1. 1 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
Homelessness Policy in America
Homelessness has been a consistent issue in nearly every American city for quite some
time. With the combination of booming cities, scarce affordable housing, a difficult job market,
and mental and physical disability, homelessness has continued to be one of the larger more
difficult problems to solve. Nevertheless, in the late 2000’s a recent and very different policy has
been implemented, and has proven to be a great success. Most homeless response policies have
been emergency policy such as, providing housing stipends that last a limited time expanding
shelters and increasing outreach efforts. These services only help for a limited time and
ultimately do not address the root of the problem. The most effective policy currently being
deployed is called Housing First; as discussed below, Housing First is an approach that houses
the homeless first and foremost, before providing additional social services.
Organizations such as Family Services, Inc. have homelessness prevention efforts that
aid with rent, and help those who truly cannot help themselves. A permanent supportive housing
program entails significantly less cost and burden to society than allowing people to live on the
streets. Study’s discussed below indicate the cost effectiveness of the Housing First model. With
adequate funding communities can significantly reduce homelessness, and reduce the costs not
only to society, but also to community infrastructure including hospitals and jails.
Family Services has partnered with other community action organizations to help house
the homeless as the homeless encampment in downtown Charleston is being dismantled (Read
Here). Other partners such and landlords, businesses, and donors are needed to help support
community organized efforts to identify housing solutions specifically for individuals in the
encampment and pool funding to help activate and sustain those solutions. This type of
coordinated effort addresses the roots of the issue to work toward a sustainable solution.
Uncoordinated donations such as simply providing clothing and food to those who already live
on the streets has been proven to mainly attract more homeless and does not provide sustainable
solutions.
Donations to nonprofits like Family Services Inc., and One80 Place can help pay for the
rent and utilities, and other permanent housing solutions that build a foundation for an
individual’s self-sufficiency. The City of Charleston has also set up the, Homeless to Hope fund
for the purpose of generating funds to aid those living in homelessness encampment.1
1
Stevens, Sonya “Homeless to Hope Fund to Help Those Evicted From Tent City”, February 17th
, 2016 Read Here

2. 2 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
Housing First Models
A Policy That Works
UTAH: The Housing First model was implemented on the statewide level in Utah, and proved to
be wildly successful. As of December 2015, the state reduced homelessness by 91%. "I thought,
they're schizophrenic, alcoholic, traumatized, brain damaged," Tsemberis (NY University
psychologist) recalls... "Why not just give them a place to live and offer them free counseling
and therapy, healthcare, and let them decide if they want to participate?" Tsemberis tested his
theory on 242 chronically homeless people in New York City. Five years later, 88% were still
living in their apartments at a lower cost to taxpayers and the state government.”2
Utah’s Housing First policy mainly revolves around established publicly funded
permanent supportive housing. Organizations such as the Utah Housing Coalition, work to
expand affordable housing in a homelessness prevention effort.
(See graph article citation in additional sources below)
Funding: Funding comes from several state and federal resources that target homelessness in
Utah – this funding is provided through providers as well as directly through the government
itself. Some funding is allocated to specific vulnerable populations, i.e. veterans or those fleeing
domestic violence, and other funding sources are dedicated to anyone and everyone. There are
also contributors that are not completely dedicated to homelessness, such as:
• OWHLF—Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund
• HOME—Home Investment Partnerships (CPD program)
• FEMA-EFSP—Federal Emergency Management Administration Emergency Food and Shelter Program
• CDBG—Community Development Block Grant
2
Bertrand, Natasha, “Utah Found a Brilliantly effective Solution to Homelessness” 2/19/2015, Read Here

