SOAR Initiative

On Monday and Tuesday, January 22-23, Durham County was the first of the three Triangle Counties to complete SOAR Training. SOAR stands for SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery and it is a program sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration.

Data suggests that:

• 39% of people who are homeless are estimated to be eligible for disability benefits due to mental illness.
• 46% of people who are homeless are estimated to be eligible for disability benefits due to physical health conditions.
• Only about 10-15% of people who are homeless are receiving benefits.
• Only 37% of all people who apply for SSI are approved upon initial application and it is believed that for those with out a home or how have mental illness it is lower.

The SOAR Technical Assistance Initiative builds on the work started in Maryland where the number of those recommended for disability has resulted in a 95% approval rate the first time out. The training completed by Durham service providers on Monday and Tuesday demystifies the SSI/SSDI system and encourages front line case workers to take a lead in helping clients through the system. The model encourages human service providers to focus on the initial application and complete documentation in such a way that you eliminate the need for consultative exams. Clinical staff develop medical summary reports that are co-signed by psychiatrists or physicians.

Point In Time Count

The federal government, in order to receive federal funds, requires communities across the country to count the number of people who are homeless. This occurred Wednesday, January 24, 2007. Wednesday night, I went out with one of the five teams in Raleigh. It is always a humbling experience to talk with these folks who are homeless and listen to their stories. Three of those I talked directly to were between 23 and 25. One young man and woman had been on the streets the last six months. They were a couple who did not want to be separated and chose to be on the streets instead. The other 25 year old young man had been on the streets off and on for five years. His current means of transportation was a bicycle with a flat rear tire.

Later in the evening we met a couple of guys that were in a camp. They were chronically homeless, drunk and trying to stay warm next to the fire they had. So often we are quick to blame these individuals for their current state, making assumptions that the system of mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and physcial health care were adequate and assessible to enough to meet the needs of these two gentlemen.

I was also struck by the number of places we came across that were clearly where people were staying, but they were not "at home" when we went by. This is the problem with trying to count those on the street who are homeless in one evening; you undercount the number of people.

Triangle United Way will be hosting a regional press conference on February 13 at 3 pm at Highland Village in Cary, NC. The press conference will release the numbers, including the trends we have seen over the last few years, of people who are counted during the Point In Time Count

MLK's Day On, Not A Day Off

Monday was MLK Day and Triangle United Way organized volunteer work days for agencies across the Triangle. The signature event in Orange County was a book drive for two Triangle United Way member agencies; Interfaith Council for Social Services and Orange Congregations In Mission. Both are members of Orange County's Partnership to End Homelessness. OCIM has a Meals on Wheels Progam that provides meals for senior citizens in Northern Orange County, North Carolina. Their Samaritan Relief Program houses a food pantry and provides emergency assistance for housing costs. IFC provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for persons in Orange County and emergency assistance for those in Chapel Hill-Carrboro.




The book drive started on January 2nd and ended on January 15. On MLK Day, volunteers, including students, sorted books. A few picture were snapped at the book event. Triangle United Way's Board Secretary Dr. Tara Fikes was one of the volunteers. Dr. Fikes is the Director of Orange County's Housing and Community Development Department and provides incredible leadership for the Partnership to End Homelessness. The book drive included a surprise visit from presidential candidate John Edwards and his family.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness released a report yesterday estimating that the number of homeless people across the country in 2005 was 744,313 people. Additional estimates indicate that:

• 56% of those were in shelters of some sort, while 44% were unsheltered.
• 59% of homeless people counted were single adults and 41% were persons living in families
• 23% were considered chronically homeless.

Red Tents in Paris

A recent article from the Christian Science Monitor described an effort by Parisians to bring awareness to the situation of homelessness throughout the country. The efforts spread throughout the country and the French government increased the support to homeless programs from $11M to $92M.

