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Provision of Housing and Services
First Solution: Create Support and Housing for Unserved Clients (132 summit points)
Action Step I: Stable Supportive Housing
3-Month Implementation Options
1.
Implement the Clark County Housing Authority's Homeless tenant-based rental assistance (TBRA) program to open 25 new transitional housing units. This action will be for families and individuals with disabilities leaving homeless housing programs; by December 2001. 2.
Open a short-term transitional facility with 70 beds with intensive case management and regional housing placement. Maintain a client-caseworker ratio of 10:1, and hire experienced, fulltime outreach workers to go out on the street and engage the service resistant clients every day to help them overcome barriers to stability. 3.
Determine and make available what is needed to fully use all available beds immediately, including necessary funding. Available beds include 250 in MASH Tent; 70 in MASH TLC; 150 client facility in Salvation Army DRC; and 100 for severely mentally ill homeless via the SNMHS. Additional assessment may need to take place to identify all available beds. 4.
Lease up any vacant warehouse or other large building for temporary, immediate day shelter, with governmental support in attaining permits and variances. 6-Month Implementation Options
5.
Offer families with multiple needs stable affordable housing upon intake, and provide intensive case management and support services. Retain a ratio between clients and case managers at 15:1. 6.
Dedicate HOME Program funds to increase funding for tenant-based rental assistance (TBRA), partnering with a homeless provider to ensure good case management and supportive services are provided to the families and individuals being subsidized by the TBRA.
This action will be for homeless families and individuals with disabilities.7.
Support the efforts of Salvation Army to continue services and rebuild its facilities. This rebuilding effort will increase the number of supportive services beds (transitional housing) available to the homeless. 8.
Allocate 100% of the Emergency Shelter Grant for emergency shelter operations. 36-Month Implementation Options
9.
Develop 100 (or a sufficient number to meet the need) permanent housing units throughout the region in houses, rental units, and new single room occupancy (SRO) units. Each facility will provide appropriate services for mental health treatment, drug and alcohol treatment, health care, employment training, and general case management. The services will be provided through partnerships formed between service providers and housing providers. Create the housing with a set-aside percent of affordable units and a master lease program operated by the local social service departments. 10.
Approach all Public Housing Authorities to offer a Homeless TBRA (Tenant-Based Rental Assistance) Transitional Housing program similar to the Clark County Housing Authority program. 11.
During the initial assessment of a homeless family, service providers will work to locate the family in permanent, affordable rental housing in residential areas. Newly housed families will receive individualized home-based case management for six months to one year in order to ensure that their housing is maintained. 12.
Support the efforts of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth to open a shelter and service campus to serve homeless (runaway/throwaway) youth by donating 6 or more acres of land. Approve any zoning changes/permits that are required, and support the effort with funding where possible. Action Step II: Safe Havens
6-Month Implementation Options
1.
Implement a strategy for regionally placed Safe Havens connected to professional outreach teams and housing contracted through the State Department of Mental Health. 2.
Provide an emergency service fund to Metro's HELP Team and each of the area commands to pay for garbage bags, bottled waters, blankets and other items needed by un-sheltered homeless people. In this way, the teams can earn the trust of service-resistant people, which is the first-step to providing services and housing. 3.
Support Westcare in developing "triage" capacity for serving homeless people living with a chemical addiction once they are discharged from a hospital or a jail. Action Step III: Transportation Assistance
6-Month Implementation Options
1.
Require Citizens Area Transit (CAT) to make all bus tokens available to non-profits free of charge. Tokens will be distributed to caseworkers who provide information and referrals, to ensure the homeless and at-risk populations can get to appointments and referred agencies. 2.
Require CAT to make 3-month bus passes available, free of charge, to the homeless service providers for distribution to the homeless who are engaged in case management (self-sufficiency) activities.
Second Solution: Keep People Housed (122 summit points)
Action Step I: Discharge Planning
6-Month Implementation Options
1.
Provide clients who are discharged from prisons, hospitals, and foster care with housing and vouchers and social services. Provide staff at least one case manager for every facility with additional case managers if more than ten clients need assistance at one time. 2.
Develop a Countywide, multi-system community re-entry plan that includes housing for people exiting institutions who would likely become homeless upon discharge. Hospitals. Require that local hospitals provide housing vouchers and linkages to community-based social services agencies as part of the services package to any homeless in-patient being released from care.
Prisons and Jails. Plan for the housing needs of individuals exiting prisons and jails in the county. Provide outreach and assessment to incarcerated individuals; provide case management to facilitate community re-integration and employment training as well as case management for substance abuse and mental health clients; individualize re-entry plans; maintain clear program objectives.
Wards of the State. Ensure that no youth is released from foster care without local independent living skills programs, which provide adequate services for youth to attain stable housing.
Action Step II: Emergency Assistance to Retain Housing
6-Month Implementation Options
1.
Re-evaluate requirements placed on agencies that administer rental assistance to ensure that these agencies provide assistance to prevent homelessness for at least a 3-month period. This action will be for at-risk of homelessness. 2.
Provide support to displaced workers to prevent these otherwise stable households from becoming homeless due to the economic downturn following recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. Ensure the Displaced Worker Rapid Response Fund is adequately maintained and administered. Other programs would include, but not be limited to, the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance program administered by the Clark County Housing Authority. This action will be for at-risk of homelessness. 3.
Provide support to displaced workers through a Tenant-Based Rental Assistance program administered by the United Way of Southern Nevada and Red Cross to assist agencies in employing clients to maintain facilities. 4.
