Innovative Rent Assistance

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City of Portland Bureau of Housing Community
Development
Innovative Rent Assistance Preventing Ending
Homelessness Replicable Models
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Conference July 2006
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Heather Lyons City of Portland, Bureau of Housing
and Community Development421 SW 6th Ave., Suite
1100Portland, OR 97204503-823-2396 Evaluator
Transitions to Housing Program Thomas L. Moore,
Ph.D. Herbert Louis, LLC PO Box
304 Wilsonville, OR 97070-0304 503-625-6100
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Portlands Experience

• Advocates push for rent assistance
• Transitions to Housing (T2H) Program - 2001
• Outcomes bring and support
• Short Term Rent Assistance Redesign (STRA)
• Adapting the Model for Chronically Homeless Key
  Not A Card - Fall 2005

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Flexibility Key to Model

• Collaborative decisions on core elements
  (eligibility, subsidy limits options,
  follow-up, outcome measures and data design)
• Support independence of agencies
• Outcomes Funding
• Adapt as needed

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T2H - Purpose
To provide flexible and outcome focused rent
assistance to use as a tool to 1) Prevent
families and individuals from experiencing
homelessness AND 2) End the experience of
homeless by placing people quickly into
permanent housing
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T2H - Project Features

• Diverse partnering agencies
• Flexibility and timeliness of assistance
  service package
• Standardized evaluation protocol, outcome goals
  and follow-up intervals
• Limited regulations and prompts to spend more and
  help out for more time
• Adapts to fit agency mission capacity

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T2H - Eligibility

• Homeless, or at an immediate risk of being
  homeless, or living in unsafe conditions
• Gross family income 20 (now 30) or less than
  Area Median Income
• Residing or planning to reside within a
  geographic limit
• Currently not residing in subsidized housing

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T2H - How it works

• Application move-in fees
• Security deposits
• Rent/Mortgage subsidy (lump sum, tiered, tapered,
  or constant)
• Payment of housing-related debt to eliminate
  barriers to permanent housing
• Generous Max subsidies by unit size

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T2H - Evaluation Protocol

• Common dataset across all agencies with ongoing
  group evaluation meetings
• Enrollment six, twelve, and eighteen-month
  follow-up and case closing data collected by
  providers
• Follow-up waves based on date of enrollment
• Case closing based on final payment of rent
  assistance

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T2H - Findings

• 1749 households enrolled since inception of
  program through June 30, 2005
• 73 adult households 27 families with kids
• 25 of the primary clients have a past felony
  conviction or they were on parole or probation at
  enrollment
• 1,250 average expenditure per HH

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T2H - Findings - Overall Outcomes as of June 30,
2005

• 80 permanent housed at 6 months
• 73 permanent housed at 12 months
• 65 permanent housed at 18 months

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T2H - Lessons Learned

• Data captured in evaluation provides information
  on housing instability and secures future funding
• Flexibility with Accountability is key
• Homeless Prevention and Housing First model is
  cost effective and works for multiple populations
  agencies
• Collaboration across diverse agencies provides
  learning opportunities for all

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Adapting the Model

• Short-term rent assistance redesign (STRA)
• Key Not A Card rent assistance to help end
  chronic homelessness

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STRA - Challenge

• 28 different agencies, 6 different funding
  sources, 3 jurisdictions, and 1 housing authority
• Contradictory eligibility criteria and program
  design
• Multiple administrators and processes

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STRA - Process

• Part of 10 Year Plan Systems change activities
• 6 month long community based process
• 6 month long jurisdictional negotiations
• Final selection of administrative entity and
  approval by City Council and County Board of
  Commissioners

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STRA - Process

• Community and Jurisdictional process led to
  agreement on
• Program Model
• Outcomes, Evaluation and Data Collection
• System Supports (i.e., services)
• Allocations Formula
• Unified System and Administrator

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Key Not A Card - KNAC

• Focus on moving chronically homeless people off
  the street and into housing
• Up to 18 months of rent assistance with average
  aid of 8,000 per household
• Flexibility for providers within a Housing
  First framework
• Outcome Focused - 12 month follow-up after end of
  subsidy
• Started October 1, 2005

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KNAC Funding Recipients

• Shelter agency to assist 25 CH women
• Street engagement agency to assist 25 CH
  high-profile street dwellers identified by police
• Multi-service agency to assist 22 CH adults.
• Police select out of the 35 homeless adults with
  highest arrest rate
• Collaborative of 8 agencies to assist 20 CH
  families with kids.

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KNAC - Demographics

• Male -  55
• Female - 45    
• 18-21 - 3
• 22-35 - 16
• 36-54 - 74
• 55 - 7 

• White - 61
• African-Am - 25
• Asian - 3
• Native-Am - 10
• Latino - 1
• 16 children under age 17
• 14 were employed at entry
• 8 veterans     

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KNAC - Outcomes

• 144 people in 119 households have been housed (1
  project starts with transitional housing)
•  of these, 99 people in 74 households have moved
  into permanent housing
• 98.5 remained in stable permanent housing

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Where else could this work?

• Eviction Courts
• Restraining Order Programs
• Corrections - to support families after head of
  household is incarcerated
• Mental Health - outreach/residential programs
• Hospitals
• Community Crisis Lines
• Apartment Associations
• Government Programs (TANF, SSI/D, Unemployment)
• Housing Authorities
• Employers
• Substance Abuse Programs - outpatient/residential
  programs
• Foster Care System
• Head Start programs and Public Schools
• And on, and on, and on

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Thank You
Copies of the Transitions to Housing final
evaluation and Home Again A 10 Year Plan to
End Homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County
are available online at www.portlandonline.com/bh
cd For specific information to help replicate
or adapt T2H, STRA, or KNAC - please contact
Heather Lyons 503-823-2396 or Liora Berry
503-823-2391