The document discusses alternative responses to increasing family homelessness, such as master-leased scattered-site rental units. It describes how agencies can lease apartments as temporary housing for homeless families, furnishing the units and providing case management services. While this model presents challenges around costs, length of stay limits, and engaging hard-to-serve families, it offers benefits like a normalized living environment and the ability to expand system capacity. Nightly costs of this approach are also compared to shelter costs in different localities.

1. A Rising Tide:
How to Respond to Increasing
Family Homelessness
National Alliance to End Homelessness
National Conference on Ending Family Homelessness
February 10, 2011, Oakland, CA
Beyond Shelter
1200 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 252-0772
www.beyondshelter.org
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2. “Got Shelter?”
Shelter programs full?
Having to turn away families in need?
Having to rely (more and more) upon motels
as overflow shelter?
Thinking of building more shelters?
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3. Alternative Response:
Master-Leased, Scattered-Site
Rental Units
Beyond Shelter used this model for the
Skid Row Families Demonstration Project
(2007-2009) and leased nearly 150 units during
program implementation.
The agency currently uses this model for an
emergency shelter program for homeless
TANF/CalWORKs families.
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4. Master-Leased Apartments
Program Features
Agency is leasing 15 scattered-site
apartments as temporary housing. Beyond
Shelter is the lease holder and families are
guests (not a “sublease” situation).
The agency furnishes the apartments through
low-cost means and/or donations.
Time limit of 120 days.
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5. Units turn over so that one unit often serves
multiple families during a standard leasing period.
Units are convertible to permanent housing
(transition in-place).
While in the master-leased units, a case manager
develops and then implements a housing and
services plan in conjunction with the family.
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6. Implementation
Challenges
Budgeting appropriately due to payment
structure being based on occupancy nights.
Length of stay limit and job barriers of
household heads.
Lack of permanent housing options –
subsidies and affordable market-rate units.
Transitional housing programs are at
capacity and/or are increasingly selective.
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7. Unit maintenance and property damage (among
some families).
“Get your free apartment at Beyond Shelter.”
Some families getting a “little too comfortable” and
lacking motivation.
Very low functioning, high barrier families who are
“perpetually in crisis.”
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8. Program Refinements to
Address Challenges
Negotiated extra “grace nights” in contract
renewal to account for unit turnover and setup
time.
Developed relationship with County Housing
Authority for access to public housing units.
Re-focused case management services: made
staffing changes and intensified efforts.
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9. Adaptations of Model
New Orleans: transition-in-place with Section 8
State of Michigan: rural implementation
Fairfax County, VA: alternative to motels
Coming soon to a community near you? Maybe
so with HEARTH’s new shelter regs prohibiting
admission denials based on child age
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10. (Potential)
Model Benefits
Apartment setting offers a normalized, family-
friendly living environment.
Can shelter families in their communities of
origin, or within close proximity.
Master-leased apartments can be an effective
engagement tool.
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11. Enables providers/CoCs to serve families who
are hard-to-place such as large families,
households with teenage children, or pregnant
moms or those with newborn babies.
Transition-in-place option avoids yet another
housing (and sometimes neighborhood/
community) disruption for families.
Enables communities to relatively easily expand
(or shrink) system capacity based on need.
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12. Better “overflow” shelter option than motels.
Can facilitate the transition to independent
living.
Economics: apartments may be cheaper, or at
least comparable in cost, to conventional
options, particularly motels.
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13. Nightly Costs of Temporary
Housing by Locality*
$120 $110 $116
$100
$100 $94
$80
$54
$60
$40
$20
$0
Los Angeles Philadelphia New York City Massachusetts Columbus
M-L Apt. Shelter Shelter Shelter Shelter
*Non-LA Shelter Cost Estimates from Culhane et al. (2007). Testing a Typology of Family Homelessness Based on Patterns of Public Shelter
Utilization in Four U.S. Jurisdictions: Implications for Policy and Program Planning. Housing Policy Debate 18(1): 1-28.
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14. Nightly & Monthly Shelter Costs
Compared to FMRs in Select Localities
Monthly
Per Per 2009 FMR Difference Percent
Night Month 2-bedroom Shelter vs. Difference
FMR
Philadelphia $94 $2827 $1005 -$1822 -64%
New York City $100 $3000 $1313 -$1687 -56%
Massachusetts $110 $3300 $1098 -$2202 -67%
Columbus, OH $116 $3480 $740 -$2740 -79%
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