Nashville Metro Homeless Commissioners: Rhode Island Is Doing it, So Can We

To contact us Click HERE

"The aim is to completely shift how the state’s homeless population is served: In 2010, 95 percent of long-term homeless adults in Rhode Island were in shelters, and just 5 percent in housing. By 2016, the plan would have 98 percent in housing and 2 percent in shelters. "

Smart, for a variety of reasons, but two very important ones stand out; this shift from managing those experiencing homelessness to ending it will save lives and is cost effective, even if it doesn't seem like it when you see the price tag. It's the price tag that sends most folks running to the band aid kit rather than remaining resolved and finding the full funding needed to implement the comprehensive effort.

Homelessness is damned expensive for cities and states to deal with, so much so that those charged with finding solutions often put the best ideas at the bottom of the stack because the cost causes swoons around the room.  And because the costs of homelessness are so diffused throughout the community, it's hard to get one's mind around the idea of spending such a large sum to end it. The problem here is that it's often not a clear-cut set of expenses one can examine and compare, so when a proposal to spend large sums to combat homelessness comes across the desks of those who hold the purse strings, it's a hard pill to both swallow and pass on to the rest of us. Add to this the stigma, misconceptions and outright ignorance around homelessness, and that box of band aids looks better and better.  Responses ranging from righteous indignation about giving someone something for nothing to those who think if the homeless just "pulled themselves up by the bootstraps" they'd be back in a home in no time create a constant stream of push-back, making the band aid all the more attractive.

It takes a lot of resolve to push through these kinds of barriers and rhetoric and it's much easier to follow the path of least resistance.

The problem with that is that the path of least resistance happens to be circular, so you're never addressing the root problem and putting an end to the oval track chase.  If you were to put a marker on the track that indicated the point at which the annual band aid expenditure surpasses the overall cost of simply moving folks into housing, chances are that it has been lapped by several times already, and because a circular track never ends, well....you get the picture.

Bottom line: If your goal as a public steward is to serve the greatest good with the least amount of resources, you've suffered what's become known as the "epic fail."

RI plan moves homeless from shelters to housing

March 25, 2012|Erika Niedowski, Associated Press

A new state homelessness plan is upending the focus on temporary shelters in favor of more permanent housing, an approach advocates say is more cost-effective and could help Rhode Island become the first state to end homelessness among some groups.The ambitious plan — with a price tag of about $130 million — seeks to end homelessness among veterans and those chronically without shelter in the next five years, in part by creating nearly 900 new units of “supportive’’ and affordable housing. The units would most likely be apartments and a mix of new construction and renovated existing properties.The aim is to completely shift how the state’s homeless population is served: In 2010, 95 percent of long-term homeless adults in Rhode Island were in shelters, and just 5 percent in housing. By 2016, the plan would have 98 percent in housing and 2 percent in shelters.“It’s moving from a shelter to a housing state, with a permanent solution to homelessness rather than increased shelters,’’ said Mike Tondra, head of the state Office of Housing and Community Development. “It’s really changing the system to respond to homelessness differently.’’The Housing Resources Commission is expected to vote Friday to adopt the plan. It then heads to the Interagency Council on Homelessness, re-launched last year by Gov. Lincoln Chafee to create a more unified, interdisciplinary response to the problem.The Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless estimates that more than 4,400 people experienced homelessness in the state at some point last year; 60 percent were single adults and one-quarter were children. About 13.5 percent of Rhode Island’s approximately 1 million residents were living in poverty in 2010 — slightly less than the national average — with about one in 10 living in extreme poverty.But officials say the numbers are manageable here. In Rhode Island, there are between 250 and 300 homeless veterans and an estimated 875 chronically homeless who access the system of shelters operated by nonprofits, community development corporations and other service providers. Men and women stay a few nights at a time, sometimes for years.One key part of the state’s plan is Housing First, a model used in more than 40 U.S. cities that diverts people from night-by-night shelters and puts them in subsidized supportive housing units. Housing comes first, as the program name suggests, but it’s linked with critical services to address substance abuse, mental health, education and employment.Housing, of course, doesn’t solve the problems that often accompany homelessness, and some critics maintain that “treatment first’’ is a better approach. But the model has been successful in keeping people housed — for years.