Metro Detroit’s Metro Detroit’s Community Summit on Community Summit on

Ending HomelessEnding Homeless

Supportive Housing OverviewSupportive Housing OverviewCobo Hall Nov. 16, 2004Cobo Hall Nov. 16, 2004

The ProblemThe Problem

Chronic HomelessnessChronic Homelessness

Detroit has a very visible and costly homelessness problem. Statewide, more than 40,000 people sleep in homeless shelters every night, over 10,000 in Detroit alone. In contrast, Detroit has a shelter bed inventory of only 4,763.

Costs to DetroitCosts to Detroit

High Cost to Public Systems: Unhoused people use the highest-cost public systems: emergency rooms, hospital psychiatric beds, detoxification centers, residential treatment programs and jail cells. This places a huge burden on systems for which taxpayers foot the bill.

Hurts Employers & Workers: Unreimbursed medical care for unhoused people and families costs healthcare systems millions annually, losses subsidized by higher business premiums increasingly shifted to workers, driving down local wages.

Costs to DetroitCosts to Detroit

Deters Investment: Visible concentrations of un-housed people hurt economic development as potential developers pass on areas that have no plan to address the problem

Reduces Workforce Competitiveness: Children of un-housed families have no stable home, cycle from one school to another, underperforming academically, reducing the competitiveness of our future workforce.

The Solution: Supportive The Solution: Supportive HousingHousing

Permanent, affordable housing with supportive services enables families and individuals to live independently and lead successful lives.

Supportive Housing saves public money by shifting resources from costly emergency services toward cost-effective, long-term solutions

A Housing and Service Delivery Innovation

What is Supportive What is Supportive Housing?Housing?

It is NOT a shelter, transitional housing or a treatment program.

What are its essential features?  It is permanent housingServices are voluntary Tenants have same rights and obligations of tenants in market housing

Why Supportive Housing?Why Supportive Housing?

250,000 Americans experience long-term homelessness, measuring their homelessness in months and years, not days

For decades communities have been forced to create an industry to “manage” homelessness, not address the underlying causes

Emergency and institutional systems are significant sources of care and supportInstitutions and systems of care are discharging people with disabilities into homelessnessGovernment is spending hundreds of millions of dollars per year yet homeless rates are growing

Why Supportive Housing?Why Supportive Housing?

Supportive Housing is Supportive Housing is for People Who:for People Who:

Are living on the streets or in shelters for extended periods of time

Cycle through institutional and emergency systems and are at risk of long term homelessness

Are being discharged from institutions and systems of care

Cannot access and make effective use of treatment and supportive services in the community without housing

Supportive Housing TypesSupportive Housing Types

Dedicated buildings Rent-subsidized

apartments Mixed-income

buildings Long-term set asides Single family homes

Results of Supportive Results of Supportive HousingHousing

57% emergency room visits1

85% emergency detox services2

50% incarceration rate3

50% in earned income and

40% in rate of participant employment when employment services are provided

More than 80% stay housed for at least one year4

1 Supportive Housing and Its Impact on the Public Health Crisis of Homelessness, CSH, May 2000

2 Analysis of the Anishinabe Wakaigun, September 1996-March 1998

3 Making a Difference: Interim Status Report of the McKinney Research Demonstration Program for Homeless Mentally Ill Adults, 1994

4 See note 1 above

U. Penn. study of 5,000 mentally ill homeless people in New York:

Supportive housing created an average annual savings of $16,000 per person, per

year, by reducing use of public services

National MomentumNational Momentum

New federal, state and local investments

U.S. Conference of Mayors 10-Year Plans to End

Homelessness Interagency Council on

Homelessness Ending Long-term Homelessness

Services Initiative (ELHSI)

Opportunities for Detroit Opportunities for Detroit Developers and InvestorsDevelopers and Investors

Technical and financial assistance for supportive housing projects

Intermediaries that can assess the strengths and weaknesses of projects including underwriting expertise

Help to secure and leverage funding

Analysis of development and operating budgets and service plans

Help build community support

Advocacy support around the policy issues relating to supportive housing

Opportunities for Detroit Opportunities for Detroit Developers and Developers and

InvestorsInvestors

Supportive Housing in Supportive Housing in DetroitDetroit

DevelopmentsDevelopments

Harwill Manor – City of Detroit

Wayne County

13th District

Wyoming/Joy Apartments – Detroit

Wayne County

13 District

DevelopmentsDevelopments

Harrington Apartments – City of Detroit

Wayne County

13th District

Willshire Building – City of Detroit

Wayne County

13th District