Housing First Approach / Housing-Focused Services

Strengths

All of Windsor Essex’s shelters see their role as meeting immediate shelter needs with a Housing First approach, but not all have a strong housing focus. The key strengths of Windsor Essex’s emergency shelters related to their Housing First approach and housing-focused services include:

• Participation in services or compliance with service plans (other than those related to a housing search) are not conditions of a stay

• All shelters generally assist with housing searches and applications, conduct triage assessments (VI-SPDATs) with clients early on in their stay, refer to the By-Name Prioritized List (BNPL), and participate in the process of matching people with the most appropriate housing and services

• Housing Information Services’ (HIS) Housing Worker comes into the Salvation Army and family shelter to provide housing support services, which has had substantial impacts on clients’ ability to obtain housing and in turn reduced demand for shelter

• At some shelters the housing-focused importance is emphasized in messaging at entry and there is a start to focus on a “housing plan”

• Some shelters develop individualized housing plans with clients, and provide more intensive assistance if warranted

• Some shelters demonstrate an emphasis on the goal of connecting clients back to housing by prominently displaying information about how to access housing

• One shelter is able to offer 6 months follow-up support after clients leave shelter

• There is coordination between the emergency shelter system and the broader homelessness service system for system planning

Gaps

There are some gaps in the alignment of existing shelter services with best practices in a Housing First, housing-focused approach:

• All shelters offer housing search support, but not all shelters have a strong housing-focus or provide progressive engagement to re-gain housing

• Because not all shelters provide 3 meals per day or clients are expected to be out of the shelter during the day, some shelter clients must spend a significant portion of their day trying to get their basic needs met, rather than looking for housing

• Some clients go back and forth between shelters depending on the state they are in, resulting in a lack of continuity of engagement to re-gain housing

• Supports may not be sufficient for some people with intellectual and other disabilities to re-gain housing.