Groups take on chronic homelessness

By Jacqueline L. Salmon

Several nonprofit groups and for-profit companies announced yesterday that they have joined forces to try to end the nation's most intractable homelessness cases - the hard-core street people who sleep on grates, live under bridges and often struggle with mental illness and drug addiction.

The nine members of the Partnership to End Long-Term Homelessness said they have committed $37 million to help spur the creation of 150,000 units of specialized housing in the next 10 years for the chronically homeless.  They acknowledged, however, that much more money would be needed to reach their goal.

The "long-term" or chronically homeless, the most visible, constitute 10 to 20 percent of the homeless, according to advocacy groups.  Often suffering from mental illness, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and physical disabilities, they frequently cycle through jails, hospitals and detoxification programs at enormous costs to governments. 

About 150,000 to 250,000 people and 30,000 families are considered chronically homeless, said Nan Roman, chief executive of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, one of the groups that will receive funding from the partnership.

"Most shelters can't help them," she said at a news conferences yesterday announcing the initiative. 

Instead, coalition participants said yesterday, they want to increase the supply of "supportive housing" programs, which move street people into permanent housing where they can get treatment and help with finding a job.

In recent years, studies have found that it is a cost-effective way to keep those who can't seem to stay off the streets in homes.

Yesterday, Carla Javits, chief executive of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a member of the coalition, said an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 units of supportive housing for the homeless are available nationwide.  "A lot of groups have been doing this, but there is not enough," she said.

It costs about $13,000 a year to provide services to a resident of supportive housing, Javits said. But studies have shown that hospital visits, jail time and detox time fall dramatically for such residents.

"It's very clear that with supportive housing, people are able to live healthy lives and use fewer resources," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is contributing $1 million to the effort.

Other foundations contributing $1 million each include the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.  Deutsche Bank and Fannie Mae Co. also are putting in $1 million each.

But partnership members said the sweeping program will cost far more than the private sector can pay -- a concern in an area of government cutbacks.  They said they will push federal, state and local governments to reallocate money from other programs for the homeless into supportive housing programs as well as increase overall funding.

The partnership has the support of the Bush administration.  Yesterday, Philip Mangano, who directs the administration's Interagency Council on Homelessness, praised the initiative, saying it matched the efforts his organization is making in cities across the country.

Such housing programs are increasing in the Washington area.

The District's Housing First Initiative, launched in April in partnership with a D.C. nonprofit, Pathways to Housing, has enrolled 33 people and expects it to enroll an additional 42 in the next six months.  The city places the homeless in subsidized housing, and Pathways provides a team of specialists -- social workers, employment specialists, counselors and addiction experts -- who are available to them round-the-clock.

Martha B. Knisley, director of the city's Department of Mental Health, said she is pleased with the results and wants to expand it.  "Our goal is to continue to move in that direction," she said.