Responding to Homelessness Needs Through Housing Gail Thornhill, Director of Supportive Housing, Stella s Circle Executive Board Member, End Homelessness St. John s (NL)
End Homelessness St. John s We are a community-led, multi-stakeholder Board founded in 2000, committed to ending homelessness. We have a plan not a dream to achieve this. As the only designated community in NL under Canada s Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS), we ve levered provincial, municipal, business & philanthropic investment with $21.8 million from HPS towards local solutions.
Why Are we Here? We believe every person has a right to safe, appropriate housing and supports tailored to their strengths and needs. To develop and implement an integrated, coordinated community plan to prevent, reduce and end homelessness. As the backbone for the Plan, our Board in partnership with the City of St. John s is entrusted with resources from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy and others to translate this belief into meaningful, concerted action.
St. John s Projects 2000-2013 237 supportive housing beds (163 units) 37 transitional housing beds (22 units) 63 emergency shelter units That s 337 spaces to date! Plus a range of initiatives to engage partners, raise awareness, mobilize knowledge, and build capacity (including investments in the City s housing action)
City Role as HPS Community Entity Under the HPS model, Community Entities are invited by the Community Advisory Board to administer the federal funds based on the CAB s Community Plan priorities. The Community Entity or CE enters into an agreement with Service Canada to perform this role in exchange for receiving up to 15% of the total HPS community allocation to offset administrative costs. The City of St. John s was a founding member of End Homelessness St. John s & became its CE in 2012.
City Role as HPS Community Entity Community Services Department manages the CE Agreement: employs a contractual Community Development Worker with HPS funds; and provides in-kind administration through its Non Profit Housing Manager.
2014-2019 Community Plan Priorities 1. End chronic and episodic homelessness. 2. Re-house and support homeless persons, and prevent homelessness for those at risk. 3. Reduce the average length of stay in emergency shelters. 4. Develop a coordinated homeless-serving system. 5. Enhance the integration of public systems to reduce discharging into homelessness. 6. Align resources and funding across diverse sectors to support the St. John s Plan to End Homelessness.
Priorities in Detail 1. System Coordination 2. Information & Research organize the homeless-serving system implement coordinated access & assessment develop discharge planning measures implement an integrated information system build partnerships with the research community 3. Housing & Supports support measures to increase housing affordability & reduce homelessness risk introduce & ramp up a range of Housing First programs tailor supports to meet the needs of diverse groups support the enhancement of service quality & impact 4.Leadership,Resources & Engagement develop the infrastructure necessary to implement the Plan coordinate funding to maximize impact champion an end to homelessness
Housing Outcomes St. John s aims to be the 1 st Atlantic Canada community to end chronic & episodic homelessness by 2019. Once we ve ended chronic homelessness, it will never return to our community.
What We re Doing Along the Way 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Establish a solid foundation Housing First ramp-up to end chronic & episodic homelessness Moving upstream: Homelessness prevention & rapid re-housing Maintain focus Focus on sustainability
How will we get there?...and know that we re on the right path? Guided by Housing First principles. Meaningfully engaging our communities. Through inclusion, collaboration & consensus. Having each other s back. Leaving our hats at the door. Learning & doing together. Celebrating our milestones, acknowledging & overcoming our hurdles. Assessing our progress, using ground truth.
Homelessness in NL & St. John s A closer look
St. John s homeless population ~800 80% transitional ~680 10-15% episodic ~80 5-10% chronic ~40
Some successful initiatives already at work Ending chronic & episodic homelessness in St. John s, NL
Our Housing First Programs Intensive Case Management & Housing Supports Housing First Programs Permanent Supportive Housing Assertive Community Treatment Prevention & Rapid Rehousing
Opening Doors Together We see our Community Plan as a prime opportunity to address shared priorities, build partnerships with all governments & sectors, and forge an integrated system to end homelessness. Let s open new doors together!
