HOMELESS SERVICES

PROGRAM MISSION: To shelter individuals and families who are homeless in a safe environment and to provide a range of support services to help them achieve increased income and permanent housing.

• Emergency shelter for single adults is provided at the County-owned Residential Program Center (RPC), which contains 44 beds. The facility is currently operated through a contract that will be rebid in FY 2005. The 30-day program is designed to assist individuals to begin addressing personal problems through required participation in case management, to locate permanent housing, and to find jobs through assistance of the Arlington Employment Center. Persons with disabilities (who may stay more than 30 days) are assisted to achieve income and housing through existing mainstream resources.

• Emergency shelter for battered and homeless women and their families is provided through an agreement with The Arlington Community Temporary Shelter, Inc. (TACTS), which owns and operates two facilities containing a total of 27 beds. The 30-day shelter and case management programs are designed to protect women and their children from abusive living situations and to assist homeless women and families by helping them develop plans leading to safe, self-sufficient living.

• Transitional shelter is provided through an agreement with the Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless, Inc. (AACH), which operates a 50-bed facility in a County-owned building. The 60-day program provides shelter and case management services to homeless families leading to employment, permanent housing, and achieving self-sufficiency.

• Transitional housing is provided through an agreement with the Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless, Inc. (AACH) which operates the Adopt-A-Family Transitional Housing program in scattered site, private apartments for 21 families a year. The program provides rental subsidy and intensive case management services (funded by a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant) to homeless families with children leading to skills and employment which will result in self-sufficiency.

• The Emergency Winter Shelter (EWS) is a 40-bed, seasonal winter shelter (November 1 through March 31) in a County-owned building which protects homeless persons who sleep on the street from the effects of life-threatening cold weather. The shelter is operated through an agreement with the Arlington Street People's Assistance Network. Shelter clients, many of whom have mental illness or substance abuse, are encouraged, but not required, to participate in other County and community services designed to assist them.

• Milestones I and Milestones II Programs are permanent supportive housing programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The supportive service utilizes a "housing first" model to provide on-going assistance in order to maintain the client in the community. Milestones I, which began in FY 2004, provides rental assistance to nine persons who are homeless and have a serious mental illness. Currently there are nine units occupied. In FY 2005 Milestones II provides rental assistance to an additional six persons. HUD requires the administration of the Milestones Program to be carried out by a housing authority; therefore, the expenditures and revenue are included in the Section 8 Housing Program budget.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Non-personnel primarily increases for the RPC food contract ($6,793) and for telephone charges ($4,607).

• Nonprofit expenditures for Title IV-E supported expenses for TACTS and AACH are reduced ($73,800) due to changes in anticipated revenue. In addition, FY 2005 includes $145,000 in one-time LPACAP funding for TACTS that is not included in FY 2006. These reductions are partially offset by increased funding for the RPC ($30,907), TACTS ($6,390), AACH ($10,361) and EWS ($4,639) to fund salary and insurance increases.

• State Share decreases ($145,000) due to one-time LPACAP funding to TACTS.

• Federal Grants decrease ($90,000) based on unrealized Title IV-E reimbursement for TACTS and AACH.

• Other Grant revenue increases due to SHARE Shelter Grant funding based on FY 2005 award.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

• Percent of persons moving to transitional or permanent housing numbers tends to be higher for shelters serving families because there are more transitional housing slots and other subsidized housing supports for families, although there is increasing competition for available affordable housing.

• RPC Eligibility Worker served 22 clients while in training in FY 2004; full service began in FY 2005. Not all clients will be assessed, as some are already employed and ineligible for assistance.

RPC, TACTS, AACH

• Utilization rate refers to the average number of beds occupied per night. Utilization rate varies between shelters depending on configuration of bedrooms. Families are kept together and generally do not share bedrooms with unrelated persons. This results in unused beds and lower utilization rates in family shelters.

• Percent of requests for shelter that are filled is a duplicated count, i.e. the same person calling back will be counted twice, and persons are instructed to call every day until there is an opening.

• In FY 2004 TACTS developed a different method for tracking the number of telephone requests for emergency shelter, which included all family members and a duplicative count of calls; therefore, the number of persons requesting shelter increased and the percentage of requests for shelter that are filled decreased.

• Target numbers are based on internal program performance and experience.

Emergency Winter Shelter

• The shelter is designed to draw street persons who may be unwilling to engage in services; therefore, very limited data is collected.