ENDING FAMILY HOMELESSNESS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Case Statement
Overview There are more than 1,800 homeless students in San Francisco s public schools translating to approximately 1,145 families that do not have stable housing. This is both unacceptable and completely solvable. The Heading Home Campaign will help at least 800 families with students in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) find permanent housing by 2019. This effort will support San Francisco s broader goal of ending long-term family homelessness. The Heading Home Campaign is a $30mm initiative to help 800 homeless families find housing by 2019 as part of an effort to end long-term family homelessness in San Francisco. The Heading Home Campaign is a collaboration led by Mayor Lee between the City and County of San Francisco (the City), the San Francisco Unified School District, Hamilton Families (HF) and private philanthropy. The Heading Home Campaign was launched with a $4.5mm investment from the City and $500k from Google.org. We are raising $25mm in private contributions to achieve our goal. 2
Problem Not since the Great Depression have significant numbers of families been homeless in the United States. In the 1980s, families accounted for less than 1% of homeless people. Alarmingly, families now comprise more than 30% of the overall homeless population (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). Family homelessness is particularly acute in San Francisco, where approximately 1 in every 30 public school students is homeless (San Francisco Unified School District). CHART 1: FAMILY HOMELESSNESS IN THE SFUSD # of families (estimate) 620 2007 753 2008 922 2009 2007 2011 Family homelessness in SF more than doubles during the Great Recession. System overloaded. 1104 2010 1468 2011 1413 2012 1301 2013 2011 2014 Number of homeless families remains steady but system is unable to recover. Hamilton Families studies data, designs a solution, and reaches out to potential partners. 1461 2014 1303 2015 1145 2016 2014 2015 Hamilton Families responds by partnering with San Francisco Unified School District to reach families faster, building organizational capacity to serve more families. 845 2017 2017-2020 Projection 545 2018 400 2019 300 2020 2015 2016 Launch of Heading Home Campaign designed to tackle the overloaded system and help 800 families find homes. Source: San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Chart 1 demonstrates that family homelessness in the SFUSD more than doubled from 2007 to 2011, increasing by 848 families in four years. The increase began with the Great Recession and was exacerbated by rising housing costs and an economic recovery that has been subpar for lower income families. As a result, the service delivery system is overwhelmed by the backlog of unserved homeless families. It currently takes over 200 days for a family to access shelter and the average length of homelessness is over 414 days. Many families have been homeless for over two years, bouncing between couch surfing and shelters while they struggle to find housing. 3
Impact CHART 2: IMPACT OF FAMILY HOMELESSNESS ON CHILDREN HUNGER Homeless children are 2x as likely to experience hunger as other children BEHAVIOR Homeless children are 3x more likely than their peers to develop behavioral problems SCHOOL Homeless children are more than 2x as likely to repeat a grade, be suspended, or drop out of school SICKNESS Homeless children are sick 4x more often than other children DEVELOPMENT Homeless children are 4x more likely to show delayed development PERFORMANCE Less than half of all homeless students are at grade level proficiency in reading and math The trauma caused by long-term homelessness robs children of their full potential. Prolonged stress, caused by experiences such as homelessness, leads to adverse effects including permanent emotional or developmental damage (Center for Disease Control). While we cannot prevent all families from becoming homeless, we can ensure that when a family faces a housing crisis it is resolved quickly. If we do not act, we are denying thousands of young people the opportunity to achieve their full potential, while putting our community at-risk of having overburdened schools, ongoing poverty and ever-increasing homelessness. 4
Solution The Heading Home Campaign offers an effective solution to family homelessness in the SFUSD. Our objective is to help 800 homeless SFUSD families find and maintain permanent housing by 2019. The Heading Home Campaign will dramatically reduce the number of homeless families in the SFUSD and give San Francisco s homeless services system the bandwidth to respond quickly and effectively to new families who become homeless. This initiative, in combination with efforts led by the City, will ensure that when a family is facing homelessness we can resolve their housing crisis within 90 days. Chart 3 below illustrates the Heading Home Campaign strategy and how it will dramatically reduce family homelessness in San Francisco. An end to homelessness does not mean that no one will ever experience a housing crisis again. An end to homelessness means that every community will have a systematic response in place that ensures homelessness is prevented whenever possible or is otherwise a rare, brief and non-recurring experience (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness). CHART 3: STRATEGY TO ADDRESS FAMILY HOMELESSNESS 2016 Interventions 2020 & beyond Families wait an average of 5-7 months to access supportive services Families are homeless for an average of 414 days Maintain current services Homelessness prevention 250 families housed in permanent supportive housing Coordinated Entry System 800 families housed with rapid re-housing Families have immediate access to supportive services Families are homeless for 90 days 5
