City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2017 07 11

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ON Permanent Supportive Housing The broad challenge of combating homelessness includes many complicated components, including the fact that the condition of homelessness itself often exacerbates or perpetuates specific problems. Sleeping on the street exposes the homeless to danger, incarceration, and/or the court system. The uncertain nature of homelessness can also affect a person's ability to get or keep a job, stay in programs addressing drug or alcohol abuse, properly care for their own health, or have a sense of personal stability. Many chronically homeless individuals experience a disability, which may include mental health or substance use issues. With the above factors in mind, the Housing First model has been identified nationally as a promising strategy for reducing the impacts of chronic homelessness. Housing First clients are provided with affordable housing without special prerequisites or requirements, giving them a dependable home base from which to deal with other needs and challenges. For an example of a local development based on Housing First principles, a 31 -unit "Permanent Supportive Housing" (PSH) project located at 1175 Lee Hill Road opened in November 2014. (The project was funded in part through Worthy Cause II funds.) According to Boulder Housing Partners' first-year report, 75% of the original residents still lived at 1175 Lee Hill after one year. Its residents had access to Medicaid/ Medicare (25 residents); Supplemental Security Income (11 residents); Aid to the Needy and Disabled (7 Residents); and Social Security Disability Insurance (7 residents). Also, 13 partner agencies provided a wide variety of programs, such as art classes, cooking classes, mental health support, and meals. Building and managing permanent supportive housing is an expensive endeavor, but it saves communities significant amounts of money when considering the costs of serving the same individuals through law enforcement, incarceration, and emergency services. In the first year at the new location, nine residents at the location on Lee Hill were defined as justice system "high utilizers;' and were challenged with significant mental health and/or addiction problems. At the end of 10 months, however, eight of these nine individuals remained housed. In general, Housing First research suggests that supportive housing significantly lowers emergency services utilization, including interaction with the criminal justice system, for high -need homeless individuals. For example, a recent study in Denver found that it costs an average community roughly $43,300 per year for each chronically homeless person living on the streets, while it costs about $11,700 to house and provide case management for that individual in a Housing First setting. Worthy Cause will continue to support expansion of permanent supportive housing options in Boulder County. In 2015, the Boulder County Housing Authority was awarded $1 million to add five PSH units for individuals and 15 units for families at the Kestrel development in Louisville. In 2016, Attention Homes in Boulder received a $500,000 grant for supportive housing units for youth. In both 2016 and 2017 $500,000 were set aside for permanently supportive housing in Boulder County, for project(s) that were not identified at the time of this report. All studies and statistics aside, at its base, permanent supportive housing provides human beings the dignity of a stable living environment and an opportunity to build a better life. 9 Boulder County Worthy Cause 111 14