Toolkit for Ending Long-Term Homelessness

Profiles

Below you will find links to nine profiles of supportive housing projects and organizations, as well as four profiles of systems-wide strategies for ending long-term homelessness.

Project Profiles: These nine profiles are of projects and organizations from across the country that are working to serve people who have been homeless for the long term. Each of these profiles gives a basic introduction to the project or organization, and also goes in-depth in a specific topic of particular promise for ending long-term homelessness. Many of the profiles also include a link to a photo tour of the project and a selection of sample documents used in the project/organization. To browse these profiles by topic, please see Profiles by Topic.

Anishinabe Wakiagun
Canon Barcus
Cedar Hill
Community Engagement Program
Deborah's Place
Jericho Project
Kentucky Housing Corporation
Lamp Lodge
Outreach Center Apartments

Systems-wide Profiles: These four profiles look at systems-wide strategies for ending long-term homelessness in four parts of the country. These profiles give examples of cities or states that are setting the stage for high-quality supportive housing to serve the most difficult to serve.

Chicago
New York
San Francisco
Design Standards

For definitions and additional resources supporting the information found here, see Additional Tools.

Anishinabe Wakiagun, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is home to 40 homeless long-term alcohol users, many of whom are American Indian. Anishinabe Wakiagun pays particular attention to matching physical design of the building with its population. Please see both the general project profile and the profile on designing for tenants.

Canon Barcus, located in San Francisco, California, is a 48-unit permanent supportive housing apartment building for homeless, very low-income families living with special needs, particularly those related to substance use, mental health, and/or HIV/AIDS. Canon Barcus staff and their colleagues in San Francisco are at the forefront of providing supportive housing for families.  Please see the full project profile and the profile on housing for long-term homeless families.

Cedar Hill, located in New Haven, Connecticut, has 25 efficiency apartments for formerly homeless and dually diagnosed adults. Cedar Hill offers promising practices in their collaboration between property management and support services staff, as well as tenant involvement programs.

The Community Engagement Program, located in Portland, Oregon, is serving the long-term homeless population by pairing permanent housing with customized employment services for up to 89 individuals. The team stresses the benefits of employment to each individual’s rehabilitation and recovery process.

Deborah’s Place, a program serving women in Chicago, Illinois, offers a continuum of services including permanent supportive housing. Deborah’s Place demonstrates promising practices in the areas of eviction prevention and tenant education.

Jericho Project, is a nonprofit organization that owns, operates, and provides services for supportive housing in New York City. Jericho has implemented program changes as they place increase attention on serving the long-term homeless.

Kentucky Housing Corporation, a state housing finance agency, shares thoughts about how supportive housing in rural areas is different from more urban supportive housing. Two housing providers in rural eastern Kentucky share their specific experiences with rural long-term homelessness.

Lamp Lodge is a 48-unit permanent supportive housing project for homeless single adults with severe mental illness. The project, built in 1991, is located in downtown Los Angeles and is a component in Lamp Community’s array of services for people homeless for the long term.

Outreach Center Apartments in Cloquet, Minnesota are five apartments with supportive services built above a consumer-run drop-in center for individuals with mental health issues. This project is a particularly good example of a small, rural service provider developing supportive housing while facing community concern and opposition.

Chicago successful applied for funds from the federal Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness to create a harm reduction model of permanent supportive housing for 59 long-term homeless individuals. The collaborative initiative required for application and implementation is a model for other cities.

New York City’s Hard-to-Place Task Force serves as a model of city-state interagency collaboration to address long-term homelessness. The task force meets regularly and has made significant progress toward improving services for those who are homeless for the long-term.

San Francisco has been focusing on supportive housing for ending long-term homelessness since the mid-1990’s. Much of the city’s investment in supportive housing has come from dedicated financing sources, included a general obligation bond issued by the city and a dedicated portion of the city’s hotel tax.

Design standards universal to supportive housing for the long-term homeless have yet to be fully developed. From the experience of a property manager in Connecticut, we share these ideas.