HUD Funded Programs

Community Healthlink has a total of 16 HUD funded programs and serves a population of homeless people and families that tend to be in the more complex type of issues. They serve people with severe mental health problems, drug and alcohol addictions, chronically homeless, and adult individuals. CHL is one of the few agencies that focus on serving this challenging demographic.

In order to help these people, services must be very large part of the programs. However, HUD has recently begun providing less funding for service-heavy programs and more funding to programs with the greatest numbers of housing units. Housing is now a higher priority than services.

Many issues have arisen in terms of funding these programs, mostly from the definition of success for a program by HUD. Different programs have different goals. For example, the goals of many transitional programs are to get people into permanent housing and employment to support themselves. But, programs such as CHL work with clients that have medical issues such as psychotic disorders that will prevent them from ever getting employed. Success for these individuals is remaining in permanent housing. Leah M. Bradley, the CHL director of Housing and Program Development, explains that “employment is not a good indication of success, the expectation of a high rate of employment is unreasonable when you are serving a population of people with severe disorders”.  The HUD definition focuses on the percentage of people who become employed rather than the population being served by a program. The HUD definition now ranks agencies nationally and applications are scored based on employment rates. This is going to change the amount of funding agencies receive, and thus, agencies will begin to only serve the individuals with the most potential for employment.

Leah Bradley feels that Community Health Link programs work because they are open to adaptation. If a program doesn’t work, it needs to be redesigned with individuals needs in mind. “I believe that you need to change services to meet your client’s needs, and this agency supports that and fosters an atmosphere that allows us to restructure programs. Changing programs prioritizes the client’s needs”.

HEART: Homeless Emergency Access and Response Team

The HEART program is a group of 6 case managers that work quickly to triage clients and get them into immediate housing. This team is crucial to finding services immediately. This emergency response team connects people to internal CHL programs as well as offers supported referrals, making phone calls with the client to inquire about placement into outside services. The goals of this program are immediate connection for the client to services.

HIV Supportive Housing

This supportive housing is a total of 34 units, including 10 family units and 14 units for individuals. There are 4.5 case managers that manage these units. It is scattered site housing for any HUD defined homeless individuals with HIV documentation. Individuals must have at least 3 months of sobriety. There is a nurse, a mental health clinician, and part time program director and alcohol/ drug abuse counselor. This is permanent housing, with only about 2 or 3 units turning over each year.     This supportive housing is critical to a community. There is no affordable housing available and subsidies are very hard to obtain. The HIV community has needs that require services, which is why supportive housing is necessary. Leah Bradley argues that another reason this program is so necessary is because adult homeless individuals have fewer programs and services open to them than any other group of homeless people. In addition, very few programs serve HIV patients. There is no state agency that is designed to help them, and they are not a priority. The HIV Supportive Housing program is designed to keep people in stable housing and provide access to a nurse.

Homelink

The Homelink program is made up of 12 scattered site individual units for individuals who have suffered an alcohol or drug addiction and are making a commitment to recovery. An individual has to be sober for some time, approx. 30 days. There is not a lot of eligibility requirements, just that clients must be HUD defined homeless and in recovery. There is a full-time case manager that checks in frequently with clients.     The scattered site housing is more effective with this demographic, people who are in this early stage of recovery are more successful when separated from other individuals who are in recovery. This keeps people from being contaminated by relapses of others, and keeps the addiction out of mind.     The goals of the program are for individuals to learn life skills, use the services provided in order to become employed and become self- sufficient. This can take years, but CHL keeps close tabs and is persistent in helping people reach this point. This program has little turnover, most individuals stay for 2 or 3 years. It has a very high success rate, with 75% of all clients leaving the program into permanent housing. The Homelink program takes people from addiction, through holding permanent housing.

North County Supportive Housing Program

In order to enter the Supportive Housing Program, individuals must be HUD defined homeless and have documentation of severe mental illness. There are 4 individual units and 2 family scattered site units that provide case management and life skills programming. The housing is permanent and has a very high success rate of keeping individuals in permanent housing. Annually, none or one unit will turn over. While very few individuals in the North County Supportive program are employed, the success comes with keeping them safe and in permanent housing.

Oasis House

The Community Health Link Oasis House program on Chadwick St. is an 8- bed transitional housing program for the mentally ill. The program predominantly serves clients that are chronically homeless and severely mentally ill.

Greenhouse

The Greenhouse program is a 30 bed house where each client has their own bedroom, but is congregate living. 10 of the beds are HUD funded, permanent housing, 10 are Department of Mental Health funded, and 10 are community beds. This program is for males only, specializing in dual diagnosis, substance abuse, and mental illness. There are many supportive services. The clients in this program are closely supervised to help in recovery. The 10 HUD beds have 5.5 case managers, giving personal attention to individuals.

Worcester County Leased Housing

This is a housing only program, where rent subsidies are provided, and individuals are placed in and receive services from other CHL programs as well as outside programs. There are 71 units in Worcester County, 40 in Leased Housing for the chronically homeless, a total of 111 units. Rent is subsidized as long as clients remain in the services.