Rapid Re-housing Is Crucial to Ending Homelessness in New Jersey
learn more about Rapid Re-housing as a best practice model
We found in Governing Magazine an article that underscores the crucial role that rapid re-housing must play in our efforts to end homelessness. To read the full article click here.
New Jersey is in the midst of implmenting various rapdid re-housing programs. We can all learn from the successes across the country.
The article highlights Hennepin’s Rapid Exit Program:
Talk to homelessness advocates long enough, and they’ll inevitably mention the same place: Hennepin County, Minn., which adopted a re-housing approach for families before just about anyone else. While New York’s Housing First model initially focused more on homeless individuals who required ongoing care for disabilities or chemical dependencies, Hennepin’s Rapid Exit Program, first implemented in 1993, was targeted on homeless families from the beginning. The county designed the program by interviewing families in homeless shelters and asking what factors were keeping them from moving into their own home. In most cases, it was a purely economic barrier, says Marge Wherley, the county’s supervisor for housing and homeless initiatives, adding that they were staying in shelter long enough to save up the $2,000 needed to move into a new place – for things such as a security deposit, moving costs and first and last months’ rent. “We were spending $9,000 [to keep them in shelter] so they could save up $2,000,” she says. “It didn’t make sense.”
So the county began targeting funds toward helping families get over those initial obstacles to renting a home. But there was more to it than that: The families reported that landlords were refusing to rent to them, screening them out over concerns that previously homeless tenants were too risky. The solution? Make the landlords a better offer. Hennepin pledged to take care of any problems during the first six months of a tenancy. “We told the landlords, ‘If the rent is late, you don’t have to deal with it. Call us,’” says Wherley. “‘If there’s damage, noise complaints, fights, anything – call us. We’ll even pay for the court costs if you need to evict someone.’”
The landlords came around. With the county’s backing, the homeless families suddenly became relatively desirable tenants. A full 95 percent of them stayed in housing without returning to shelter during at least the first year, Wherley says. “One landlord told us he got into this because he thought it was the socially responsible thing to do, but it ended up being the best business decision of his life.”
Today, Hennepin’s Rapid Exit Program has revolutionized the way the county manages its homeless population, even as that task becomes a bigger challenge. Last year, Hennepin County saw a 25 percent increase in the number of people entering shelters, but their average length of stay actually went down. “That’s totally because of Rapid Exit,” says Wherley.
In other places, such as Columbus, Ohio, where Barbara Poppe worked on homeless issues for 15 years prior to her federal appointment, re-housing efforts have actually helped prevent family homelessness before it even occurs.Beginning in the late 1990s, Columbus began working with families in need, placing them in independent housing before they ever even entered a shelter. Initially, the city prevented shelter stays about 40 percent of the time. Today, that figure has risen to 60 percent.
