CSH Welcomes Lisa Castro

CSH is pleased to announce that Lisa Castro has been chosen as the new Director to lead our work in the State of Texas.  Lisa will be responsible for managing partnerships with state agencies and local communities in order to improve capacity throughout the state to house and support vulnerable populations. This will include advocacy to influence policy and system changes as well as increasing the capacity of the supportive housing industry in the state of Texas.

Lisa"We feel fortunate to have someone with Lisa’s extensive background in healthcare leadership join our team," Offered Katrina Van Valkenburgh, CSH Managing Director in the Central Region.  "She has been able to deliver as an innovator who brought managed care and behavioral health providers together to improve service delivery and reduce recidivism among patients with a history of over utilization."

Most recently, Lisa served as Executive Director of Clinical Services at West Oaks Hospital, a UHS hospital, in Houston. Prior to that, she was tasked with oversight of Star Plus Medicaid consumers for United Behavioral Health, now Optum. She has worked significantly in psychiatric clinical care, mental health and  substance use services. She has obtained an MBA in Healthcare Management from Western Governors University, and an MSW from Hunter College, CUNY, in New York.

Lisa is based in the CSH Houston office and can be reached at lisa.castro@csh.org or 281-250-8960.

Supportive Housing and Positive Healthcare Outcomes in Texas

305_Kelly Opot_15Kelly Opot, Program Manager in Texas, provided training on the importance of the links between permanent supportive housing and positive healthcare outcomes at the RHP 2 1115 Waiver Category 3 Summit. This was held at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX, and this training is only the beginning of a statewide initiative funded by a grant from the Meadows Foundation to bring together supportive housing and behavioral and primary healthcare systems across the state.

"Our goal is to educate healthcare providers on how permanent supportive housing can improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs for the most vulnerable of individuals," explained Opot. "Our goal is to connect the healthcare and supportive housing systems in a way that will facilitate more consistent access to care and mental health recovery."

Opot and the Texas team, in collaboration with Texas Housing Network, will host the "Supportive Housing = Healthcare  - BIG Partnerships Texas-Sized Solutions for Vulnerable People” event March 31 & April 1, 2015 in Austin.

Houston/Harris County Permanent Supportive Housing RFP

The Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD) of the City of Houston has released the Houston/Harris County Permanent Supportive Housing RFP for supportive housing gap financing. This is part of the initiative to create 2,500 new supportive housing units in order to end chronic homelessness in Houston by 2016. All applicants should have a comprehensive service plan. Click here to view the complete application.

Available funding includes (1) HOME Investment Partnership: $5 Million, (2) Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO): 15% Set Aside, (3) Harris County HOME Funds: $1.3 Million, (4) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funds: $3.5 Million, (5) Homeless and Housing Bonds: $6 Million, and (6) Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) Funds: $5 Million.

Eligible activities include:

  • New construction of properties of 64 units or more (smaller properties may be considered)
  • Rehab or demolition and reconstruction of multifamily properties of 64 units or more,
  • Demolition as part of rehabilitation and reconstruction which will serve to reduce density
  • Acquisition of multifamily properties or of land for multifamily properties: Again the focus is on housing the homeless, and
  • Project‐related soft costs may be awarded on a limited basis and will be at the recommendation of staff and based on need

General eligibility requirements include:

  • The project site must have a City of Houston address to qualify for City of Houston and Houston Housing Authority subsidies
  • The development team must have a proven track record of successful construction and/or rehabilitation of multifamily housing, and to assess and execute the required rehabilitation/reconstruction of the property.
  • Applicants must agree to use the Coordinated Access System developed by Houston’s Continuum of Care as the referral source for the PSH units.
  • Organizations must not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, race, color, creed, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or Veteran’s discharge status.
  • Applicants must agree to operate projects under the “Housing First” model. Prospective tenants are not required to agree to participate in services prior to entering the housing nor can service participation be a requirement of tenancy.

Applications are due to the City of Houston by 3:00 p.m. on Monday, December 8, 2014. Since applications will be reviewed and possibly awarded as received, there is a possibility that funds will not be available for the later applications.

Texas Crosswalk: Improving Medicaid Financing of Supportive Housing Services

This paper, with support from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and Enterprise Community Partners, details opportunities to improve Medicaid reimbursement for services in supportive housing. This investment would not only address the needs of vulnerable people, especially those experiencing chronic homelessness, but also reduce health system costs by directing people away from expensive emergency room, mental health crisis interventions, and inpatient care. We explore how Medicaid reimbursement is currently being used in Texas for supportive housing and identify opportunities to strengthen this connection. CSH contracted with Health and Disabilities Advocates to assist with conducting a Medicaid ‘crosswalk’ analysis which involved interviewing local supportive housing providers on their utilization of Medicaid billing and identifying opportunities for improvement.

