Greater Burlington takes step to address homelessness

Sixteen nonprofits, government agencies and other organizations in the greater Burlington, Vt., area have joined to try a different approach to combating homelessness.

It’s the 100,000 Homes program, modeled after a national initiative of the same name and covering the towns of Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski and Colchester. The nation-wide 100,000 Homes program was run by Community Solutions, a national non-profit.

Although the national program is no longer running – it’s been replaced by a new initiative called Zero: 2016 – Community Solutions has established guidelines which the greater Burlington project is now using.

“In a small state that has a considerable amount of resources dedicated to this issue, we never seem to be able to make any progress in the number of people that are homeless,” says Janet Green, Supportive Housing & Homelessness Prevention Initiatives program coordinator at the Burlington Housing Authority. “It motivated me to reach out to Community Solutions and initiate some conversations about how we can change the way we look at this problem.”

The 100,000 Homes template has four steps, the first of which is a commitment to the “housing first” model that places homeless people in permanent housing. In addition to the humanitarian considerations, “housing first” is a sustainable, cost-saving measure. The expense involved with emergency medical and psychiatric care along with placing homeless individuals in motels far exceeds the potential outlay for permanent housing.

Step 2 is the development of a homeless registry. Burlington’s 100,000 Homes project enlisted 74 volunteers to seek out and poll homeless individuals, obtaining information about physical and mental health as well as their housing history and other issues.

From this poll, the most vulnerable individuals were identified and placed on a priority list. Step 3 involves tracking the placement of homeless individuals. The final step is to improve local housing and service systems, effect policy change and involve the community.

In September, Chris Brzovic of AmeriCorps was hired by the Burlington Housing Authority and the United Way of Chittenden County to help organize the homeless registry and serve as project coordinator. Polling for the registry took place Oct. 20-22 and 210 individuals were interviewed.

“It was a very interesting experience,” says Brzovic, who participated in the polling. “We were not just amassing an anonymous collection of data for statistical purposes. There’s a humanizing aspect to getting to know the individuals. This is going to allow us to target our services much more effectively and help with awareness of the issues.”

According to the poll, 60 percent of homeless individuals have a history of substance abuse, 78 percent have problems with mental health and 87 percent have chronic health conditions.

“We identified 62 people on the index as being very vulnerable,” says Martha Maksym, executive director of the United Way of Chittenden County, one of the primary supporters of the project. “We’re trying to make housing available for them.”

Options are available but it’s a complicated process in a tight housing market. Finding physical structures is one challenge, funding is another and supervision of the placed individuals can also be resource-intensive. Federal housing subsidies, state funds and local philanthropy are all potential funding sources. Medicaid eligibility is also a possibility, according to Maksym.

Although the goal is placing two or three individuals per month, there are constraints and parameters so there is no timetable for the project. Regardless, Green says she is “very encouraged by what has developed.”