Third Sector works with county and state governments to address the causes of homelessness resulting in increased housing stability and wellbeing of individual and families.
In addressing the complex and intertwined issues of homelessness, substance abuse, criminal justice reform, and economic mobility, our partners are able to provide evidence-based services to their residents. As a result, individuals and families experiencing homelessness are able to receive housing support and wraparound services that meet individual and families needs with the goals of housing stability and improved economic, emotional, and physical wellbeing. Many projects to date have had a specific focus on the interplay between the criminal justice and homelessness systems and providing increased access to ongoing physical and behavioral health services.
Lane County partnered with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development & US Department of Justice in the first Permanent Supportive Housing effort in the county to support formerly incarcerated, homeless Oregonians who are at high risk of recidivating. Led by Homes for Good Housing Agency, Sponsors, Inc. and Lane County Parole and Probation, The Way Home will serve 125 Oregonians struggling with homelessness over the next few years.
Third Sector worked with the County of Santa Clara to launch Project Welcome Home, the first Pay for Success project launched in the State of California. In partnership with Abode Services, a national leader in innovative housing services, the County of Santa Clara intends to serve 150-200 chronically homeless individuals. The program prioritizes outcomes for frequent users of the County’s emergency rooms, acute mental health facilities, and jail.
The Homes Not Jails will serve at least 315 “persistently homeless” adults who have spent between 90 days in emergency shelters in the past year and 364 over the past three years. This population will now receive a high intensity Rapid Rehousing program that includes intensive case management supports.
Lane County, in partnership with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development & US Department of Justice, plans to scale an existing Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program to address the costly and debilitating needs of homeless Oregonians reentering the community from incarceration. Using the Housing First model, Lane County strives to permanently house and provide comprehensive case management to formerly incarcerated individuals in need of housing through a combination of existing Low Income Tax Credit units, Public Housing units and Section 8 vouchers. Project partners seek to fund intense case management services (substance abuse treatment, job training, and mental health services) through a Pay for Success contract with various county and state government partners to demonstrate the lasting impact of permanent housing and supportive service on recidivism, stable housing, and healthcare utilization outcomes.
The effort is led Lane County Homes for Good, the county housing agency overseeing a 3,000-unit Section 8 program and 1,600 units of public housing and project based Section 8 units; Lane County Parole & Probation (P&P), a division of Lane County Administration that oversees +2,500 adult on supervision and related programming; and Sponsors, Inc., the leading community organization in Lane County, providing reentry, housing, and employment services to over 500 clients per year for over 40 years.
Los Angeles County has launched Just in Reach (JIR), a new health-based housing program that will reduce jail recidivism and help end homelessness among people experiencing repeat jail stays. Over four years, JIR will place 300 homeless individuals who are currently in custody within the county jail and who have a mental health and/or substance-use disorder into permanent supportive housing. — This project closed in 2017.
Third Sector, in partnership with Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality (CPI), is helping San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) to gain access to numerous administrative databases to better understand short- and long-term effects of the County’s various homelessness response efforts, specifically the Whole Person Wellness and Project One for All programs. Third Sector and CPI are helping to deploy data insights to improve and embed outcomes in the contracting structure of various homelessness and health initiatives, building the outcomes oriented contracting expertise that will assist in broader agency shifts. San Diego HHSA joins Santa Cruz County’s Human Services Department and Washington State’s Department of Early Learning in Third Sector and CPI's Social Innovation Fund Administrative Data Pilot cohort, which will also include a Learning Community designed to facilitate cross-site collaboration and technical/process training around data analysis and deployment.
The Homes Not Jails will serve at least 315 “persistently homeless” adults who have spent between 90 days in emergency shelters in the past year and 364 over the past three years. This population will now receive a high intensity Rapid Rehousing program that includes intensive case management supports. — This project closed in 2017.
Project Welcome Home is the first Pay for Success project launched in California. In partnership with Abode Services, the County of Santa Clara intends to serve 150-200 chronically homeless individuals that are frequent users of the County's emergency rooms, acute mental health facilities, and jail. Abode will provide chronically homeless individuals with access to community-based clinical services and permanent supportive housing using evidence-based Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and a Housing First approach. These services are designed to end the participants’ homelessness, increase income, and provide increased access to ongoing physical and behavioral health services.
Cuyahoga County launched the first family homelessness and child welfare project in the nation, known as the Partnering for Family Success Program. The Partnering for Family Success Program began implementation in early 2015. The program aims to reduce the length of stay in out-of-home foster care placement for children whose caregivers are homeless. A confluence of factors including substance abuse and mental illness make it difficult for these caregivers to secure stable housing that empowers them to successfully complete their case plan with the County’s child welfare system and build a safe home environment for their children.