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Houston Hosts Central Florida Business & Government Leaders for Knowledge Exchange

CSH is excited to have facilitated a successful exchange between the leadership of Central Florida and Houston, Texas. Houston, where CSH has been working with the city on their coordinated access system, has seen a dramatic reduction in Veteran and chronic homelessness and is quickly becoming a model city in this effort. Our success working with local communities on changing their systems to better address the needs of vulnerable populations is one that is replicable and we are looking forward to working with our partners in Florida to realize similar results.TX_FL_P2P_aerial_group

TX_FL_P2P_MarilynBrown_CSHDuring this trip, organized by the Central Florida Partnership, 72 business & faith leaders and city & county officials traveled from the Sunshine state to see first-hand the change that is happening now in Houston.

 

 

 

Our friends at the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness put together this short video summarizing the trip.

Keep up on our efforts in Florida and across the southeastern United States here.

Interested in how we can help your community? Contact us at consulting@csh.org.

 

Houston Houses over 2,800 Homeless Veterans

Mayor Annise Parker and our many partners in Houston announced last week that they have made tremendous strides towards ending veterans homelessness. Today a veteran without housing, can enter Houston's coordinated entry system and receive housing and services that same day.  To date over 2,800 homeless veterans have been housed as a result of determination, coordinating and a true partnership between the city, the Department of Veteran Affairs, philanthropy, The Way Home Houston and CSH.

Read more about this latest announcement.

Read about Houston's presentation to the USICH on their overall efforts to end veteran and chronic homelessness by 2015. 

 

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CSH and Houston Mayor Parker Present at White House for Mayor's Challenge To End Veteran Homelessness

Earlier today, First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the national Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness at the White House. "When a veteran comes home kissing the ground, it is unacceptable that he should have to sleep on it,"  was part of her rallying call that everyone - Mayors, Governors, businesses, community leaders and all citizens should participate in ending homelessness, especially for those who have given so much.

flotus_announcementCiting the work that has been done to date through efforts like VASH, Mrs. Obama emphasized what is left to be done to cross the finish line to ensure every Veteran has a safe and stable place to call home.

Following the announcement the White House convened a panel of experts and Mayors to talk about the work already underway to end Veteran homelessness.

CSH's Mandy Chapman Semple, who works with Houston Mayor Annise Parker, presented on the amazing results happening in Houston. Through a dedicated Mayor, phenomenal partner organizations and CSH staff, a plan that includes coordinated access and supportive housing has housed 2,200 Veterans in just two-years.

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Mayor Parker was one of five mayors who talked about how their cities have made a difference and are ending homelessness for veterans, and in Houston the results extend to the chronically homeless too.

Read more about our work in Houston.

Find out if your Mayor has signed on the the Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness and if not the First Lady encourages you to "light up their phones!"

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Groundbreaking in Dallas - The Cottages at Hickory Crossing

The Cottages at Hickory Crossing broke ground on April 17th, just half a mile from downtown Dallas. This new permanent supportive housing development will be home to 50 of the most vulnerable people in the Dallas area who are currently experiencing chronic homelessness. The Cottages will successfully house people who live with a mental illness and/or substance use disorder and cycle through jail due to a lack of the type of stability that supportive housing can provide.

This development has already received an AIA Dallas Design Award in the unbuilt category for plans to create a healing environment that involves each resident having his or her own cottage in an area that also incorporates common porches and green space for recreation and shared activities, along with solar energy, rainwater collection, and other green features that will enable sustainable urban living.

The CommonDallas County Director of Criminal Justice, Ron Stretcher, shared that the intervention of supportive housing is beneficial on a multitude of levels. “There is a significant and growing body of research that indicates permanent supportive housing is a key service that promotes recovery for consumers and leads to less utilization of costly interventions such as hospitals and the jails.  Research specifically in Dallas found that homeless consumers of the public behavioral health system cost about three times more than consumers with stable housing.  Looking past the strong research, it just makes sense that someone who is homeless needs a stable place to live before they can really start working on recovery.”

Team members include the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and Dallas County Criminal Justice System as referral partners, the Central Dallas Community Development Corp will own and manage the property, and CitySquare will provide case management services and Metrocare will offer clinical services to residents. This group was convened by the Communities Foundation of Texas.

“The homeless need help the most, and, on the other hand, homelessness is a problem that we could actually solve. There are 400,000 poor people in the City of Dallas, but less than 600 chronically homeless people according to the last official count. I can’t imagine solving the problems of 400,000 people, but 600 is a more manageable number,” John Greenan, Executive Director of the Central Dallas CDC, stated.

