What Is a Continuum of Care?
NCCEH has created a two-page document explaining the structure, roles and functions of the Continua of Care. Read the pdf version here.
Articles
Hospital Partnerships: A Win-Win Under SOAR
The SOAR initiative is a federally funded partnership (HHS, HUD) that seeks to assist adults who are homeless to apply for SSI/SSDI, which generally provides health insurance as well. SOAR involves a comprehensive approach that includes training for community and hospital staffs in the intricacies of the SSI/SSDI application process and ensuring that approved individuals receive health insurance, treatment, and other services to begin recovery. This initiative is a “win” for all medical providers, including hospitals, as services and medications are then covered under Medicaid or Medicare, depending on the disability benefit received. Read the full description here.
Hospital Summit Materials
On June 29, 2009, NCCEH hosted a summit for hospital leadership on "Increasing Successful Outcomes While Decreasing Costs: Hospital Partnerships to End Homelessness." Agenda and Presentations: Summit Agenda: view pdf Richard Cho, Corporation for Supportive Housing - "Current Research: Costs and potential cost savings associated with healthcare for frequent users who are homeless": view ppt Lori Pacura, Mount Sinai Medical Center - "Model of Success: Chicago Housing for Health Partnership": view ppt Brooks Ann McKinney, Raleigh Rescue Mission - "Homeless Mental Health Respite": view ppt Denise Neunaber, NC Coalition to End Homelessness - "NC SOAR: Success Through Outreach, Access and Recovery": view ppt Additional Resources: From the Corporation for Supportive Housing: Frequent Users of Health Services Initiative fact sheet: view pdf "A Dollars and Cents Strategy to Reducing Frequent Use of Hospital Services": view pdf Press …
The Cost Effectiveness of Supportive Housing: A Service Cost Analysis of Lennox Chase Residents
This report provides an assessment of the cost effectiveness of supportive housing provided by the Lennox Chase development in Wake County. Lennox Chase is a Low Income Housing Tax Credit housing complex for individuals with low incomes, many of whom were formerly homeless. The complex was developed by DHIC. The development provides 36 efficiency apartments, each with a kitchen, bath, bedroom, and living area. Each apartment is designed for single room occupancy. All residents pay rent which is based on the individual’s income. The complex opened in 2003. This analysis identifies a number of potential benefits of supportive housing. One benefit is stability. More than half of the residents interviewed have been living in the complex for more than three years. Case management and crisis management services are provided by an onsite social worker. Read the full …
Life Skills 101 Training Materials
On April 2, 2009, LaKasha Fredlaw of Wake Co. Human Services provided a training for caseworkers on life skills and money management. Presentations and Handouts: "Money Matters" PowerPoint presentation: view pdf "To Your Credit" PowerPoint presentation: view pdf "Ready to Rent" PowerPoint presentation: view pdf Life Skills Budget Sheet: view Excel doc Monthly Expenses (Budgeted vs. Actual) Worksheet: view pdf NAEH's Step-by-Step Guide to Better Life Management: view pdf Other Information: FDIC: Money Smart Education Program website Casey Life Skills website Ready to Rent - address inquiries to: Ready to Rent c/o Say That!, LLC 16055 SW Walker Rd. #444 Beaverton, OR 97006 503-891-0476 info@readytorent.org
2008 Shelter Survey Report
In March, 2008, Uptown Shelter Director and NCCEH Board member Carson Dean sent a survey to 136 homeless shelters across North Carolina. The goal was to gain some collective insight regarding the challenges service providers were facing with discharges from mental health facilities, medical hospitals, and prisons. For the purpose of this survey, the term “shelter” meant any emergency, transitional, or day shelter. In return for their candor, those surveyed were assured that they would not be identified, thus there is no list naming the shelters participating in this survey. This report does identify the communities (city/county) representing survey responses received. For participating in the survey, providers were offered nothing in return except receipt of the final report. Read the final report, "Discharge Planning Challenges Facing North Carolina's Homeless Shelter Providers," here.
Stopping the Revolving Door Training Materials
NCCEH hosted three trainings on "Stopping the Revoving Door: An Honest Conversation about Institutional Discharge into Homelessness" in April and May of 2008. The materials from the training are posted below. "HUD Definitions of Homelessness" Powerpoint presentation: view pdf "Discharge Planning from the State Psychiatric Hospitals" Powerpoint presentation: view pdf "Re-Entry from Prison to Home" Powerpoint presentation: view pdf "Discharge Planning from the Shelter Perspective" Powerpoint presentation: view pdf South Wilmington Street Center discharge planning guide: view pdf Raleigh Rescue Mission Community Medical Respite Program referral form: view pdf
Homelessness affects hundreds in NC county
GREENSBORO, N.C. — For two months last fall, the Coltrane sisters had no place to call home. They lived with friends, at a motel and briefly at a house with no stove or bathroom floor. Those were trying times for 15-year-old LaRicó Coltrane, her older sister, Chantel, 17, and the youngest, 8-year-old Kashayia. "We'd all be quiet, and Momma would be like, 'Say something, say something. We're all in this together,' " LaRico said. "And we'd all start crying because we didn't know what to say." The News & Record of Greensboro reported they were not alone. More than 930 students in Guilford County schools are homeless, according to documents filed with the system. And school officials fear the number actually is much higher than that. Terri Sims-Warren, a veteran social worker at Smith High School, estimates that 200 students …
One family truly thankful for the roof over their heads
BRUNSWICK COUNTY | After living in a camper doomed for the dump, Tina Mattoon is thankful she doesn’t have to sleep next to the toilet anymore. That’s because on Tuesday, she moved into a three-bedroom mobile home with her four daughters. Even with no food, this Thanksgiving will be one to remember. And now, she can choose from two bathrooms. With doors. “I’m happy to be in a home,” said Mattoon, who became homeless when her roommate kicked her and her children out. “I don’t have anything for Thanksgiving, but I have a house. That’s all that matters.” Mattoon, a former waitress-turned-Bojangles’ worker, is part of a growing number of people losing their homes because of the slumping economy. Last year, 67 families were homeless in Brunswick County, said Joe Cannon, executive director of Brunswick Family Assistance Agency, a figure …
Bush program curbs chronic homelessness
WASHINGTON - On a cold January morning in 2001, Mel Martinez, then the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was headed to his office in his limo when he saw some homeless people huddled on the vents of the steam tunnels that heat federal buildings. "Somebody ought to do something for them," Martinez said he told himself. "And it dawned on me at that moment that it was me." So began the Bush administration's radical, liberal -- and successful -- national campaign against chronic homelessness. "Housing first," it's called. That's to distinguish it from traditional programs that require longtime street people to undergo months of treatment and counseling before they're deemed "housing ready." Instead, the Bush administration offers them rent-free apartments up front. New residents, if they choose, can start turning their lives around with the …