3. 3 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
• SSBG—Social Services Block Grant
• Private funding/donors
Overall Policy Strategy:
 Collaboration between state and local governments and community partners.
 Coordinated Social Services
 Increasing access to permanent housing – i.e. government programs
 Increase funding for case management
 Increase specialized housing – permanent supportive housing for those who need nursing care.
 Streamline existing services
Reasons Housing First has been Successful in Utah:
 Smaller homeless population (more similar to Charleston, less similar to LA or NYC)
 Church of the Latter Day Saints – considerably influential in supporting and collaborating with
Housing First efforts.
 Collaboration between government, nonprofits, and the private sector – The Utah Housing
Coalition is a nonprofit dedicated to expanding accessible, affordable housing. This particular
organization works across public, nonprofit, and private sector to develop partnerships, such that
affordable housing in Utah does not go by the way-side; like so much of America.
Examples of Successful Supportive Housing Establishments:
 Grace Mary Manor LLC – Housing Opportunities Inc, the Housing Authority of Utah, and Grace
Mary Manor LLC partnered to build permanent supportive housing for 84 chronically homeless
with a disabling condition. This facility allows individuals to live independently, contribute 30%
towards rent, and also includes on-site counseling and services. Housing Authority of Salt Lake
County – Read Here
 Kelly Benson Apartments – supportive housing for seniors, attempting to bridge the gap in
affordable housing. This housing opportunity also includes supportive services and case
management on-site.
Additional Sources:
 Utah Homelessness Comprehensive Report 2014
 Utah Chronic Homeless Graph Reference
 HUD awards $55 million to develop affordable housing for Native American population -
Read
NASHVILLE: Nashville has also proven the amazing results from Housing First policy. Using the same
model, the metropolitan homelessness coalition launched the, How’s Nashville Campaign, which has
lead the fight against homelessness as well as pioneered this policy for the city. ‘“If you suffer from
addiction to alcohol or other drugs, living in constant fear of rain, coldness, hunger and harassment does

4. 4 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
not help you kick the habit. If you are an ex-felon, it is hard for you to become an upstanding citizen
when you can't go home at night. Therefore, How's Nashville makes providing permanent and affordable
housing to the homeless its first priority. The commission's director Will Connelly said the program does
not mandate people to "jump through a lot of hoops" to receive assistance.”’3
 Nashville’s Housing Strategy:
o Permanent Supportive Housing
o Mainstream Resources – housing vouchers and Medicaid
o Targeting/prioritization – Matching housing based on need and specifically looking at the
most vulnerable and chronic populations
o Data Driven Decisions
o Relationships First – There is no one size fits all housing policy. Looking at each
individuals situation and needs and how to best maximize their independent potential.
Also there is great consideration into landlord’s business model, police activity and how
the homeless fit into that. Read Here
 Nashville doubled their housing placement rate over just one year. Beginning in June 2013, 19
chronically homeless individuals were placed in permanent housing over the course of a year.
This success has a lot to do with community partner such as –
o Open Table Nashville – Homeless advocacy organization
o Park Center- community based mental health care provider
o VA
o Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency
o Freeman Webb Companies – Real estate firm
o Mental Health Cooperative
o Safe Haven Family Shelter
o Nashville Cares – Comprehensive approach to HIV prevention
o Centerstone – Mental health care provider
These organizations are only the steering committee of the homelessness effort. Read Here to see the full
breakdown of the How’s Nashville Campaign effort.
 Nashville’s collaboration has led to amazing housing statistics even just over this past year; 702
chronic housing placement and 294 veteran placements. Read Here.
 How’s Nashville also boasts a 75 – 80% retention rate.
 Nashville has seen a lot of this success through private partnership. How’s Nashville Campaign
has specifically creating partnership opportunities for landlords, and noting what they need to do,
to be a partner, “easing up on some of the eligibility criteria for the people we are trying to help
move into permanent housing. Kirby Davis, one of our landlord partners who is also a champion
of the How’s Nashville campaign, has adopted separate eligibility criteria for people referred to
him by How’s Nashville partners.” Read Here
CHARLOTTE:
3
Wu, Ti, “Why Nashville’s Solution to Homelessness is a Model for Other Cities”, 10/11/2013 Read Here

