3.6 Ending Homelessness for Veterans and Their Families Speaker: Kim Keaton In order to reach the federal goal of ending veterans homelessness by 2015, new grants such as Supportive Services for Veterans Families (SSVF) have recently been released. This workshop will look at how these and other programs will be implemented to prevent homelessness and help homeless veterans and their families reconnect to housing in their communities.

1. Ending Homelessness for
Veterans and Their Families:
Prevention’s Place in a Community System
of Response to Homelessness among
Veterans
NAEH Ending Family and Youth
Homelessness Conference
February 9, 2012

2. Corporation for Supportive
Housing
CSH is a national non-profit organization that
helps communities create permanent housing
with services to prevent and end
homelessness.
CSH advances its mission through advocacy,
expertise, innovation, lending, and
grantmaking.
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3. Understanding Homelessness as
a System of “Flows”
New Entries into Exits from
Homelessness Homelessness
Homelessness
Returns to
Homelessness
Prevalence of Homelessness is a function of rate of “flows in”,
rate of “flows out,” rate of returns to homelessness, and length
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of stay

4. Varying Patterns of
Homelessness
 Transitionally Homeless
– Experience homelessness in a single occurrence
lasting only a brief period of time
 Episodically Homeless
– Experience homelessness as an “institutional
circuit”, and cycle between jails, hospitals, and
other crisis services along with shelters
 Chronically Homeless
– Experience homelessness for long periods, often
as a semi-permanent state
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5. Varying Levels of Persistence
100%
Transitionally Homeless
90%
represent 80%, but use
only 6% of shelter
resources Episodically Homeless
80%
represent 10%, but use
28% of shelter resources
70%
60%
Transitional
50% Episodic
Chronic
40%
30%
Chronically Homeless
20%
represent 10%, but use
66% of shelter resources
10%
Source: Kuhn and
0% Culhane (1998)
5 Cohort Shelter Days Used

6. Different Strategies for Different
Patterns of Homelessness
Pattern Strategy
Transitionally Prevent entry into homelessness in
Homeless the first place
Rapid re-housing
Episodically
Transitional housing
Homeless
Permanent supportive housing
Chronically
Permanent supportive housing
Homeless
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7. Decreasing Flows In and
Increasing Flows Out
Homelessness
Prevention
Transitionally
Homeless
Permanent
Placements into
Rapid Re-
Episodically Housing
housing
Homeless
Chronically
Homeless
Housing Retention
Supports
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8. Ending Homelessness among Veterans
Needs Complete “System of Response”
Supportive
Grant & Per Diem
Services for HUD-VASH
Program
Veteran Families
Enhanced
Patient- Standard VA Permanent “Housing
Homeless Transitional
Rapid Re-
Centered Services Supportive First”
Prevention Housing
Housing
Health Home and Benefits Housing Supportive
Housing
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9. Matching Needs to Interventions
Measure “Needs” along 2 Dimensions:
 Housing:
– Current housing/homelessness status
– Duration of homelessness and housing crisis
– Income, employment
 Services:
– Behavioral and primary health problems, other
complex service needs
– Independent living skills
– Public system involvement
– Social Supports
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10. A Proposed Housing and
Service Needs Continuum
HOUSING NEEDS
Low Moderate High
Supportive
Low
Standard VA Supportive Services for Services for
Services/Benefits Veteran Families Veteran
Families
Supportive
SERVICE NEEDS
Moderate
Services for
Supportive Services for
VA treatment Veteran
Veteran Families or
services Families or
Grant and Per Diem
Grant and Per
Diem
HUD-VASH/PSH,
High
VA Patient-Centered PACT, Safe
HUD-VASH Haven, or
Health Home
Domiciliary Care

