Challenge
On any given night in America, more than 76,000 American Veterans are homeless, and many more are at risk of homelessness. To implement the Five-Year Plan to End Homelessness Among Veterans, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopted a Housing First and Technical Assistance Services (HFATAS) approach for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program. Housing First is a holistic team strategy for ending homelessness and focuses on immediately providing permanent housing for Veterans, then services needed to address other issues. VA Secretary, Erik K. Shinseki, encouraged and facilitated the rapid deployment of the Housing First model of care in VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) throughout the country.
Solution
The notion of housing as a basic human right informs the Housing First model. It is a highly effective intervention strategy that combines assertive community outreach with a low-demand approach that does not require the usual “housing readiness” conditions of sobriety or full compliance with mental health treatment as a condition of acceptance or continued stay. Housing First provides guidance to VAMC case managers to reduce barriers to receiving housing assistance.
To eliminate homelessness among Veterans, VA implemented the Housing First approach in its HUD/VASH programs. Atlas Research provided advisory, technical assistance, and training services, enhancing the understanding and implementation of the Housing First approach to care in HUD/VASH to help with the efforts to end Veteran homelessness in the Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5).
Result
Atlas partnered with Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) and Pathways to Housing (PTH) to train all HUD-VASH case managers and substance use disorder specialists in adopting the Housing First approach to meet the needs of the Veterans each VAMC serves. Case managers and other specialists collaborated with community workers to assist homeless Veterans find stable housing, then enroll in other HUD-VASH programs. The Housing First model of care has been shown to reduce time to housing placement, significantly increase retention rates, and improve the quality of life for Veterans experiencing homelessness.