Solution cont. Interventions one to four in Chart 3 lay out the City s broader effort to address family homelessness. The City spends approximately $35mm per year on services such as homelessness prevention, shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing and rapid re-housing for homeless and at-risk families. The City is planning to add an additional 250 permanent supportive housing units for homeless families (Intervention 3 in Chart 3) at an annual cost of $6mm. The City is also building a coordinated entry system for homeless families that will use best practices and the latest technology to ensure that homeless families quickly receive the appropriate assistance. Missing from interventions one to four is a process to clear the backlog of families that built up during the Great Recession. The Heading Home Campaign is designed to do just that by providing rapid re-housing to 800 families (Intervention 5 in Chart 3). This intervention, by significantly reducing the number of homeless families in the shelter system, will ensure that the City s existing services can work as they are intended to so that families are not homeless for longer than 90 days. Given the tremendous growth in family homelessness, it would be prudent to ask why the numbers won t increase after the Heading Home Campaign ends. Chart 1 shows that the number of homeless families in the SFUSD remained steady after 2011. The data also shows that the demand for services has returned to pre-recession levels. Therefore, we expect that this onetime surge in funding will address the backlog of families needing services and that we will not see an increase in family homelessness in the foreseeable future. In fact, we expect to see a continued decrease because citywide efforts to address family homelessness will allow the homeless services system to function as it was intended. 6
Solution cont. RAPID RE-HOUSING The Heading Home Campaign will provide rapid re-housing to 800 homeless families with children in the SFUSD. Rapid re-housing is an intervention designed to help individuals and families quickly move beyond homelessness and return to permanent housing. Rapid re-housing is a cost effective, onetime intervention. Shelter costs $130/ day and only solves sleep. Rapid rehousing costs $68/day and actually solves homelessness. Rapid re-housing assistance is offered without preconditions like employment, income, absence of criminal record, or sobriety and the resources and services provided are tailored to the unique needs of the household. It is considered the most cost effective and efficient way to assist most homeless families and has been the key component of successful efforts to end family homelessness in communities such as Salt Lake City and Houston (National Alliance to End Homelessness). Rapid re-housing connects families with privately-owned permanent housing, and in San Francisco provides up to 18 months of rental assistance based on their financial needs. Once housed, home-based support services are provided to help families increase their income and develop roots in their community that provide stability so they no longer need financial assistance. CHART 5: COMPONENTS OF RAPID RE-HOUSING* FIND FAST HOUSING IDENTIFICATION Build relationships with landlords to have access to as many housing units as possible Find and secure housing as quickly as possible after a family becomes homeless. Limit the time a family spends homeless. Move people into housing in 90 days or less. HELP PAY RENT AND MOVE-IN ASSISTANCE Pay for security deposits and move-in expenses Pay a portion of rent and/or utilities. Length of assistance varies, but often 6 to 24 months. HELP STAY RAPID RE-HOUSING CASE MANAGEMENT AND SERVICES *Courtesy of the National Alliance to End Homelessness Connect families to services and support in the community. Child Care Income Support Benefits Education Health Care Employment Help resolve issues that may threaten housing stability including conflicts with landlords Rapid re-housing has been very successful in San Francisco, with a housing retention rate of more than 90%. Rapid re-housing requires a one-time investment of approximately $37,500 per family over an 18 month period. This is an excellent value compared to more expensive programs such as shelter or transitional housing that do not guarantee permanent housing at the end of a stay. 7
Solution cont. San Francisco currently serves 250-300 families in rapid re-housing programs each year. These programs are operated by Hamilton Families (the largest rapid re-housing provider in San Francisco) and other nonprofits. The existing programs are funded by the local, state and federal government as well as private donors. While our rapid re-housing programs serve only San Franciscans, in many cases families decide to move outside of the City for economic or other reasons. While we strive to find affordable housing in San Francisco, our first priority is that families find a stable home and this sometimes requires looking outside of the city. In these cases, we strive to ensure the transition to a new community is smooth. PARTNERSHIPS The Heading Home Campaign is a partnership led by Mayor Lee between the City and County of San Francisco with the San Francisco Unified School District, Hamilton Families and private philanthropy. CHART 6: PARTNERSHIP MODEL City and County of San Francisco Continues to manage and fund the homeless services system for families while developing the new coordinated entry system; provides funding for the Campaign and the ongoing efforts to address family homelessness. San Francisco Unified School District Identifies homeless families and helps HF conduct outreach; continues supporting homeless families through existing programs. Hamilton Families Administers philanthropic dollars; provides direct service delivery to families; partners with other rapid re-housing providers as needed; tracks Campaign outcomes. Private Philanthropy Funds new rapid re-housing placements for SFUSD families experiencing homelessness; helps raise awareness on the issue; provides in-kind and technical support as needed. Working directly with schools to address family homelessness is an innovative approach pioneered right here in San Francisco. HF and SFUSD started a pilot program to address family homelessness that was funded by Google. During the first year of the program (November 2014 October 2015), the average length of homelessness for program participants was reduced by 8.2 months. The City invested an additional $4.5 million into this initiative in late 2015 to kick start the Heading Home Campaign. Our school-based strategy leverages the relationship that families have with their public schools and directly helps mitigate the negative impact of homelessness on students and the school system. 8
Conclusion The objective of the Heading Home Campaign is straightforward to re-house 800 homeless families with children in the SFUSD at an approximate cost of $37,500 per family served. We anticipate the total cost of the campaign to be $30mm. A business plan outlining how the Campaign will operate, including a detailed budget, can be provided upon request. Thank you for considering a donation to the Heading Home Campaign. Together we can end family homelessness in San Francisco. 9 When the Heading Home Campaign concludes: 1. 800 homeless families will be permanently housed 2. The number of homeless families in the SFUSD will have been reduced by 90% 3 Newly homeless families will be served within 90 days.