5. 5 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
The City of Charlotte in collaboration with Mecklenburg County has implemented their Housing First
policy with overall success as well. Charlotte has put a significant effort into permanent supportive
housing and intensive case management. Research done by UNC Charlotte as well as the Urban Ministry
Center, has compared the cost of housing the homeless to having people live on the streets. Overall, they
found supportive housing is overwhelmingly more cost effective. Below we have the housing placement
data from 2015. Charlotte was able to house 996 individuals in one year alone.
Month of 2015 Chronic Housing Placements Veteran Housing Placements
January 52 39
February 39 19
March 67 32
April 53 26
May 56 28
June 67 23
July 53 19
August 56 19
September 54 25
October 82 26
November 51 20
December 72 18
Total 702 294
Average 59 25
Housing Placements 2015 Reference
 HousingWorks Program is a supportive housing program through Urban Ministry Center that
seeks to end homelessness. This program provides three pathways to housing:
o Moore Place – 85 units including hands-on case management. Currently, this one
supportive housing complex has saved the city approximately $2.4 million over a two
year span of time.4
Research showed that there were 648 fewer visits to emergency
rooms, 292 fewer days in the hospital after tenants moved in. Read official report on
Moore Place here.
o Site Scattered Apartments – Affordable housing provided by partnerships between
organizations such as the Supportive Housing Community, the city and private
landowners work and collaborate to open up space for affordable housing.
o MeckFUSE- This is a more intensive permanent supportive housing program, which
includes 45 apartments along with hands-on case management for chronically homeless
people suffering from addiction and behavioral health issues. This program targets those
who have been homeless the longest, and deemed to be most at risk. This program has
proven successful in helping provide stability for their tenants to get sober and healthy.
 Supportive Housing Funds – Mecklenburg County, the City of Charlotte and the Charlotte
Housing Authority partnered to procure and distribute funding for housing stability projects. They
focus on allocating money for rental assistance, supportive services, and development of housing.
4
Price, Mark “UNC Charlotte Report: Homeless Project Saved City $2.4 Million.”, Charlotte Obersver, May, 2015.
Read Here

6. 6 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
Government funding has been key to making Housing First policy work, the Mecklenburg
County and board of commissioners allocated for $1.4 million to be dedicated to supportive
housing just for the 2014 fiscal year.
 The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership is a private, nonprofit housing development
and financial corporation, whose mission is to expand and maintain stable and affordable housing
in the Charlotte area. Organizations such as The Housing Partnership provide affordable, safe
housing to low and middle income families and individuals. This type of organization is essential
to preventing and solving homelessness. This includes the, Voluntary Mixed Income Housing
Development Program, which incentivizes private sector developers to create affordable
housing units. Read Here.
 PIT Count 2014
 Charlotte Homelessness Report
Is there a Downside?
Taking Charlotte, overall, yes Charlotte has lowered its homeless population approximately a
19% decrease in homelessness between just 2009 and 2014. However, the city implemented a 10 year
place in 2006 (emphasized in HousingWorks), and they have not reached their goal on completely
eliminating homelessness in the city. The Housing Stability Fund has provided 5,509 homes since it was
established in 2001.5
Charlotte’s diligent work has been admirable and overall successful, but has moved
at a very slow speed. Though they have been able to develop private partnerships, there has been backlash
from the community against the development of affordable housing. In 2014, there was “suburban
warfare” over a large piece of land south of the city. “, a nonprofit housing developer visited the
Willowmere and Nottingham homeowner associations meetings. Representatives of the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Housing Partnership said they would submit to the city a rezoning application to turn the
field, zoned at the time for a day care, into workforce-housing apartments — otherwise known as low-
income housing….9-2 decision, City Council approved the Housing Partnership's rezoning request —
about 2,100 residents had signed a protest petition.” Nashville had much less of this backlash, due to the
great support of property management companies, which deeply discount their rates at certain properties.
This sort of backlash against change is common and would be a hurdle for Charleston development as
well.6
Based on the information we have, in order for Charleston to be successful, we will need to pull
together the community much like Nashville. The collaboration of private, public and nonprofit sectors
can end homelessness in Charleston.
Homeless Encampments of the US
Why Most Homelessness Prevention Policy Doesn’t Work
Across The Board Policy Problem: Band-Aid policies - an attempt to address immediate issues with the
already homeless i.e. gaining employment, gaining access to emergency shelters, boosting emergency
5
City of Charlotte Housing Trust Fund
6
McKenzie, Ana “Suburban Warfare in south Charlotte” Creative Loafing Charlotte, Read Here

