First Avenues: Housing Solutions for Families is a project of Hamilton Family Center. We are a San Francisco based organization focused on returning families to independent living and assisting families and individuals maintain their housing.
Click here to Download Designing and Implementing Housing Subsidy Programs presentation by Beth Stokes, Executive Director of Hamilton Family Center, NAEH Conference, Seattle, February 8, 2008.
Click here to Download Home-Based Case Management Services presentation by Aimee Adams, Program Director of First Avenues Program, NAEH Conference, Seattle, February 8, 2008.
STRATEGIC REORIENTATION: Adopting a Housing First Approach
Helping to solve the homeless problem among families with children has been our mission for more than 21 years. Continuing in this tradition, we have now embarked in a new direction. After more than two years of discussion, education and training Hamilton Family Center’s Board of Directors and staff have implemented a new approach to solving the homeless problem among families with children. With a two year grant from the Schwab Foundation in 2005, we were able to “shift gears” and allocate more resources to the goals of preventing families from entering shelter, providing loans to families and individuals in danger of eviction, relocating families to areas where they have family, friends, resources and housing, and working to rapidly re-house families who are in shelter programs. Most of these efforts are part of what Hamilton Family Center considers to be a local interpretation and application of a Housing First philosophy.
The idea of implementing a Housing First philosophy and rapidly re-housing new homeless families in the Bay Area has been challenged by some because of the lack of affordable housing, and the extremely low income of homeless families. Hamilton Family Center believes that part of the solution to this problem is the creation of temporary rental subsidies that motivate families to leave shelters and to increase their income.
After more than two years of discussion, education and training,
Hamilton Family Center’s Board of Directors and staff have
implemented a new program -First Avenues
- Housing Solutions for Families. The program’s
goal is to end family homelessness once and for all.
Helping to solve the homeless problem among families with children
has been Hamilton Family Center’s (HFC) mission for the
past 21 years, and with a recent two-year grant from the Schwab
Foundation, more resources have been allocated to specific pioneering
programs to prevent families from entering shelters. First
Avenues - Housing Solutions
for Families is a new program that takes an innovative
approach to solving family homelessness by, providing loans to
families and individuals in danger of eviction; relocating families
to areas where they have family, friends, resources and housing;
and working to rapidly re-house families who are in shelter programs.
Hamilton Family Center also believes that by creating temporary
rental subsidies through partnerships with the City of San Francisco,
private companies, and foundations, families are motivated to
both leave shelters and to increase their income. This pilot program’s
data will be analyzed and synthesized into a report that will
be used to establish a model of care for homeless families in
San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
First Avenues, and Hamilton Family Center, embrace a
broad definition of family: one and two-parent families (including
same-sex couples) with children; single, pregnant women; expectant
couples; and multi-generational families.
First Avenues Strategies for Year
One:
Divert Families from the Shelter System:
Utilizing existing services and resources, as well as a new mobile
team of housing specialists, quick, hands-on support will be available
to families at risk of loosing housing.
Targeted Assessment for Rapid Re-housing: A Housing Advocate will begin working with families at the front end of the shelter system to immediately identify their unique circumstances to rapidly assist them in their exit from shelter.
Advocacy: Continuing to enhance relationships with property managers and landlords through regular communication and support will increase the network of those interested in working with homeless families.
Direct Financial Assistance: Financial
assistance will be given in four distinct ways: eviction prevention,
grants to help families return home, move-in grants, and temporary
rental subsidies.
Eviction Prevention: The program will
support families in need of eviction prevention
financial assistance (loans or grants) and/or landlord/tenant
advocacy.
Going Home Initiative: Families will
receive direct financial assistance, to return to their original
home.
Move-in Assistance to Promote Rapid Re-housing:
The objective will be to shorten the time families
reside in the family shelter system. Money will be allocated in
direct move-in assistance, to rapidly re-house families who may
have poor credit or a history of eviction.
Temporary Rental Subsidies:
Temporary rental subsidies will be granted for families meeting
specific eligibility criteria.
Facts about Family Homelessness:
- Families with children are among the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, representing 41%.
- Traditional homeless programs do not produce outcomes that meet the primary objective - permanent housing.
- Family homelessness disrupts a child’s schooling and educational development.
- Homeless children are shown to suffer higher rates of mental and emotional problems often perpetuating the cycle of homelessness.