CSH

Introducing the Inaugural CSH Supportive Housing Veteran Academy Class!

csheastern — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:45:23 +0000

On May 16, CSH held the first session of the CSH Supportive Housing Veteran Academy at a Capital One Bank branch in downtown Brooklyn. Eleven supportive housing provider agencies were represented, in addition to CSH staff and Capital One associate volunteers, and participated in the training providing an overview of military culture. This session is the first in an eight series training program funded by Capital One to provide training to civilian supportive housing providers in New York to meet the housing and service needs of veterans.

The current Federal administration has made a commitment to ending veteran homelessness by 2015. In order to do this, community providers must work together with veteran’s service agencies to provide care for all veterans. While many providers are eager to serve veterans, many expressed concern that they did not have adequate training to serve this population most effectively. As Kristin Miller, director of the CSH New York office, said, “We saw that providers were ready and willing to go, but they wanted the tools to best work with this population. We realized that you can’t just put up a sign that says ‘this agency serves veterans’ without increased understanding of what it means to be a veteran. With support from Capital One, we are able to develop a program and assist providers to increase their military cultural competency and enhance their service delivery for this unique population.”

“At Capital One, we recognize the need for quality, affordable housing in our communities, and understand the importance of ensuring civilian supportive housing providers have the information, insights and resources they need to support our veterans,” said Mariadele Priest, Vice President, Community Development Banking . “After serving our country, our service members are returning home and looking for ways to reintegrate into our local community. We’re proud to support our veterans during this important transition and are committed to doing our part.”

Research has shown that veterans are disproportionately represented in homeless populations and, once homeless, tend to be homeless for longer periods of time than civilians. The CSH Supportive Housing Veterans Academy consists of eight sessions that each focus on different topics, such as an introduction to military culture; women in the military; legal issues facing veterans; PSTD, TBI and others. Each of the eleven agencies participating has made a commitment to incorporate lessons learned in the academy to their program models and to train other staff members.

CSH in the News – March & April 2013

jessica — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:38:56 +0000

Baltimore Sun, March 31
Outreach aids former inmates struggling to find housing, jobs
Akua Zenzele, a community supervision agent in Southeast Baltimore who works with parolees, knows the first few days after being released from incarceration are crucial for former inmates.
Many are paroled with few resources and nowhere to go. Some end up homeless, and without a way to meet basic needs; others wind up back in jail after committing new crimes just to get by. Zenzele, whose job is to monitor those on parole and probation, has seen the cycle play out before.
People are less likely to attend treatment programs or look for a job if they're worried where they're going to sleep that night, Kane said. And when people don't have housing, they tend to fall back on old patterns. Andy McMahon, with the Corporation for Supportive Housing, an organization that works to develop affordable housing options for vulnerable populations, called housing "a linchpin to all these other things that are important."

KCBD Channel 11, April 8
Permanent housing could be coming to Lubbock
Two non-profit organizations in Texas are looking for permanent solutions for Lubbock's homeless population. The Texas Homeless Network says Lubbock had around 350 people living on the streets at last count, a number that has remained constant over the past few years. Among those, they say about 80 people are chronically homeless, meaning they have lived on the streets for more than a year. Monday's symposium opened discussion about the options for funding a permanent housing project in Lubbock. Eric Samuels with the Texas Homeless Network and Dianna Grey the Director of the Texas Corporation for Supportive Housing Program addressed organizations and individuals in the Lubbock community who work with the homeless with their ideas

Indian Country, April 10
Accurate Homeless Counts Need Tribal Buy-In
The best way to accurately make a count of homelessness on American Indian tribal lands is to acknowledge tribal sovereignty and seek the assistance of key tribal members, according to a new report which supplies a toolkit for homeless counts. “Conducting Homeless Counts on Native American Lands: a Toolkit” was written by the Washington, D.C.-based Housing Assistance Corp. (HAC) and CSH (Corporation for Supportive Housing), a New York City-based community development financial institution (CDFI).

Politics365, April 10
Game Changer: Kenneth Bacon
What Makes This Person a Game Changer:Kenneth Bacon has served as a director since November 2002. Mr. Bacon has been a partner at RailField Partners, a financial advisory and asset management firm, since his retirement from Fannie Mae in March 2012, where he had served as the Executive Vice President of the multifamily mortgage business since July 2005. From January 2005 to July 2005, he served as the interim Executive Vice President of Housing and Community Development. Mr. Bacon is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and a director of the Corporation for Supportive Housing

Herald Times Online, April 19
Meetings Next Week to Seek Ways to End, Prevent Homelessness
They are being organized by the Corporation for Supportive Housing in partnership with the all-volunteer South Central Housing Network.

SouthCoast Business Bulletin, April 19
RI Project Includes Support Services for Underserved
Federal, state and local officials celebrated the completion of a $2.24 million revitalization effort recently that created eight new affordable rental homes in Westerly. U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Town Manager Steven Hartford joined the WARM Center, Rhode Island Housing, HUD, Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals and the Corporation for Supportive Housing in April for a ribbon cutting event.

