Audio from NAEH workshop available
Guide to transformation available
To read HPRP: Opportunities for Systems Transformation and Sustainability click here.
For additional HPRP Resources click here.
There is an opportunity for a significant shift in how the nation thinks about homelessness. Many communities around the country are moving to a system that places much greater emphasis on housing stability. This paper provides basic steps for using HUD’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) to facilitate this transformation of homeless assistance. Although no community has perfected homeless assistance, these steps have been used in communities to spark the process of transformation.
The transformation to a housing stability approach builds on research and successful community practices, which demonstrate that focusing resources on quickly stabilizing people in housing diminishes the chaos in their lives and enables programs to address their clients’ longer-term services needs. While shelter is a critical form of emergency assistance, it should only be used for crisis. Focusing on housing stability affords greater opportunity for the homelessness assistance and mainstream systems to succeed.
Making housing stability the center of a homelessness system helps bring other mainstream resources to bear, including benefits and cash assistance, supportive services, housing assistance, health care, job training, and food and nutrition services. This emphasis helps spread the responsibility of preventing and ending homelessness across the community, and not just leaving it as the charge of homelessness assistance providers and shelters.
HPRP provides a tremendous opportunity to facilitate this transformation and make lasting improvements to homelessness assistance systems. Communities are already planning how they can use HPRP to implement best practices, build infrastructure, and take a housing stability-oriented approach to addressing homelessness.
Although the funding is a one-time allocation, adopting the strategies described below can increase the sustainability of the programs created by HPRP. Mainstream resources from housing agencies, income and benefits programs, and service providers have the potential, over time, to shoulder more of the burden of stabilizing housing and addressing the service needs of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The increased effectiveness that your community will be able to demonstrate can help build political will for more resources locally and nationally. The strategies below can increase the effectiveness of your system and provide your community with leverage to receive further supports.
Transforming your system to one based on housing stability can seem to be a daunting, abstract task. However, taking the seven steps in this paper can have a transformative impact on homelessness in your community. Each item has already helped reduce homelessness in communities across the country. The National Alliance, the Advocacy Network and other organizations are developing additional materials to help implement these and other strategies.
To read more click here.