Work in conjunction with the Displaced Workers Rapid Response Help Center(s) to identify 550 households that would qualify for and benefit from an emergency TBRA (Tenant-Based Rental Assistance) Program to be administered by the Clark County Housing Authority, which will provide six months of rental assistance to families and persons with disabilities who are hardest-hit by the economic downturn following recent terrorist attack. This action will be for at-risk of homelessness. 5.
Better utilize the Nevada Fund for Energy Assistance and Conservation funded by the Universal Energy Charge fund, so that FEMA, ESG and other mainstream utility assistance resources are available for preventing evictions. 6.
Provide extra public awareness and training to social service providers about the Nevada Fund for Energy Assistance and Conservation, which funds utility assistance and weatherization-related home improvements to households threatened with utility shut-off and/or homelessness. 7.
Collaborate with the Nevada State Housing Division and other partners to identify resources and strategies that can assist homeowners with mortgage payments to prevent loss of their homes. 8.
Provide incentives and/or recognition for large-scale landlords who provide one month of rent free of charge to displaced workers deemed eligible by the Displaced Workers Rapid Response Help Center(s). Molasky Enterprises, who owns and operates over 5,000 units in Southern Nevada, has already committed to such a plan; encourage other similar property management companies and owners to do the same. 9.
Earmark 100% (or other set percentage) of local homeless, FEMA funds for emergency, Tenant-Based Rental Assistance. 36-Month Implementation Options
10.
Support the provision of Landlord/Tenant legal services to households at risk of eviction.
Third Solution: Coordinate Services By Mainstream Agencies; Integrate With Homeless-Specific Services
(132 summit points)Action Step I: Mainstream Case Workers on Site
3-Month Implementation Options
1.
Arrange for homeless providers to have applications for mainstream services on-site so that the homeless caseworkers can assist the client in completing the application, and caseworkers can review eligibility criteria with the client. 6-Month Implementation Options
2.
Enhance the MASH Crisis Intervention Center by ensuring that mainstream services are available from the initial client visit (Monday through Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.). Action Step II: Create Partnerships
3-Month Implementation Options
1.
Integrate homeless services into the Displaced Workers Rapid Response Help Center(s) so that those who have become homeless or will inevitably fall into homelessness can access these transitional housing and supportive services. 2.
Funding agencies (localities, United Way, etc.) should require homeless providers to partner with mainstream services to ensure that clients obtain all supportive services for which they are eligible and that the homeless provider is not duplicating assistance. 36-Month Implementation Options
3.
Resolve the service gaps and discharge planning inadequacies of mainstream agencies so that all eligible clients are fully served, even their homeless clients. For example, the Division for Aging Services bears the responsibility of planning, funding and monitoring services to the elderly; many homeless providers have identified an increase in homelessness of the elderly. DAS caseworkers should be providing case management to these homeless elderly, and the DAS should be designing and funding programs to address their needs. Similar situations exist with other mainstream resources, including but not limited to Foster Care, Mental Health, and the Medically Indigent served by the county. 4.
Support the city of Las Vegas municipal court's transition to an alternative sentencing program for homeless arrestees, modeled after a successful program in Miami/ Dade County. Action Step III: Provide Housing and Track Housing Status
36-Month Implementation Options
1.
Require that all mainstream programs address the housing needs of their clients who become homeless. 2.
Implement a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), which is an automated intake system, to track clients' use of emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent housing programs that receive public funds (as some privately funded organizations may choose not to participate).
Fourth Solution: Create More Permanent Housing for Homeless People (122 summit points)
Action Step I: Innovative Housing Strategies
3-Month Implementation Options
1.
Move emergency money into housing for homeless people. 2.
Develop a regional housing budget for short term and long-term housing. 36-Month Implementation Options
3.
Explore the benefits of the City of Henderson becoming part of the regional Consortium for HOME funds. This will increase our scope of data on poverty and thereby increase the amount of HOME funds allocated to Southern Nevada. 4.
Create a regional Housing Commission to administer all of Southern Nevada's HOME, LIHTF, Bond Caps, Tax Credits, CDBG, ESG, HOPWA, and other local or federal resources that can be used to develop affordable housing. This regional Housing Commission would be composed of representatives from each jurisdiction, among others, and would have the task of creating, revising and implementing a regional plan to create more housing for the extremely low-income. 5.
Finalize and implement the BLM-HUD Land Disposition regulations whereby Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land is made available to local jurisdictions and housing authorities first, for the development of affordable housing. Action Step II: Encourage Developers to Build Affordable Units.
6-Month Implementation Options
1.
Encourage homeless providers and housing developers to collaborate on a Permanent Housing project and submit a relevant proposal for funding in the annual Homeless Assistance Funds competition of the federal government. 2.
Encourage and assist the development of permanent housing with supportive services by utilizing federal Supportive Housing Program (SHP) funds to "buy down" the cost of HOME/LIHTF/Other Affordable Housing Projects. Commit CDBG, General Funds, or Other financial assistance as a one-to-one match for such SHP funds. 3.
Tailor government requirements such as linkage fees to facilitate more permanent housing. 4.
Design an informational seminar for real estate sales people on the benefits of accepting Section 8 vouchers. These professionals often own private homes, condos and apartment complexes that currently refuse Section 8 vouchers due to myths and fears. 36-Month Implementation Options
5.
Local jurisdictions should waive fees for developers who build affordable housing to expand the number of affordable units available to people at or below 30% of median income. Attach these units to a homeless case management program with a team of experienced case managers. Limit caseloads to 15 families (20 for individuals). Set an objective to provide effective case management to 200 people who are currently homeless. 6.
Increase the production of housing that is affordable to the extremely low-income households that are recently no longer homeless. Set a goal that within two years, 5% of all production of affordable housing in each jurisdiction targeted for those at 30% and below median area income.
