C ITY OF P ORTLAND B UREAU OF H OUSING AND C OMMUNITY D EVELOPMENT T RANSITIONS TO H OUSING P ILOT P ROJECT REPORT OF FINDINGS April 23, 2003 Herbert & Louis LLC

Tonya Parker Director City of Portland, Bureau of Housing and Community Development 421 SW 6th Ave., Suite 1100 Portland, OR Heather Lyons Homeless Program Manager City of Portland, Bureau of Housing and Community Development 421 SW 6th Ave., Suite 1100 Portland, OR Thomas L. Moore, PhD CEO Herbert & Louis, LLC PO Box 304 Wilsonville, OR

P URPOSE …to provide a short-term financial bridge to individuals and their families to maintain them in safe, permanent housing (prevent homelessness) as well as to gain such housing for those that are homeless.

E LIGIBILITY  Homeless  At an immediate risk of being homeless  Living in unsafe conditions  Gross family income 20% or less than area median income

P ROJECT F EATURES  Nine diverse partnering agencies  Flexibility and timeliness of assistance  Standardized evaluation protocol  Extensive follow-up by agencies

P ARTNERING A GENCIES  Cascade AIDS Project  Cascadia Behavioral Health/Multnomah County Department of Community Justice  Central City Concern  Insights Teen Parent Program  JOIN: A Center for Involvement  Northwest Pilot Projects  Portland Impact  SE Works  Transition Projects, Inc.

E VALUATION P ROTOCOL  Common dataset across all agencies  Enrollment; Six and Twelve-Month Follow-Up; and Case Closing data collected by providers  Follow-up waves based on date of enrollment  Case closing based on expenditure of T T H funding

F INDINGS  771 enrollments – 19% more than projected  72.3% single heads of household; 27.7% with families  Broadest representation of age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, and enrollment reasons  Living situation at time of enrollment  52.1% street/shelter/transitional/double up  34.6% private market rental  13.3% public housing, institution, etc.

F INDINGS continued  31.0% entered project due to job loss  Remainder entered for variety of reasons  Average income at enrollment - $330/ month  Average income at completion - $628/ month

F INDINGS continued  74.2% living in permanent housing at 6 months  Another 13.3% with promising prospects of attaining permanent housing  62.0% living in permanent housing at 12 months  Another 9.3% with promising prospects of attaining permanent housing

F INDINGS continued  82.5% successfully completed T T H  Average expenditure per case - $1,173  Average length of enrollment days

L ESSONS L EARNED - BHCD  Data captured in evaluation points to reasons behind housing instability  Flexibility with Accountability is key  “Housing First” model is cost effective and works for multiple populations

E NDING H OMELESSNESS - P REVIEW  Transitions to Housing is one strategy  Other tools include:  Supportive Housing  Homeless prevention through discharge planning  Programs like “Fresh Start” to mitigate housing barriers

E NDING H OMELESSNESS - P REVIEW What will it take?  Unprecedented cooperation and collaboration among institutional, social service, health, and housing systems  Shift from housing “readiness” to housing “first”  Investment into programs that end homelessness without compromising safety net

E NDING H OMELESSNESS - P REVIEW What will it return?  More cost effective AND humane approaches to ending people’s homelessness  Maximized resources through coordination  Results based in mutual accountability

Thank You