouraging others to help in any way they can. If you are an agency that houses homeless people and are not on this list please contact me (Ryan) so I can add you to the list and get you credit for who you are housing. If you are not on this list and not housing these vulnerable people then you need to get involved! It will take all of us to do this!!!

-Ryan-

Solutions Anyone?

So what exactly does "chronic homelessness" and "street homelessness" mean? Chronic homelessness is defined as an unaccompanied person who has a disability who has been homeless for at least one year or has had several episodes of homelessness during the past 3 years. Most of the people who are chronically homeless live on the street; they sleep, eat and survive on the concrete, in camps or in wooded areas. Many chronically homeless people have serious mental illnesses and/or struggle with substance abuse. Most have been in treatment programs several times and yet still find themselves repeatedly on the streets. So what is the solution? Should we continue to make our clients conform to our expectations and force them to erase all of their personal barriers before housing is offered or should we provide housing first and then address barriers to success?

We believe that meeting clients where they are and immediately providing them with permanent supportive housing is the ANSWER! This is a huge task and requires a total infrastructure overhaul! This concept is not new but does take dedication and patience. Research has shown that stable housing combined with global supportive services is an essential component to ending chronic street homelessness. The best part is that it is one of the most cost-effective interventions! Most people who experience chronic homelessness draw services from many federal, state, and local systems, including hospitals, corrections systems, and the like. Permanent supportive housing curbs use of these systems and reduces public costs. WOW! This intervention has proven to work time and time again in many other cities who have embraced the housing first model with supportive services. Supportive services are essential; can you imagine having daily contact with support staff that makes sure you attended all of your appointments, asks you how they can help, and celebrates your successes while managing your barriers? Talk about a way to ensure success in housing!

-Kristi-

Advocating for the Homeless

It is an important part of our job to advocate for a client. We believe that everyone wants a place to call their own. That is why we, as agencies and social service workers, need to understand that sometimes our clients are not aware of the actual possibility of mental health services, substance abuse services, and housing. Some people that work with our clients think that it is OK to not offer services that move them towards housing; but its not. The chronic homeless are homeless because of a series of complicated events. It is our duty to help with these complicated issues and help solve them in order to better their lives. It IS our job to help heal the wounded and broken...another part of our job is to tell the client YES; together we can find solutions to barriers. Anyone can find a reason to say no but trying to find a YES is the key to ending homelessness.
-Ryan-

HOPE'S HAVEN

Kristi and I are proud to announce that the Hope House opened the backyard and is calling it Hope's Haven. This is a dignified place for people to eat and rest. We are happy to serve meals five nights a week that are prepared by 17 churches from our area. We think it is important to have a place that the homeless in our area can call their own......and this is our first step.

-Ryan-

Using an iPad in the Field

When Ryan and I first started working in outreach, we were toting around a humungous binder to collect client information. The next morning, we would take the information and input it into ServicePoint. This process usually took at least an hour. After a few months of operating this way, we decided that there had to be a better way to collect information and do real-time data entry. Those many conversations eventually led to an iPad. With the help of many donors, we were able to buy some hardcore technology :)! Now when we go out we are able to engage clients and collect information at the same time. Talk about saving time and good data quality! Since using the iPad has been so efficient, word has spread around the entire State; now other outreach teams have joined the push for better technology in the field. A few months ago, Bowman Systems went out on outreach with us (the IT guys behind ServicePoint) and was thrilled with our use of the iPad soooooooo.....to make a long story short, we found ourselves with a second iPad! Recently we were contacted from the City of Austin, TX as a Best Practice agency. Wow! It just keeps getting better! Ryan and I have worked hard to put Shreveport on the map!

The Homeless Problem

I was reading an article written by a man who is chronically homeless and enrolled in an active case management program in another state. I enjoy reading the works of people who are homeless and understanding what daily barriers they face. It is easy for me to sit down with a client and start brainstorming resources and ideas to get him/her off the streets....but am I helping....am I listening to what they need at that very moment....or am I trying to solve their problems for them? Most of the time, Ryan and I juggle crisis intervention while trying to prevent our housed clients from moving back onto the streets. But again, are we listening to what they need? The author of the article, Roger Wade, talks about experiencing transportation barriers, communication barriers among agency staff, police harassment, and an overall lack of social acceptance and housing placement. The bottom line, our clients are all saying the same thing....WE need to be acknowledged, WE need immediate solutions, WE need permanent housing. Ryan and I took a picture of something that a client was reading the other day....a picture is worth a thousand words....EVERYBODY WANTS HOUSING.