Slide 1:

State of Georgia

Homeless Action Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Ten Years

Paul Bolster, President
Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care Services

Slide 2:

Members

• Terry Ball, Division Director, DCA
• Juanita Blount Clark, Division Director, DHR
• Karl Schwarzkopf, Division Director, DHR
• Mark Trail, Division Director, DCH
• Scott Federking, Division Director, OPB
• William Riley, Judge, Atlanta Community Court
• Earnestine Pittman, Executive Director, Fulton Regional Mental Health, DHR
• Craig Burnett, Ed.D. Director, VA, Challenge
• E. Wayne Bland, Director, Recovery Place, Savannah
• Paul Bolster, non-profit service provider
• Katheryn Preston, Director, Georgia Coalition

Slide 3:

Policy Framework

“A Plan not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years”—National Alliance to End Homelessness

• Small # who don’t find their way back
• Suffer from physical and mental illness
• “Frequent Flyers” – High users of public services

Slide 4:

Solutions

• Supportive Housing
• Discharge Policy from Mainstream Services
• Open the back door and close the front door
• Invest public dollars differently – spend to create savings

Slide 5:

Case Study: Kenneth C

• Suffered from depression—repeated suicide attempts
• 58 mental hospital admissions
• Now housed and stable –SSI—Shelter Plus Care at $7.50/day
• Compared to Atlanta costs—Mental Health Hospital $287/day; Grady Psychiatric $630/day; Atlanta Jail $54/day

Slide 6:

First Steps

• Cost benefit analysis on Georgia supportive housing - OPB
• Re-affirm the Interagency Homeless Coordination Council-Executive Order
  • Pursue federal funding
  • Improve access to mainstream programs
  • Improve discharge policy
  • Recommend implementation steps
  • Reconvene the Planning Team to review in June

Slide 7:

Goal One: Access to Mainstream Support

• Use Web-based technology for in-take
• Study the barriers and find solutions
• New SSI eligibility workers—case workers
  • 30 vacant positions
  • Identify state $ match for Medicaid
  • Place eligibility workers with service providers

Slide 8:

Goal Two: More Supportive Housing

• Memorandum of Agreement between departments producing housing and those producing services
• Require referral arrangements between state agencies and state funded non-profits

Slide 9:

Goal Three: State Policies to End Homeless Discharge

• Asked OPB to recommend guidelines for departments
• Punt

Slide 10:

Goal Four: Develop a Local Planning Model

• Identified critical collaborative partners
• Training workshops for community planning
• Community Recognition

Slide 11:

Engage State Leadership

• Present the Plan to the Commissioners of the three key departments
• Presentation to the Governor
• Re-affirm the functions of the Georgia Interagency Homeless Coordination Council
• Comprehensive Data Analysis
• Annual Georgia Homeless Status Report
• OPB Cost Benefit Analysis – cost of 1600 units of permanent supportive housing

Slide 12:

Goal 6: Funding—Not This Year, But...

• Increase the capacity of the State Housing Trust Fund
• Match for new SSI eligibility workers
• ID resources of Homeless Recuperative Centers—Healing from acute illness
• Use Housing Authority Project-based Section 8 for supportive housing
• Expand Shelter plus Care in HUD continuum plan

Slide 13:

Goal 6: Continued

• Aggressively pursue all available federal funds in the first year
• Aggressively pursue private funding partnerships

Slide 14:

So Far?

• Blessings from three commissioners
• On the appointment list of the Governor’s Chief of Staff
• Identified funds for the OPB cost benefit analysis
• lan in use by the Mayor’s Commission on Homelessness in Atlanta
• State meeting on SSI eligibility workers

Slide 15:

The Dream—The Vision

• 1600 Permanent Supportive Housing Units in 10 years---160 per year
• It would take $3 million in capital and $1 million in services each year
• Maximizing federal support
• Administrative capacity to focus efforts
• Local and Private collaboration