Trib Today, April 23
Partnership to Help with Housing
The Warren YWCA and Beatitude House are collaborating as they work to help local women and children with planned permanent supportive housing. "We reached out to Beatitude House, Someplace Safe and the Trumbull Housing Collaborative and talked about the need for housing. It was pretty clear from those meetings that the need was significant, especially for women and children to transition and be able to become self sufficient and move ahead with their lives,'' Harrell said. Harrell said she spoke to the Corporation for Supportive Housing regional chapter, which offers training for organizations interested in developing permanent supportive housing, which is the direction the YWCA is moving.

The SandPaper.net, April 25
Expanded Veterans' Housing Plan Denied in Tuckerton
Tucker’s Walk, a proposed housing project in Tuckerton for homeless veterans will go forward as planned, said Community Quest President Dan Kelly on Tuesday, after an alternate plan for 54 units of low- and moderate-income senior housing that included half of the units for senior veterans was shut down by the Tuckerton Land Use Board on April 18. According to their letter to the land use board, Community Quest had obtained $1 million in funding to purchase the land and pay for some engineering and legal fees from the Corporation for Supportive Housing. CSH held the mortgage for two years. After two years, another nonprofit, Bishop’s Worldwide, then stepped in to take over the mortgage. Ocean County has also contributed $440,000 for the project.

CSH Supports the California Homes & Jobs Act

cshwestern — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:15:42 +0000

Everyone in California needs a safe and affordable place to call home. Rents and mortgages within the reach of working families is critical to maintaining California’s business competitiveness. By working together to pass SB 391 we can build safe and affordable single-family homes and apartments for Californians in need, including families, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and people experiencing homelessness. A safe, secure home is essential for all Californians to live with dignity and safety; it is essential for children to succeed in school and in life. CSH, along with the bill sponsors Housing California and the California Housing Consortium continue to urge the passage of the bill this year.

Please click here for more information about the California Homes and Jobs Act of 2013.

The California Homes and Jobs Act of 2013 will:

Create 29,000 jobs annually, primarily in the beleaguered construction sector.
Help businesses attract and retain the talent that fuels California’s economy.
Generate an estimated $500 million in state investment and leverage an additional $2.78 billion in federal and local funding and bank loans to build affordable homes and create jobs.
Deploy these dollars in California communities through a successful private/public partnership model.
Get California building again to create affordable home options for all Californians.

To learn more about CSH and the California Homes and Jobs Act of 2013, and other California state policy priorities please contact Sharon Rapport, Associate Director, California Policy, or call (213) 623-4342, ext. 18.

Michelle Brophy Presented with Community Leadership Award by Gateway Healthcare

csheastern — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:14:04 +0000

Gateway Healthcare, a community mental health center awarded CSH's own Michelle Brophy with the Community Leadership Award at their 18th Annual Awards Luncheon on Monday, May 13th.

Michelle receiving her award with the Executive Director Richard LeClerc and Board Chair, Lloyd J. Robinson

“Gateway is affiliated with LifeSpan (a large hospital network) in order to better integrate behavioral health and health. In accepting the award I challenged the group to view housing as healthcare and ask our State to invest in Supportive Housing.” – Michelle Brophy

About Gateway Healthcare
Gateway Healthcare is a non-profit behavioral health care organization that provides a wide array of services to adults, children and families in Rhode Island. Gateway's mission is to promote resiliency and to assist people in their recovery from mental health, substance abuse, and behavioral and emotional disorders. It’s Vision: to preserve the promise of good quality of life for all people. Gateway offers an extensive continuum of services that supports its mission of promoting resiliency and assisting individuals in their recovery. To learn more about Gateway Healthcare visit their website at http://www.gatewayhealth.org/

CSH will be at the NeighborWorks Training Institute in Philadelphia!

cshnational — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:11:00 +0000

CSH has redesigned our NeighborWorks course, AH183, and will be offering it during the Institute, which spans August 19-23 .

Supportive Housing: Developing Solutions and Supporting Residents, is a 2-day course targeting a general audience with interest in supportive housing. During the training, we will concentrate on funding specific to the development of supportive housing and review different models of providing supports to residents. We will look at increasing housing opportunities for the homeless, persons with chronic mental illness, and homeless Veterans as well as other special needs populations.

Visit the CSH Calendar for more information.

Contact consulting@csh.org to discuss how CSH can bring similar events to your community.

Northwestern Ohio VISN 11 Veteran Summit

cshcentral — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:09:22 +0000

This day-long Summit in Toledo, Ohio was an invitation-only event coordinated on behalf of the leadership from the Veteran Integrated Service Network 11 (VISN 11) to dialogue, plan, and align efforts to prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in Northwestern Ohio. This summit provided the participants an opportunity to highlight and celebrate successes that occurred in 2012; revisit and update the action items outlined under the six pillars of the VA’s Plan from the 2012 Summit After-Action Summary Report; and identify opportunities to collaborate and coordinate in 2013 to eradicate Veteran homelessness by 2015, in keeping with the VA’s National Strategy to End Homelessness Among Veterans (“Strategic Plan”).

