Clark County, Wash., is often considered part of the Portland metro area. Street Roots invited Andy Silver with the Council for the Homeless, and Rachael Myers with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance to talk about the situation on the other side of the bridge.
In 2006, the Washington State Legislature set a goal for reducing homelessness by at least 50 percent in 10 years. To fund this effort, the legislature created a fee on the recording of certain real estate deeds. Each county uses this surcharge to implement the local 10-year plan on homelessness. In 2015 and 2017, parts of the fee were scheduled to sunset, which would have had disastrous implications for homeless services. But, after an incredible effort on the part of advocates all over the state, the whole fee has been extended through 2019.
As we near the end of the 10-year goal to cut homelessness in half and celebrate the statewide advocacy effort that succeeded in extending the fee, I reflect on the state of homelessness in Clark County. We have made tremendous progress in creating an effective, efficient, and humane response to homelessness, yet our county faces significant challenges.
History and Local Progress
Back in the 1980s, the local community recognized that a coordinated approach is necessary to help people who are homeless quickly access help. In 1989, Clark County, the City of Vancouver, and the Vancouver Housing Authority created the Council for the Homeless (CFTH) to lead efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
In the early '90s CFTH worked with local partners to create emergency shelters and operate the Emergency Shelter Clearinghouse, one phone number to access the various emergency shelters. CFTH also founded the Clark County Continuum of Care for homeless services. This effort includes service providers, government entities, and members of business, education, and faith communities, etc. who collaborate on community solutions to homelessness.
Over the next few decades the response to homelessness nationally and locally became more sophisticated. While emergency shelter is still a vital tool, housing interventions designed for specific populations (such as families, youth, or people with mental illness) make our response more comprehensive. These include transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing and homelessness prevention.
We have seen great progress over the last few years adopting these best practices locally. Continued evaluation prompted a shift of our transitional housing to more effective and efficient rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing models. Transitional housing remains a good fit for certain populations such as youth. And though we are late in embracing the Housing First model (low-barrier and no-time-limit housing) to help people who are chronically homeless, the Vancouver Housing Authority has plans to build a Housing First development with 30 homes.
Improving Access
Implementing these additional housing program types had an unintended consequence. Our system of accessing housing assistance became a complicated and decentralized network. A person or family in crisis had to call a dozen different numbers and was spending time, money and energy traveling across the community doing intakes with various organizations. These organizations were expending their limited resources duplicating eligibility determinations, often with people who were a better fit for a different program at a different agency.
After an extensive community process, CFTH launched the Housing Solutions Center in March 2013. The Housing Solutions Center is a one-stop access point for emergency shelter, homelessness prevention programs, and housing. Staff determine eligibility for six nonprofits and over forty programs. Partner agencies notify the Housing Solutions Center when a program opening is available. Then staff can place the appropriate people.
This new system is easier for someone in crisis to access and creates efficiencies by eliminating eligibility duplication. Having one central access point also gives real-time information about the need and how it compares to the level of resources. We can then be more responsive to trends. Funders and programs can shift resources to respond to need and identify and break down unnecessary barriers to program entry.
Challenges of resources and external factors
The new system exposed and in some cases exacerbated the challenges in meeting the need. Before, a program with no openings could always give someone another number, giving that person hope to find help elsewhere. But now, when all programs for which someone is eligible are full, the information is conveyed quickly and definitively. Likewise, if someone’s situation makes them ineligible for services, they know right away they don’t have other options. People experience this “quick clarity” positively, negatively, or somewhere in between.
We also now know the exact amount that the need for our services is exceeds our resources. For example, in Clark County, more than 90 families with children are eligible for rapid re-housing subsidies. But they remain homeless because programs are full. Sixty “high need” households are waiting for permanent supportive housing, where openings rarely occur.
Insufficient resources are not the only challenge that we face. Our community has a 2.3 percent vacancy rate for apartments. And people who are homeless often have past evictions and bad credit. Because of these two factors, more than 40 of the households are unable to take advantage of rental assistance programs, as landlords are unwilling to rent to them. This is devastating for individuals and families and is a major logjam.
Another significant issue is the overwhelming gap between available resources and number of people in our community who are “doubled-up” in unstable housing situations, such as couch surfing. This gap is especially evident in our schools. These children are considered to be homeless under the school’s definition, but often not under the homelessness system’s definition. This determines the resources available to help them. Regardless of definitions, more than 1,700 homeless children in Clark County are more likely to miss school, get poor grades, drop out and live in poverty. This critical issue requires the homeless system as part of a multi-sector response.
Opportunities
There are several efforts underway locally, regionally and on the state level offering hope of overcoming today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Washington State is in the process of transforming the way the state manages health care. This will benefit people struggling with homelessness. The Regional Health Alliance is looking to bring Oregon’s Coordinated Care Organization model to Southwest Washington. The Health Living Collaborative is investing in community-based prevention strategies. Both are working together on integrating care for homeless people who are high utilizers of physical health and behavioral health and have a history of incarceration. The Healthy Living Collaborative is developing a pilot to increase educational outcomes through housing stability. Recognizing that homelessness and housing need should be addressed as part of larger systems change is a very positive step.
Another exciting opportunity is the evolving partnership between service providers and faith communities. For over a decade, faith communities have partnered with Share and CFTH to run winter overflow shelters. We are enhancing that partnership to help house — not just shelter - our homeless neighbors by piloting a project tapping faith community resources (both monetary and volunteer) and securing landlords willing to rent to our clients.
We are proud of the progress in Clark County and throughout Washington. But we still have work to do that will relieve the sense of hopelessness of the person sleeping in the park tonight and the fear of the child who is living in the back of a car. Working together, our community can ensure everyone has the opportunity to live in a safe, affordable home.
Andy Silver is the executive director of the Council for the Homeless. Rachael Myers is the executive director of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.