Best Practice Models

Homelessness

Beyond Shelters Homeless Families Program
Tracy Scruggs, Associate Director
4032 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 501
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 252-0772

Founded in 1988, the program introduced a new concept in the field of homeless assistance by moving beyond traditional housing, and moving the homeless directly into permanent rental housing. The program also incorporates existing programs, services and institutions that have worked effectively as isolated units but not in concert with one another.

Providing homeless people with shelter is only the beginning of the process of intervention and support. By pulling together existing service providers issues such as poverty, job training, substance abuse and health issues are addressed in an attempt to cure the causes of homelessness and the make the person / families more self-sufficient. A caseworker is assigned to work with each person or family. This person works with the family and designs an individualized transitional plan. It is at this point the social service needs are identified. Each quarter, progress is measured and monitored until the person(s) is no longer at risk of recurrence.

There is not a shelter or a home where the homeless are located. The individuals or families are placed into rental housing in traditional neighborhoods. This is to avoid the stigma that is associated with a traditional homeless shelter. The program believes it is detrimental to the recovery of these individuals if they are thrown in together and labeled as a problem by the community. This method results in more dignity for the person and a chance to live a "normal life". Assistance is offered to the families in finding and obtaining affordable rental housing in neighborhoods of their choice. Assistance is provided in negotiated leases, accessing move-in funds and overcoming poor credit history, prior evictions and discrimination based on ethnicity, family size and unemployment.

The program's impact has been well documented. Since 1989, the program has helped 750 high-risk homeless families stabilize in permanent housing. Approximately 40% of the program graduates have enrolled in additional schooling / vocational training. 28% have obtained employment and 32% have increased their incomes.

Many communities throughout the world have adopted the program. Those associated with the program believe the structure is ideal for adaptation, because it is individualized, and designed to maximize the use of existing services and resources in the community. The program is based on collaboration between non-profits, government and the private sector to create a synergy that can permanently change the lives of people.

The Beyond Shelters program fits within the framework of the goals of LaPorte County especially because of its promotion of cross-agency collaboration and information sharing. By following the methods used by Beyond Shelters, community agencies in LaPorte County stand to increase public satisfaction levels through collaboration. In addition, they can increase the living status of many clients who are homeless, or living in substandard housing.

Transportation

No specific transportation best practice model was identified during the research for this report. LaPorte County poses a unique situation in that there are two separate, but equal transportation concerns: 1) Individual city transportation, and 2) countywide transportation. No program model discovered in the best practices scan related closely to the two-fold problem facing LaPorte County.

Currently, public transportation is available, but does not adequately meet the needs of the county. Listed below are possible solutions or recommendations that may address the various public concerns:

· Extending hours of operation
· Extending service routes
· Providing weekend service
· Adding additional stops
· Making service affordable
· Adding intra-county transportation
· Coordinating existing resources

Expanding existing services and lowering/maintaining fares are the two most practical methods by which LaPorte County might initiate a more effective transportation system. Most other transportation solutions are extremely capital intensive, and most likely could not be supported by the population base of LaPorte County.