Improve access to all needed and available resources and services by improving access and prioritization of supports from other city and county systems, particularly economic supports that can bolster housing stability.
The CoC Executive Board and the Detroit Advisors speak about the importance of connecting health, employment, and other critical systems to the homeless response.
A well-functioning homeless response system should have clear and easily accessible connections to social service, health, education, and economic support systems across the community. These connections should be aligned behind joint system goals, monitored by system leaders across the partnering systems, and designed by individuals who have experienced the systems involved in the partnership.
Community engagement and systems audit both showed early stages of some of these critical partnerships with the K-12 education system and economic support system through Detroit at Work. However, there are critical partnerships missing with the health/mental health system and other economic supports such as food benefits and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families).
The most common themes around system collaboration included:
- A lack of meaningful connection to job and income support that leads to a lack of stability in housing both within programs like Rapid Rehousing and within housing obtained after leaving the homeless response system
- A lack of access to quality mental health treatment that is offered by Black, Brown, Indigenous, and LGBTQ providers in the communities where people live
- A lack of connection to mainstream services through coordinated entry and/or the shelter system that could assist individuals in more quickly access supports that could reduce the time homeless
- A lack of connection to TGNC-specific health services leading to extreme mental and physical health risk for TGNC community members experiencing homelessness
Engage in strategic cross-system planning with system partners during the co-design phase.
Strategic partnership with other systems requires a deep level of planning to ensure the work is rooted in data, mutual goals, best practices, and the expertise of those that work within the systems and have experienced the systems. As Detroit moves into the design phase of homeless response system transformation it will be critical to identify and engage system partners early; to review data across the partnering system, and to create mutually beneficial goals that can be monitored and tracked over time. These goals should align with the vision enacted by the CoC and HRD and as well as the partnering systems.
Strategy in Action
One Roof is a promising practice bringing together the child welfare system, homeless response system, and affordable housing behind the unifying goal of creating supportive housing for child welfare involved families. Their 8 Step Roadmap to partnership offers a framework for partnering, goal setting, and implementing cross-system initiatives.
Improve direct access to and more specialized services from Detroit at Work, from the point of entry, and across all homeless response programs.
Economic supports, including employment and income support, were the most cited cross-system need in the community engagement process. The CoC and Detroit at Work have launched a new initiative to better connect people accessing CAM to Detroit at Work, this initiative can be leveraged and expanded to include best practices such as dedicated staff with cross-system experiences, co-location of services, and joint case conferencing, rooted in data sharing and shared decision-making across the system.(1) The partnership should be accessible immediately upon entry to CAM and/or shelter and crisis housing options. It should also have direct lines to housing programs to ensure multiple engagement points throughout the system.
Strategy in Action
Starting as a pilot project funded by the Melville Trust. Secure Jobs Connecticut 2.0 works across the CoC and the public workforce system to increase employment opportunities for people experiencing homelessness. The model includes job navigators, network building with employers and other services, flex funding for transportation, childcare and other services, and case conferencing across systems.
The Connecticut initiative was modeled off of Secure Jobs Initiative Massachusetts, funded by the Fireman Charitable Foundation. The model includes many of the same building blocks including individualized employment navigation, flexible funding, and strong case conferencing.
Leverage current partnership efforts with Wayne Metro Community Action Agency to strengthen connections between homeless response programs and school-based resources.
Schools have the most access to children and youth who may be experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity and it is critical to formalize the partnership between schools and homeless response programs. The current partnership through CAM to ensure students are connected to McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaisons is a critical and foundational step. Detroit should expand this partnership to include more direct access from schools into homeless response programs through CAM and better data sharing to understand the needs of children and youth and to plan for cross-system interventions.
Strategy in Action
This brief on housing and education collaborations from the National Center for Homeless Education offers valuable information on understanding the potential relationships between schools and CoCs. There are also community examples of ways to increase accurate data and to form school-based interventions.
Connect mainstream resource to the homeless response system through CAM and throughout homeless response programs.
As communities build out coordinated entry systems around the country, they are finding innovative ways to connect mainstream resources such as food benefits, SSI/SSDI, TANF, and WIC directly to the coordinated entry system. This allows for access to economic benefits that can directly impact an individual/family’s ability to more quickly secure housing and move out of crisis. As CAM continues to build out it’s model it will be critical to bring mainstream benefits to the table to improve access.
Strategy in Action
This brief on mainstream resources and coordinated entry from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness offers a range of consideration and steps that can be taken to improve access to mainstream benefits through coordinated entry. It also offers a jurisdictional example on family coordinated entry
Leverage the Affordable Health Care Act to improve health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and utilizing homelessness resources.
Expanded federal health care coverage has led to bolstered connections between housing and health with partnership ranging from the development of supportive housing to targeted navigation services that reduce both hospital stays and experiences of homelessness.
The current pandemic has spotlighted the need for stronger connections between health and housing in Detroit and around the country and has also sparked new partnerships that can be leveraged moving forward.
As Detroit and the State of Michigan explore more long-term connections between health and housing—such as Medicaid waivers to help with the development of supportive housing(2) or expanding the homeless service providers that can bill directly to Medicaid,(3) the community can explore more immediate action such as leveraging health care coverage to offer targeted health navigation services and flexible funding to some of the most medically vulnerable experiencing homelessness.
Strategy in Action
The Innovative Models in Health and Housing brief, prepared by Mercy Housing and the Low Income Investment Fund for the California Endowment and the Kresge Foundation.
This white paper offers a variety of jurisdictional approaches from around the country that are connecting health and housing. The example from Minnesota offers an example of the success targeted health navigation and flexible funds can have at reducing homelessness and cost to health care systems for frequent utilizers.