Attachment F - Housing First Certification.pdf

ATTACHMENT

Long Beach Continuum of Care (CoC) Housing First Certification

Project Name

HOUSING FIRST IN THE LONG BEACH CONTINUUM OF CARE

What is Housing First?

Housing First is an approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. Supportive services are offered to maximize housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness as opposed to addressing predetermined treatment goals prior to permanent housing entry.

Core Components of Housing First as Defined by HUD The core features of Housing First in the context of permanent supportive housing models are as follows:

• Few to no programmatic prerequisites to permanent housing entry: People experiencing homelessness are offered permanent housing with no programmatic preconditions such as demonstration of sobriety, completion of alcohol or drug treatment, or agreeing to comply with a treatment regimen upon entry into the program. People are also not required to first enter a transitional housing program in order to enter permanent housing

• Low barrier admission policies: Permanent supportive housing’s admissions policies are designed to “screen-in” rather than screen-out applicants with the greatest barriers to housing, such as having no or very low income, poor rental history and past evictions, or criminal histories. Housing programs may have tenant selection policies that prioritize people who have been homeless the longest or who have the highest service needs as evidenced by vulnerability assessments or the high utilization of crisis services.

• Rapid and streamlined entry into housing: Many people experiencing chronic homelessness may experience anxiety and uncertainty during a lengthy housing application and approval process. In order to ameliorate this, Housing First permanent supportive housing models make efforts to help people experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing as quickly as possible, streamlining application and approval processes, and reducing wait times.

• Supportive services are voluntary, but can and should be used to persistently engage tenants to ensure housing stability: Supportive services are proactively offered to help tenants achieve and maintain housing stability, but tenants are not required to participate in services as a condition of tenancy. Techniques such as harm reduction and motivational interviewing may be useful. Harm reduction techniques can confront and mitigate the harms of drug and alcohol use through non- judgmental communication while motivational interviewing may be useful in helping households acquire and utilize new skills and information.

• Tenants have full rights, responsibilities, and legal protections: The ultimate goal of the Housing First approach is to help people experiencing homelessness achieve long-term housing stability in permanent housing. Permanent housing is defined as housing where tenants have leases that confer the full rights, responsibilities, and legal protections under Federal, state, and local housing laws. Tenants are educated about their lease terms, given access to legal assistance, and encouraged to exercise their full legal rights and

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responsibilities. Landlords and providers in Housing First models abide by their legally defined roles and obligations. For instance, landlords and providers do not enter tenants’ apartments without tenants’ knowledge and permission except under legally-defined emergency circumstances. Many Housing First permanent supportive housing programs also have a tenant association or council to review program policies and provide feedback, and formal processes for tenants to submit suggestions or grievances.

• Practices and policies to prevent lease violations and evictions: Housing First supportive housing programs should incorporate practices and policies that prevent lease violations and evictions among tenants. For instance, program policies consistent with a Housing First approach do not consider alcohol or drug use in and of itself to be lease violations, unless such use results in disturbances to neighbors or is associated with illegal activity (e.g. selling illegal substances.) Housing First models may also have policies that give tenants some flexibility and recourse in the rent payment, which in many subsidized housing programs is 30% of the participant’s income. For example, rather than moving towards eviction proceedings due to missed rent payments, programs may allow tenants to enter into payment installment plans for rent arrearages, or offer money management assistance to tenants.

A Project that operates consistent with a Housing First Approach meets all the criteria below:

1. The project quickly moves participants into permanent housing without requiring additional steps (e.g., required stay in transitional housing before moving to permanent housing) when participant wants assistance moving into permanent housing (If this is a DV Project, project quickly moves program participants into permanent housing after immediate safety needs identified by participants are addressed).

2. The project ensures that participants are not screened out based any on the following:

- Having too little or little income;

- Active or history of substance abuse;

- Having a criminal record with exceptions for state-mandated restrictions; and

- Having a history of victimization (e.g., domestic violence, sexual assault, childhood abuse)

3. The project ensures that participants are not terminated from the program for any of the following reasons:

- Failure to participate in supportive services-not including case management that is for the purposes of engagement only;

- Failure to make progress on a service plan;

- Loss of income or failure to improve income; and

- Any activity not covered in a lease agreement typically found in the project’s geographic area

I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the above- named project follows a Housing First model that cannot place preconditions or eligibility requirements beyond HUD’s eligibility requirements as described in this document.

Signature of Authorized Agency Official Date

Name and Title of Signatory (please print)