11. Supportive Services for Veteran
Families
 Helps to “complete” a community system of
response:
– Homelessness prevention
– Rapid re-housing
 Program is very new – applications for new
grantees due on February 15
 Most 2011 grantees have only been operating
since September
 Grantees are CBOs with access to “front door” of
homeless services system
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12. What is Homeless Prevention?
 Provide targeted assistance to people for whom
homelessness would be an inevitability “but for”
receiving help
 Assess situation and immediate/underlying
reasons for housing crisis
 Counseling/case management to problem-solve
conditions that led to housing crisis and short-
term financial assistance
 May lead to connection to more intensive
housing and services interventions
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13. What is Rapid Re-housing?
 Best suited to people newly experiencing
homelessness who can maintain housing on their
own with moderate to minimal supports
 Combines rental assistance (either short-term or
long-term) and rental start-up costs coupled with
time-limited supportive services
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14. Who is Eligible for SSVF?
 Low income vets who are homeless or about to
be homeless
 Veterans and their families
– Follows HEARTH guidelines for homelessness
– Household is defined as “all persons as identified
by the Veteran, together present for services and
identify themselves as being part of the same
household”
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15. Key Considerations in
Homelessness Prevention
 Must be targeted to clients who are truly at-risk of
homelessness vs. anyone in need
 Services plan driven by assessment of situation and
problem solving-orientation
 Services plus financial assistance
 Connection to appropriate permanent housing and
services options
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16. Design of SSVF
 Focus on housing stability with resources and
services designed to produce immediate impact.
 Efficient use of resources concentrates efforts on
securing and maintaining housing.
 Grant funding weighted towards rapid re-housing.
 Case management will assist Veteran and family
with employment and benefit resources that will
promote long-term stability.
 Program able to address critical barriers to
housing: legal issues, transportation, child care,
family issues.
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17. SSVF – A New “Front Door” to
Homeless Response System
 Prevention services replaces shelters as “first stop”
and “gateway” to response system:
– Most obvious place for veterans experiencing or at-risk
of homelessness to seek help on their own (“walk-ins”)
– Central point of coordination for multiple intercept point
outreach/in-reach
– Ideal place for assessing needs/risks and matching/
connection veterans to most appropriate type of help
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18. Multiple Intercept Points for Outreach
and “In-Reach”
Courts
Prior Era Veterans
Psychiatric Experiencing Chronic
Jail/Prison
Hospital
Homelessness
Homeless Veterans from Prior
Shelter Street Conflicts/Era
OEF/OIF Veterans
Experiencing Homelessness
Precarious
Hospital
Housing
OEF/OIF Veterans At-Risk of
Homelessness
Alcohol/Drug
Detox
Treatment
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19. SSVF Completes a System of Response
 May be most appropriate intervention for a larger
number of Veterans newly experiencing or on the
brink of homelessness
 Allows for re-calibration of VASH, GPD, and
other housing interventions to fully leverage their
strengths to “unclog” homeless system
 Supplements and completes the locations and
opportunities for outreach (the “front door” to
system of response)
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20. How SSVF Differs From Other
VA Programs
 Remember the goal is Housing Stability and is not
contingent on treatment. A Housing First philosophy
is focus of both the homelessness prevention and
rapid re-housing interventions.
 Grantees are community-based organizations
 Grantees serve Veterans and their families. Families
can continue to receive services for up to a full year if
the Veteran leaves due to institutionalization, death,
or other causes.
 Temporary financial assistance payments may be
provided to third parties on behalf of participants
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21. SSVF Compliments Other VA
and Non-VA Programs
 A services “bridge”/enhancement to permanent
supportive housing (e.g. in conjunction with the HUD-
VASH Program).
 A stand-alone, short-term, intensive case
management model (e.g. in conjunction with a
program using a critical time intervention model).
 A homelessness, eviction, or housing crisis
prevention program (e.g. in conjunction with a
program such as HUD’s HPRP initiative).
 In addition to VA supports, SSVF grantees access
universal prevention services, entitlements, and other
available community resources.
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22. Thank you!
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