Rapid Re-housing

STEP 7: RAPID RE-HOUSING

Your community has housing search and housing placement services available to rapidly re-house all people losing their housing or who are homeless and who want permanent housing.


Your community has housing search and housing placement services available to rapidly re-house all people losing their housing or who are homeless and who want permanent housing.

 


One of the primary challenges homeless people face is navigating the housing market. Most communities have a shortage of affordable housing. Consequently, landlords can select the most appealing tenants, many of whom have higher incomes, and require a large sum of cash for a deposit and first and last months rent. There is little incentive for landlords to work with potential tenants who have lower incomes, little savings, credit problems, or unstable housing histories.
Housing placement services can address many of the barriers homeless people face. Effective housing search services often include the following elements:
  • Skilled housing search staff with knowledge of local housing markets and relationships with landlords.
  • Marketing and outreach to landlords.
  • Incentives for landlords to rent to homeless households. 
  •  Assurances to landlords that the housing services agency will assist with landlord/tenant problems. 
  •  Access to subsidies, such as vouchers, for households with extremely low incomes 
  •  Coordination with service providers to ensure that a homeless person’s service needs are met once he or she is in permanent housing. 
  •  Periodic follow-up work to prevent a housing crisis. 
  •  Services to address credit problems.

The skills necessary to effectively place homeless people in private market housing combine those of a realtor and a caseworker. Locating and developing qualified staff is one of the greatest challenges to having an effective housing search and placement system.



Spotlight

Toolkits | December 5, 2012
This is the final of five short modules the Center for Capacity Building has developed on rapid re-housing. Each of these modules succinctly shares best practices from successful rapid re-housing programs and breaks down the basic elements of each approach. This module reviews data and research on rapid re-housing, suggested outcomes, and examples from various communities that have implemented rapid re-housing.  
Audio | February 21, 2008
Annual Federal Budget Briefing held on February 5, 2008.
Audio | August 15, 2006
Experts explored the role of community-based organizations in preventing homelessness.
Audio | August 15, 2006
Experts discuss transitioning from a traditional shelter and transitional housing based system to a Housing First approach.

Library Resources

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Webinar | March 22, 2010
This March 2010 webinar included an overview of Trenton/Mercer County's vision for ending homelessness, the strategies they developed to reduce homelessness, and how they are using both Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) funds and other funding streams to create a comprehensive Housing First system.
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Best Practice | February 23, 2010
This document contains answers to questions asked during the February 2010 webinar, "Adopting a Housing First Approach: Using HPRP and TANF to Re-House Families in Salt Lake City, UT."
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Audio | February 21, 2008
Annual Federal Budget Briefing held on February 5, 2008.
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Conference Presentation | July 10, 2007
Put together a few tenant based vouchers, a consumer oriented service team, a Housing First philosophy, and what do you have? A powerful strategy for ending homelessness for people with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Pioneered by the Pathways to Housing Program in New York, this Housing First strategy has been successfully replicated in dozens of cities. Workshop speakers described some of the challenges they encountered and how they implemented a successful Housing First program targeting chronically homeless individuals.
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Conference Presentation | July 9, 2007
A handful of communities are adopting community-wide Housing First approaches. In these communities, all families seeking shelter are assessed for Housing First services. The adoption of a community-wide Housing First strategy allows for system-wide reductions in shelter demand and targeting transitional and permanent supportive housing resources more efficiently. This workshop featured jurisdictions that have pioneered community-wide Housing First programs.
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Audio | August 15, 2006
Experts explored the role of community-based organizations in preventing homelessness.
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Audio | August 15, 2006
Experts discuss transitioning from a traditional shelter and transitional housing based system to a Housing First approach.