The intent and purpose of the summit was to specifically identify areas of overlap and potential collaboration between VA and non-VA service systems to address Veterans who are experiencing homelessness that builds on the excellent work currently being done in Northwestern Ohio with homeless Veterans.

Click here to view the pre-summit report and click here to view the presentation offered during this program.

Spotlight on San Antonio Housing Authority

cshnational — Wed, 08 May 2013 08:44:02 +0000

When the San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) felt an overwhelming need to serve people in their community who had become homeless, they decided to do so through a collaborative partnership with local service providers by implementing a new Shelter Plus Care program for 100 homeless households.

The Shelter Plus Care Program is designed to provide permanent housing for homeless individuals and families with disabilities by providing rental subsidies and supportive services. This can also be a good model for PHAS wanting to create supportive housing with Housing Choice Vouchers. To implement the program, SAHA partnered with the Center for Healthcare Service, which provides comprehensive case management and psychiatric services.

Moving To Work (MTW) was not required to implement this program, and no additional funding was required. SAHA offers this advice to other PHAs who might consider pairing housing subsidies with services, “The collaborative partnership with the outside agencies works well due to the on-going open line of communication. Quarterly meetings and collaborative reporting allows us to discuss lessons learned, what works well and where we need to fine tune. Both parties are equally committed to ensure the success of the program. PHAs interested in replicating this type of program must ensure they have sufficient resources and agencies that are willing and committed to the mission and partnership.”

Learn more about SAHA’s program, view documents they used to implement the program, and learn from other PHAs in CSH’s PHA Toolkit.

Illinois Training Tour for 20 Continuums of Care

jessica — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:36:01 +0000

CSH staff from our Illinois Office are on a training tour to work with all 20 Illinois Continuums of Care with an expected reach of over 160 CoC leaders in April and May alone. This effort is being done in partnership with the Supportive Housing Providers Association and funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services. The two days of training, followed by TA for CoC strategic planning will be highly interactive and provide detailed, individualized technical assistance to motivated CoC teams.

The training and TA will also assist CoC bodies and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) administering agencies. The Initiative complements the resources provided by HUD and goes more in-depth so that participating CoC’s will develop an implementation plan and timeline to guide ongoing systems change.

The first training in this series took place on April 17 -18 in Marion, IL, despite tornado warnings throughout the area. The trainings will continue with stops in Springfield (May 9-10), Peoria (May 13-14), Rockford (May 16-17), and Chicago (May 21-22).

Indiana South Central Housing Network Charrette

cshcentral — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:21:27 +0000

To ensure robust participation and feedback from the community, the Steering Committee led by the South Central Housing Network (SCHN), engaged CSH to organize and deliver a condensed community process, known as a CSH Community Planning Charrette (CSH Charrette). The CSH Charrette takes what is typically a long-term planning process, and focuses our community-wide energy on key issue areas. With guidance from the Steering Committee, CSH has worked closely with the community to identify key issue areas, review data, and implement the Charrette week.

During an intensive Charrette Week held during the week of April 22nd, community conversations took place and recommendations were developed for six areas:

Mental Health and Addiction
Right Services in the Right Place: Regional Coordination
Homelessness Prevention
Employment and Education
Crime, Safety, and Prejudice
Housing Stability First: Affordable and Supportive Housing

Click here to view the Summary of Findings from Charrette Week, and this document will inform a final action plan to end homelessness for “Region 10” which includes Monroe, Lawrence, Greene, Morgan, Martin, and Owen Counties. Click here to view data snapshots for this region.

2013 Rural Supportive Housing Institute

cshnational — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:00:26 +0000

CSH has partnered with Collaborative Solutions, Inc. (CSI) to launch the second joint Rural Supportive Housing Institute in Alabama. The Institute helps nonprofits learn how to navigate the complex process of developing housing with support services and is expected to reduce the time it takes to obtain funding for affordable housing by improving the planning process.

In previous years, CSI has hosted a Rural Supportive Housing Institute for service providers in the Southeast with the goal to improve and increase affordable housing for special needs populations in rural communities. CSH has also hosted Supportive Housing Institutes for organizations in Illinois and Indiana with a similar goal, and launched the American Indian Supportive Housing Initiative (AISHI), an initiative that addresses the root causes of Native American homelessness both on and off tribal land. Together, these institutes have created hundreds of permanent supportive housing units in rural America. The joint Institute, co-presented by CSI and CSH, is focused on rural Alabama and is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rural Housing and Economic Development program.

The Institute provides targeted training and technical assistance to development teams. Teams receive over 80 hours of training including individualized technical assistance and resources to assist in completing their project. In addition, experts from across the region provide insight on property management, financing, and building design. The Institute trainings will be located in Birmingham, AL with site visits to several supportive housing projects at locations around the state.

Visit the CSH Calendar for dates, topics, and more information about each session.

Contact consulting@csh.org to discuss how CSH can bring similar events to your community.