About Stella s Circle 125 staff Volunteer Board of Directors Foundation Board Operating budget $8 million Stella s Circle Inclusion Choir Serves 1000+ participants annually
Stella s Circle Social Enterprise Training Employment Counselling ABE Level 1 CanDo Enterprises Community Support Program Just Us Women s Centre Emmanuel House Naomi Centre Brian Martin Housing Resource Centre Jess s Place + Hungry Heart Café & Catering, Other Social Enterprises, Stella s Circle Inclusion Choir, Social and Wellness Programs
Who We Serve Adults who have faced challenges that prevent them from full participation in our community, including: Poverty History of abuse or neglect Mental and/or physical health concerns History of conflict with the law Addictions Homelessness Incarceration Illiteracy, interrupted education, & learning disabilities Limited or broken work history
The Supportive Housing Program Established in 2009 and has served more than 950 participants to date Brian Martin Housing Resource Centre The housing help centre is open to anyone who is looking for support Naomi Centre is the only emergency shelter on the Northeast Avalon that offers safe and supportive temporary housing for young women ages 16-30 Carew Lodge - 24 affordable housing units for participants
Affordable Housing Development Stella s Circle has undertaken several capital projects using federal/ provincial funds to create 48 single rental units Current affordable housing numbers: 76 Stella s Circle-owned units Stella s Circle works with more than 35 private landlords in the St. John s area to provide affordable housing to Stella s Circle participants A significant waiting list for vacancies remains
Front Step
Our Team Two Program Managers Gail Thornhill (Director of Supportive Housing @ Stella s Circle) Paula Soper (Program Coordinator of Moving Forward @ Choices For Youth) Program Coordinator Janet Meaney (Located @ Stella s Circle) 4 Case Managers Amy Alexander (Located @ Stella s Circle/Seconded) Kent McGrath (Located @ Stella s Circle) Jenni MacPherson (Located @ Iris Kirby House) Kayla Noseworthy (Located @ Choices For Youth) 2 Housing Support Workers Seconded by Eastern Health
What is Housing First? 5 Key Principles 1. Access to housing with no readiness requirements 2. Consumer choice & self determination 3. Recovery Orientation 4. Individualized & person-centered supports 5. Social & community integration
What Do We Do? Our primary goal is to support individuals in our program find safe, secure and permanent housing. Location and type of housing is chosen by the individual. Once housing is established, if it aligns with the individuals goals, our team will offer support with: Housing maintenance and landlord engagement Client advocacy Life skills Connecting with community supports Community networking
Program Criteria Either: Currently Homeless & Chronically Homeless OR Episodically Homeless *Individual must also be willing to meet with staff at least once per week *Program criteria will likely change over time as the program evolves, in order to meet the needs of the community
HPS Definitions Chronic & Episodic Homelessness A chronic shelter user is one that has stayed at shelters for more than 180 days in the past year. An episodic shelter user is one who has three or more episodes of homelessness in the past year. A single stay or stays within 30 days of each other are considered an episode. (A new episode is counted when a user stays at a shelter after 30 days since their last stay at a shelter). Our Plan (including ICM) must start here and house 90% of these populations first then we can shift our focus upstream.
Intake and Assessment Process Once the referral is received, the program coordinator will make contact with the individual and/or referral source within 3 business days to complete an intake assessment. Intakes can occur in an office or in the community. If the individual is accepted into the program, a case manager will be assigned. The case manager will do a more detailed assessment, which may take several meetings to complete.
Intake and Assessment Process Once the assessment is completed, the goal is to find safe, secure, permanent and appropriate housing within 14 days. Once housing is established the case manager will continue to offer individualized, client-driven supports. The program will aid individuals in gaining skills needed to maintain housing and in making both formal and informal community connections. Supports provided by our program are meant to be short term in nature 6 to 12 months.
The First Three Months Front Step has accepted 28 individuals into the program Nineteen of those individuals have moved from homelessness into housing It has been clear that everyone wants a nice place to live Choice is important but sometimes hard to create Ongoing communication with government and community partners is absolutely crucial to success Staggered hiring of staff has worked very well We need to find a way to ensure sustainability
Gail Thornhill G.Thornhill@stellascircle.ca StellasCircle.ca @StellasCircle