1 703-352-5090 partnering for success: how to establish mutually beneficial partnerships between...

1

www.FACETSCares.org703-352-5090

PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS:How to establish mutually beneficial partnerships between housing providers and service providers

2014 Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness Conference: Housing Virginia’s Most Vulnerable

September 22, 2014Abby Dunner, MSW

http://www.facetscares.org/

2

FACETS has been operating in Fairfax County since 1988

Mission: FACETS opens doors by helping parents, their children and individuals who suffer the effects of poverty in Fairfax County. Vision: FACETS envisions a day where everyone has access to adequate and affordable housing and no one is homeless. We seek to engage and educate the community in providing long-term solutions and resources to break the cycle of poverty for our neighbors in need.



3

Between 2013 and 2014 we……

• served 1813 unduplicated individuals across all programs

• housed 194 households across all programs

• worked with over 3,000 community members who volunteered their time in support of our programs to prevent and end homelessness



4

PREVENTING AND ENDING HOMELESSNESS FOR SINGLE ADULTS

FACETS has seven programs aimed at preventing and ending homelessness for single adults:•Singles Outreach – outreach program for single adults

experiencing homelessness•Homeless Healthcare Program – outreach program to

connect single individuals experiencing homelessness with medical and other health-related services

•Hypothermia Prevention and Response Program – emergency winter shelter for single individuals experiencing homelessness

•Community Case Management – prevention and aftercare services•Home Connections PSH Program – 5 units, 10 participants•TRIUMPH PSH Program – 7 units, 9 participants•TRIUMPH II PSH Program – 12 units, 18 participants



5

Housing Fairfax County’s Most Vulnerable• The Fairfax-Falls Church Continuum of Care signed on to the 100K Homes Campaign and organized a successful Registry Week in February 2013. It was at that point that Fairfax County made the commitment to house as many vulnerable,chronically homeless individuals as possible, with agoal of 150 people over the course of 3 years• Fairfax County made the collective decision to devote any new PSH vacancies in existing programs and any newly awarded PSH projects to those who were determined to be especially vulnerable, which is

in alignment with the goals of the 100K Homes Campaign.• In late December 2013, FACETS was awarded the HUD Bonus

Project for a PSH program that consisted of funds for 6 one-bedrooms and 6 two-bedrooms, for a total of 18 program participants. Right from the beginning, FACETS committed to being the first project in Fairfax to be entirely devoted to housing the most vulnerable throughout the entire county.


6

TRIUMPH II – Where Did We Start?• FACETS immediately started calling around to apartment

complexes in the area that were near FMR to see who would be willing to work with our program.

• Not surprisingly, we got a lot of NO’s.• We heard that a complex very near to our office was under

new management and decided to take that opportunity to find out if they would be willing to work with us.

• When we started to get into conversation, it turns out that the property manager had worked with FACETS before at another one of her properties and because of our good reputation, she agreed to talk about leasing some units.

• Due to the property coming under new management, there were many vacancies and as a result, we were able to lease ALL of our units at this complex.


7

TRIUMPH II - How Did We Do It?

• Honesty – both about the population we were intending to house in this program and the potential challenges that mightbe encountered throughout this process• Communication – open and constant communication were, and continue to be, key in establishing and maintaining this partnership• Flexibility – often times there were issues that arose on the end of the property and the best way we found to deal withthese issues was just to be as flexible as possible. • VIP Status – Even though we are tenants who are paying for these units, they are still going out on a limb to partner withus, so we wanted to be mindful of that and treat them as we would a donor or other VIP partner.• ... And a little bit of luck!


8

TRIUMPH II - How Do We Keep It?• It is important to understand that this is a far from perfect

relationship, but we work everyday to do what we can to ensure its ongoing success!

• Communication – the TRIUMPH II Case Manager meets with the property manager and head of maintenance weekly. In addition, the Team Leader checks in with the property directly on a regular basis to provide program oversight and troubleshoot issues that the CM needs help with. Lastly, the complex is a 3 minute drive from the FACETS office, which enables us to respond quickly if there is an emergency.

• Property Management Education – Housing First philosophy• Tenant Education – Good Tenant/Good Neighbor Life Skills classes• VIP Status – we continue to treat this partnership as one of our

highest priorities, making sure to respond to any and all requests promptly and address any concerns as quickly as possible.

• Appreciation – we strive to come up with ways to show our appreciation to both maintenance and the property manager. Most recently, we invited them to join us for a thank-you pizza lunch on us!

• Partnerships – FACETS works with a wide variety of community and County partners, including Gracing Spaces and His Hidden Treasures who furnished all but 2 of our 12 units, and the Fairfax County Health Department and CSBwww.FACETSCares.org

703-352-5090

9

Other Partnerships• Fairfax County still has a long way to go to house all of our

most vulnerable neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. However, we have started to think creatively about ways in which we can continue with this process.

• Most notably, FACETS was able to secure three $25,000 grants from partnering faith communities, two of which were used to create additional Permanent Supportive Housing units that were consequently filled by those off of the vulnerable list. The third grant was split between the Singles Team ($15,000) and the Families Team ($10,000) and was set up as a private rental assistance fund to be used when either local or federal dollars were low or for households who needed the assistance but did not necessarily meet the eligibility criteria set forth by the local or federal programs.

• In order to maintain these partnerships and secure ongoing funding, we submit quarterly progress reports to each faith community that has provided funding, including a spreadsheet of expenditures, narrative about the partnership and the participant, and pictures.


10


11

Continuing to House the Most Vulnerable• Even though the 100K Homes National Campaign officially

ended in July 2014 (103,000+ chronically homeless housed!), the Fairfax 3-year campaign is still running strong.

• At FACETS and across the Continuum, we have adopted the use of the VI-SPDAT pre-screening tool into our assessments to determine eligibility and vulnerability of all individuals experiencing homelessness that we work with. Taking it a step further, we have been successful in getting the VI-SPDAT into HMIS in order to keep an on-going, county-wide registry of our most vulnerable neighbors.

• All notification of PSH vacancies is distributed county-wide, utilizing the VI-SPDAT as one of the application documents. From there, the commitment has been made to accept the most vulnerable individual who is also appropriate for the housing opportunity.


12

THANK YOU!

Questions?

Abby Dunner, MSWTeam Leader, Single Adult Services

FACETS10640 Page Avenue, Suite 300

Fairfax, VA [email protected]

703-352-4943


1 703-352-5090 partnering for success: how to establish mutually beneficial partnerships between...

Documents

program participants

single individuals

single adults facets

ending homelessness

end homelessness

housing fairfax countys

years fairfax county

homelessness conference