Agenda Packet 5-13-19 Joint Work Session

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Supportive Housing (VASH) units dedicated to chronically homeless Veterans. The VASH units represent roughly 58 percent of the PSH units in Lane County, but homeless Veterans represent roughly 11 percent10 of the homeless population. PSH as a system resource is not “right-sized” within the overall Lane County homeless and crisis response system. This reality has already been recognized by the Lane County Poverty and Homelessness Board, which outlined the need for additional PSH in its five-year strategic plan. The PHB committed to coordinate with service provider partner agencies within Lane County to create an additional 600 units of supportive housing for people who are chronically homeless, including Veterans and youth; those who experience mental illness, domestic violence, and/or drug and alcohol abuse; and those exiting the criminal justice, foster care, and/or child welfare systems.11 Although PSH is a much-needed resource within the system, the PSH resources that currently exist are not fully utilized, with a utilization rate of 87 percent. Similar to the issues in utilization for RRH, this is partly due to difficulties in finding housing opportunities for people with a number of barriers in a market with limited housing stock. Additionally, once households move into housing assisted with PSH, there is very limited turnover within the programs (2 percent annual turnover rate). 9. TENANCY SUPPORTS Tenancy supports and services are any types of support to help a household obtain and remain in permanent housing. Tenancy supports can range from housing search, landlord tenant mediation, case management for budgeting, and assistance in increasing both employment and non-employment income. While case management services do exist within programs, some stakeholders noted that tenancy supports are underfunded and are not available on the scale needed to serve people in PSH and RRH. The 2017 System Performance Measures showed that across the different system interventions, 21 percent of households who exited to permanent housing returned to homelessness within two years.More robust tenancy supports would improve housing-related outcomes across the system. 10 FY18 Lane County Point-in-Time Count. 11 Lane County Poverty and Homelessness Board Strategic Plan 2016-2021. CURRENT HOMELESS SYSTEM FOR SINGLE ADULTS PAGE 9 May 13, 2019, Joint Work Session – Item 1