CSH provided a $50,000 grant and a $50,000 loan in addition to technical assistance with602_The Cottages_14 support around design, supportive service planning, coordination between property management and supportive services, and assistance with bringing key players onto the team.

CSH Texas Director Dianna Grey says that “CSH has been committed to making this deal happen from the early stages. Cottages at Hickory Crossing will demonstrate that even people who have been on the streets for many years can stabilize in housing and be great neighbors.”

John Greenan, Executive Director of the Central Dallas CDC offered that CSH played a number of needed in roles in supporting this development team. “First CSH was a funder, helping the development out very early on when we needed crucial seed money. Second, as an expert in the process of providing housing for the homeless—CSH was in effect our expert consultant and was invaluable in that role. Finally, and most crucially, CSH stepped in and acted as the convener, and often as a mediator. The Communities Foundation of Texas had invited six of the highest performing nonprofit and governmental organizations in the City of Dallas to work together to design build and operate a model program for housing the homeless and placed a very substantial financial commitment behind that effort. CSH was brought in to lead the group forward and Dianna Lewis-Grey, the head of CSH’s Texas work, managed this effort with endless patience.”

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Houston Ending Veteran and Chronic Homelessness

Leaders from Houston and Phoenix were invited to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) meeting to share their expertise on how federal partnerships have positively impacted local efforts to end homelessness.

ICH_Mandy_testimony_PhotoCredit HUDCSH’s Mandy Chapman Semple, Special Assistant for Homeless Initiatives to Houston Mayor Annise Parker, testified that Houston is on schedule to end Veteran homelessness in 2014 due to a strong partnership between the VA and Houston’s Continuum of Care. She stated that these two groups have been able to function as a single system and this has led to connecting 2,226 homeless Veteran households to housing while creating a housing-centric system that is able to rapidly re-house households while connecting people to services, employment, and healthcare.

At the same time, Houston has made tremendous progress toward ending chronic homelessness with a housing first approach, connecting 1,402 individuals with permanent supportive housing since 2012 and reducing the unsheltered homeless population by 50%.

Ms. Chapman Semple noted in the expert brief she provided to the Council, that “Health care, mental health treatment, substance abuse, employment, education and economic growth are rarely optimized without adequate housing. However, responses across these sectors often do not recognize their inter-dependence. Houston’s success is the result of understanding the connections between these systems and creating a framework to define when systems can operate in parallel and when they must intersect and interweave."

She also discussed how Houston was able to take on the creation of an additional 2500 units of permanent supportive housing within three years and addressed policy questions on supported employment (an intervention best suited for people with disabilities who have experienced long-term homelessness).

Click here to read her full testimony.

Read about Houston's decrease in homelessness. 

All photos are courtesy of HUD.

Coordinated Access in Houston

Marian, a mother of four, began experiencing homelessness at age 25 after separating from her husband. They married when she was 14, and she spent seven years without permanent housing after the separation. Marian faced several barriers including a three-year battle with substance use and difficulties related to her physical health. In 2013, Marian entered an emergency shelter where she was assessed by a Coordinated Access (CA) Housing Assessor and began working with a CA SEARCH Homeless Services Housing Navigator. After being offered a few options, Marian’s dream 305_Marian_14location was offered and she moved into 1414 Congress SRO in downtown Houston. This high quality apartment community offers permanent affordable housing and is part of the non-profit New Hope Housing Inc. portfolio. As part of New Hope’s housing + services program model, onsite supportive services are offered and also coordinated with additional providers to ensure that residents have their needs met and are integrated into the wider community.

The work of creating a coordinated access system started in Houston as part of a charrette hosted by CSH that helped the community create a plan to end homelessness. Following a community discussion around how to advance this effort, a Coordinated Access Manager was hired by the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County. Several of the next steps included selecting and testing an assessment, creating a plan for educating partners and piloting the new system, and designing the implementation process. Heather Muller, a CSH Program Manager, leads the Coordinated Access transition team and held a series of training sessions for both community providers and staff members who will assess clients.

In the first phase, taking place between January 6th and March 31st, 25 households who have extensive barriers have been assessed with a goal of ensuring that each household moves into permanent housing within 90 days. This process will help the Coordinated Access Work Group tweak the system as needed before moving into the second phase of implementation. This second phase will include a wider array of homeless households and use of the online CA system through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).

236_Marion_14Back at 1414 Congress, Marian is working to obtain disability benefits and aspires to go back to school to study business and marketing. Her goal is to become financially, medically, and emotionally stable so that she can be on solid ground to rebuild her relationships with her children and family.

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