Learning About the Homeless

By Mark Fackler, SDSVP Partner and Board Chair

For people reading this blog entry that have not read my previous entries on the homeless, I encourage you to read Homeless Project Background. It will give you some background on my project. Briefly, I have made a commitment to give $20 each week to a homeless person and minimally ask their name and where they are from.

I have been meaning to summarize my thoughts on the homeless project since Dec 31st. After the year ended, it was strange for me not to have a $20 in my pocket at all times just in case I came upon a homeless person who I think would be interesting to talk to. I am saddened by the plight of the homeless. My views of the homeless have changed from a year ago and they also changed during the year long project. My conclusions follow.

I ended the year with $540 I did not give away. My goal was to give away $20 per week if an only if I could have a conversation with the recipient. So over the course of the year, I had twenty five conversations with the homeless. The homeless I spoke to had the following profile. They all live in La Jolla, California, an affluent area in San Diego County. They are the chronic homeless, men and women, and fifty years old or more. They are generally alcoholics. Some are mentally unstable, but stable enough that I did not feel threatened. They are nice, polite and gracious. They are filthy, weathered and wear pitiful clothes. They smell like alcohol at times. At other times, they smell nauseating.

And of course, they are real people. They are our brothers and sisters, our nephews and nieces. They are our moms and dads, our aunts and uncles. They are our children. They are our neighbors. They laugh. They cry. They bleed. They die. They are you and me.

Over the year as people have followed this project, some have told me that the homeless don’t deserve compassion or help. They tell me that the homeless are lazy. They are drunks and drug addicts. They tell me that to help a lazy drunk drug addict only perpetuates that lifestyle. I can certainly understand that point of view. Clearly there are many homeless who are alcoholics and drug addicts and some forms of help do perpetuate their lifestyle. However, what I found in my year long project is that these chronic homeless, these substance abusers are real people with life stories. So to not help them in inhumane. Please note here that there are many categories of homeless and I am dealing with just one category, the chronic homeless and substance abuser. An often misunderstood category are the homeless who just can’t afford rent for a few months and are evicted. These are often families.

Back to the chronic, substance abuse category, where we are faced with a dilemma. Help them and potentially perpetuate their behavior or don’t help them and loose a bit of our humanity.

How do we show our humanity and help them? I believe the best way is to support homeless is to support the charities that serve them. The homeless need professional help. They need medical attention, substance abuse counseling, job training, food, shelter, legal help and countless other services. If you are in San Diego, I would suggest you donate money to Community Resource Center or Corporation for Supportive Housing. San Diego Social Venture Partners (SDSVP) has vetted and supported both these non-profits. SDSVP considers them top notch organizations that help the homeless. Since I am Chairman of the Board of SDSVP, I decided to give my extra $540 to SDSVP. I like leveraging my charity donations and SDSVP has leveraged my gift for help for the homeless.

I would suggest two other things we can do for the homeless. If you feel safe, say hello to a homeless person. Again, if you feel safe, engage in a conversation. Ask them where they were born. Ask them what their favorite food is. Ask them about their family or where they went to high school. Help them feel like a human being. Be their friend just for the moment. That does not perpetuate an addictive behavior. That perpetuates love and kindness.

Check out Mark's Blog at http://facklerfamily.org

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CSH Supportive Housing Award

By Simonne Ruff, Director of CSH San Diego

For the first time ever, Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) San Diego sponsored a Supportive Housing Award at the San Diego Housing Federation 14th Annual Affordable Housing and Community Development Recognition Awards, with the theme of "Honoring Commitment to Community." This new award is one of the critical elements of a marketing plan that CSH developed in close partnership with SDSVP. The celebration enabled CSH to reach over 400 affordable housing developers, reinforcing our messages about supportive housing in the development community. In fact, CSH was pleased to see the committee couldn’t just decide on one winner. Two Supportive Housing Award winners were recognized at the event: The San Diego Regional Continuum of Care and Supportive Housing developer Kimberly Russell-Shaw.

The San Diego Regional Continuum of Care Council (RCCC) is comprised of broad and diverse social service providers representing local governments, community based organizations, homeless advocates, policy and planning groups, and others interested in lessening the negative impact of homelessness on individuals, families, and communities. The RCCC brought $14.2 million in annual HUD funding to the region and received maximum Shelter Plus Care and Supportive Housing Program funds in 2008. Patricia Leslie, coordinator of the RCCC and social work professor at Pt. Loma Nazarene University, received the award on behalf of the Continuum of Care.