7. 7 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
shelters and outreach responders. Homeless policy introduced by the government usually includes a huge
price tag, which has proven precarious and unsustainable.
Each of the following American cities is attempting to control the rapidly growing issue, with
policies that do not look to address the source of the homelessness issue. The economic success of these
cities (including Charleston) has send property value and rent sky-high – quickly displacing low income
individuals. These cities also have not placed the Housing First model high on the agenda – a method that
has proven effective.
SEATTLE:
 Nickelsville and The Jungle are two of the most significant tent cities in the city of Seattle.
 Homelessness increased 21% from 2013 – 2014
 In 2015 Mayor Ed Murray proposed to the Seattle City Council to approve and regulate three
additional tent cities, viewing it as a more controlled way to deal with homelessness. Though not
intended to be a permanent solution, Murray’s maintained that tent cities would have less impact
on local communities.7
The recent shooting in “The Jungle”, a large tent city, proved this policy’s
effectiveness null.
 Beginning in 2004, United Way of King County developed a 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.
10 years later, homelessness is on the rise. The main strategies they were using include:
o Boosting emergency shelters and increasing bed and investing in staff.
o Providing outreach workers with new tools to fight homelessness including, $350,000 of
funds to help people on the streets and fit individual needs. For example, transit to be
reunited with family members, a deposit for an apartment, or car repairs.
 Currently, “‘Seattle spends $50 million annually to provide shelter and social services to its
homeless population, he said. But the amount is hardly enough to meet the need, he added, saying
it would cost $49 million just to house the city’s entire homeless population.’”8
Further Sources:
 United Way 10 Year Plan – Read Here
 Seattle Navigator program – Read Here
LOS ANGELES:
 2014, LA officials compiled the first comprehensive plan to end homelessness focusing on these
points:
o Housing First – gaining access to permanent housing as soon as possible
o Expanding Rapid Rehousing – giving individuals and families rent voucher for a set time
in order to help them get on their feet.
o Offering More Shelters and Storage Facilities- Attempt to spread out homeless and those
who serve them, to ease the strain of giving services.
7
Beekman, Daniel “Mayor Wants to Allow and Regulate Three New Tent Cities” Read Here
8
Christine Hauser, Ashley Southall, “Shooting at Seattle Tent City Coincides with Mayor’s Speech on
Homelessness” 1/27/2016 Read Here

8. 8 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
o Acknowledge the Demographics – A one size fits all policy may not work the best,
research and city officials believe each demographic will require difference services and
a different approach.
o “No Wrong Door” Coordinated Entry System – Equipping government department that
come in contact with homeless, with resources to aid those individuals. Libraries, public
parks etc, should be able to input homeless people into a system to help track he/she and
connect them with services.
o Increased Government Accountability – an official dedicated to implementing
homelessness policy.
o City Planning and Rezoning – rethinking where there is access to housing and the density
of people in the city.9
o Official LA homelessness prevention plan
 According to the HUD Homeless Census conducted in 2015, homelessness had increased 16%
from 2013 and the total number of homeless if approximately 41,000-44,000. Read Here
 Overall LA has approved to spend $100 million on these homelessness objectives.
Additional Sources:
 New plans to end homelessness – Read Here
 LA Homeless Services Authority
NEW YORK:
 73,353 homeless in NYC as of the November 2015 count.
 Similar to Los Angeles, New York has had issues with pulling together big spending to confront
the issue. In 2011, NY experienced a $10 billion budget shortfall – as a result state spending was
slashed including funding for a critical rental assistance program. 10
 January 2016, Gov. Cuomo issues an executive order to make shelter available to all homeless, at
the very least to get them out of the cold. This was only moderately successful, considering it was
a single line executive order.
 Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a plan November 2015, to spend $2.6 billion to build 15,000 units
of housing; specifically targeting homeless veterans, victims of domestic violence and the
mentally ill.
o Blasio admitted that the city will not be able to reduce homelessness if they continue to
rely on rent vouchers or rapid rehousing.
o The city used to also rely on subsidies to defuse market-rate rent; however the New York
housing market out ran that sometime ago.
 NYC has built a considerable number of supportive housing units elsewhere in the city – at this
point 1in 5 applicants would be able to obtain housing.11
9
Watenhoffer, Jeff, LA Curbed, Janurary 8th
, 2016, Read Here
10
Nikita Stewart, and Vivian Yee “Cuoco Acts on Homeless Problem, New York City Blames State Cuts” – Read
Here

9. 9 Abigail Christiansen Family Services, Inc. Feb 2016
General Sources:
 Snapshot of homelessness in America – Read Here
 States with highest homelessness – Read Here
 Homelessness Map – Read Here
 Seattle – Post 10 year plan - Read Here
 NYC 10 year plan (newest plan published 2014) – Read Here
 LA 10 year plan (published 2004) – Read Here
Abigail Christiansen
achristiansen@fsisc.org
Americorps VISTA
Family Services, Inc.
11
Stewart, Nikita November 18th
2015,“De Blasio Unveils Plan to Build 15,000 Units of Supportive Housing”, Read
Here