Update on Durham's 10 Year Results Plan to End Homelessness

1. Durham Affordable Housing Coalition was chosen by the plan’s Executive Team to implement the plan.

DAHC has a long history in Durham County as a nonprofit agency that focuses on affordable housing and homelessness. Some highlights of the application that we want to share with the entire Executive Committee include:

• History of partnering and coordinating throughout the community, including nonprofit homeless service providers, The Durham Center and the Department of Social Services;
• Raising over $17.5 million for housing and homeless services within Durham
  Leadership in the 10 year planning effort
• Currently the coordinators of the Point-in-Time count and Continuum of Care application (2 deliverables that are required by the contracting agency)
• Able to match some funding with current public support
• Concrete staffing plan
• Reasonable budget
• Eager to move forward and define deliverables with the Executive Team

Discussion at the January Executive Team started with concerns associated with the fact that there is not a public official in Durham City or County who is the “champion” of the plan and whether or not it would be more beneficial to locate the implementation of the plan within a City or County Department. Those who historically been part of providing homeless services reminded the Team that this was the most government involvement in this issue to date. In addition, the opposing concern was that if you located it either in the city or the county that it would then default to being that particular government body’s problem. It was agreed that it was important to have an outside agency to build both grassroots momentum for the plan and be supported by both the City and County. The Executive Team come to consensus that the contracting agency should be the Durham Affordable Housing Coalition.

2. Durham Representatives attended the NC Leadership Summit on December 13-14

Those attending: Reverend Herb Davis, Melva Henry, Lloyd Schmiedler, Cora Cole-McFadden.
Some highlights included:

• Chris Allers, Executive VP from United Way of Atlanta, shared experiences after three years of having a 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, reminding the group that it took nearly three years for results to be seen.
• City of Knoxville representatives and Lansing, MI marketing firm talked about important ways of working with the media and educating the media in order to make 10 Year Plans a priority.
• City of Portland, OR and Knoxville, TN discussed methods for sustaining the momentum of the 10 Year Plans, including the use of Project Homeless Connect. Project Homeless Connect is a model that brings all providers together in one central location for one day so that homeless individuals and families can easily move through the system.
• Phillip Mangano, US Interagency Council on Homelessness discussed the common elements in the most successful plans.

3. Durham County is selected to participate in the SOAR training

It is estimated that 39% and 46% of people who are homeless are eligible for disability benefits because of their mental illness or physical health condition, respectively. However, only 10-15% of people who are homeless are receiving disability benefits. Durham and Johnston Counties have been selected to serve as additional training sites for SOAR. (SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery Technical Assistance Initiative). Durham’s training will take place on January 22 and 23. Results from initial pilot testing of this intervention demonstrates that with active participation from homeless service providers, outreach workers, and others who are working directly with homeless people, you can increase the first time approval rate for disability to 65% (almost twice the national average for all applicants).

4. Durham to apply for $3,000 Technical Assistance from the State of NC

North Carolina’s Interagency Council for Coordinating Homeless Programs has issued an RFP to provide communities who are working on 10 Year Plans to apply for up to $3,000. This is the first support from the State of NC for homelessness. The money will be used in Durham County to

a. Provide PIT data to the State of NC
b. Provide data on the number of homeless school age children to the State of NC
c. Provide an unduplicated annual census of the number of chronically homeless individuals in the community.
d. Complete an annual assessment of activities that support the implementation of the 10 year planning effort in the local community.

5. Community Assistance Database/Homeless Management Information System

In 2000, Congress required that any community receiving Supportive Housing Funding through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development must provide the government with an unduplicated count of the number of homeless people each year. Durham homeless providers began working with the Durham County Department of Social Services who was developing a Community Assistance Database for clients receiving assistance. Durham County’s IT Department designed the CADB to include the necessary data elements to meet the obligations required by HUD. To date there are a limited number of community partners accessing this web based application. Individuals will be submitting a mini-grant to the RBA program in order to bring two of the largest providers Urban Ministries and the Durham Rescue Mission onto the county system. At this point, both organizations have databases whose platforms are inconsistent with the CADB/HMIS and the support will be used to bring those two organizations onto the system.