by Sarah Morrison, Foothold Technology
For the third year in a row, Foothold Technology had the honor of partnering with the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) on their annual Supportive Housing Summit. Foothold’s primary purpose at the event is to host an in-person version of our online Supportive Housing Resource Exchange, which acts as a forum for Supportive Housing providers to ask questions or provide answers and resources to others in the community. While the Resource Exchange is our focus at the event, the Summit also gives us a chance to have conversations with providers of all levels, hear from an extraordinary group of panelists and presenters, and learn about the current trends, challenges, and breakthroughs in the industry. The 2017 Summit was no exception and nothing short of fantastic.
This year, data and collaboration were on everyone’s minds. In her opening remarks, CSH President and CEO Deb DeSantis called on attendees to work together to navigate through the current storm we are facing in the industry and emphasized that without data “you are just another person with another opinion.” She highlighted the need to form partnerships that can share data and to think larger, outside of our silos. To quote Deb (and Roy Scheider), we’re “gonna need a bigger boat.” Not only was data mentioned in many of the sessions, and all three plenaries, we saw conversation about data at the Resource Exchange:
Q: What is one key policy priority for our national dialogue on healthcare and Supportive Housing?
A: Unification of data collection
As attendees discussed, unification of data collection is just one of the ways in which providers and agencies can collaborate. The Resource Exchange saw answers about collaboration for several of the questions posed:
Q: How do we effectively support people with mental illness when their tenancy is in jeopardy?
A: Collaboration with behavioral health providers
A: Collaborate, communicate, connect and develop options
Q: What challenges are you facing today and in the future?
A: Fluidity between systems (individuals, families, youth) with different prioritization criteria
The Thursday lunch plenary, “Why Hospitals are Funding Housing,” made clear the need for partnership between Supportive Housing and healthcare. The panel shared highlights of a successful collaborative between City Central Concern, a housing agency in Portland, Oregon, and six healthcare organizations, which was formed in response to Portland’s challenges in addressing affordable housing, homelessness, and healthcare.
It was a pleasure to see so many different attendees engaging with the Supportive Housing Resource Exchange via their questions and answers. Some of the additional questions and answers were:
To continue the conversation from the Summit, ask a question or give an answer on our Supportive Housing Resource Exchange. We want to thank the Corporation for Supportive Housing for another productive Summit and for all of the incredible work by Supportive Housing providers across the country.
If you’re a service provider and feeling overwhelmed with the documentation required to bill Medicaid, sign up to attend our upcoming webinar, Navigating the World of Medicaid for Supportive Housing Services, and hear from agencies from various states across the country for a discussion on the ins and outs of Medicaid for Supportive Housing.