Another deserving award recipient of the CSH Supportive Housing Award was Kimberly Russell-Shaw, Executive Director of The Association for Community Housing Solutions (TACHS). Under her leadership, TACHS developed over 140 units of permanent supportive housing for low-income San Diegans with mental illness. While successfully managing a portfolio of rehab projects, master leased units, and new construction, TACHS had to overcome significant NIMBY ("Not In My Backyard") issues. Ms. Shaw has served not only as a project manager, but also as an advocate, defender of rights, and educator for neighbors about special needs populations. She is an inspirational leader and pioneer in providing supportive housing.

CSH Marketing Initiatives Underway with SDSVP Resources

By Simonne Ruff, Associate Director, Corporation for Supportive Housing – San Diego

Lead Partner: Sherri Neasham

With the help of SDSVP, the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) has focused efforts on understanding why less than 25% of funds available to San Diego to develop supportive housing have been used locally. The rest of these funds, which could have created new projects in San Diego, have been used on developments elsewhere in the state. It is clear that a lack of understanding of supportive housing has been a significant barrier to the development of new projects.

To bolster the capacity of CSH San Diego, a marketing plan was developed with SDSVP resources and expertise. With target markets clearly identified, the action plan is guiding the plan’s implementation. SDSVP has also enabled CSH to partner with the SDSU Entrepreneurial Management Center and engage a master’s level business intern to assist in this work.

Tenant profiles are being collected to form a dossier of success stories which highlight the profound impact of supportive housing on people’s lives; documenting the path that has enabled them to permanently exit life on the streets. In addition, a speaker’s bureau is being formed, enabling community leaders, business owners, faith communities and the like to stand up in support of projects. This speaker’s bureau will be available to all partners involved in supportive housing projects and will provide critical and timely support as we work to ensure people have the chance to permanently leave homelessness.

CSH welcomes SDSVP Partners with marketing, communications, or public relations expertise to expand on the work that is currently underway. CSH is continuing to build its marketing expertise in order to meet the three year vision of enabling 250 homeless individuals with disabling health conditions to exit the streets and remain housed for one year in sustainable permanent supportive housing.

Corporation for Supportive Housing

Sherri Neasham, Lead Partner

“Supportive housing enables the homeless with disabling conditions to live independently and is the most effective strategy to end long-term homelessness. With the help of San Diego Social Venture Partners, CSH has been able to clearly identify critical success factors to ensure the creation of new housing for the homeless in our region and not let precious resources go unspent.”

Simonne Ruff, Director

With over $100 million available to the San Diego region to develop housing for homeless people with disabling health conditions, the Corporation for Supportive Housing’s challenge in 2007-08 was to ensure that this money would not be returned to the State for yet another year. Working with San Diego Social Venture Partners, it became clear that the most important strategy to use (and not lose) this money would be to create a mandate requiring developers to build supportive housing.

The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) took up this challenge to end homelessness in downtown San Diego. CCDC has mandated that supportive housing be included in projects in the downtown area, creating 95 new units in the coming years.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) is celebrating last year’s achievements as they pursue their newly defined mission to be a catalyst in the development of quality permanent supportive housing. CSH’s vision is to promote the creation of 2,000 units of supportive housing over the next 10 years to end long-term homelessness in San Diego. Over the next three years, CSH will enable 250 homeless individuals with disabling health conditions to leave the streets and remain housed for one year.

Supportive Housing Monies Committed in San Diego

By Simonne Ruff

The Corporation for Supportive Housing’s (CSH) fundamental challenge has been to ensure that $100 million currently available to the San Diego region to prevent and end homelessness is not left on the table, as in previous years. San Diego Social Venture Partners worked with CSH to clearly focus on the critical success factors to ensure these monies are directed to housing for the homeless in San Diego - and the results of this hard work are already being seen locally.

San Diego is amongst the first counties in the State to have initial approval of $5 million in Mental Health Services Act funding and $3.5 million in state affordable housing funds for the Cedar Gateway project in downtown San Diego. This exciting project at 6th and Cedar is unique in that it mixes permanent supportive housing with affordable housing, a rooftop garden, commercial retail space and a rejuvenated St. Cecelia’s Chapel. Squier Properties, a for profit affordable housing developer, has worked collaboratively with the Centre City Development Corporation to take on the challenge of creating new units of supportive housing downtown. Squier Properties and CCDC are championing the cause to end homelessness in this showcase project.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing and SDSVP’s strategic planning work has brought to the table a new partner with significant development expertise, Squier Properties, for their first project in San Diego. Continuing to focus on critical success factors, such as engaging new partners in supportive housing development, will enable CSH to meet its three year vision of enabling 250 homeless individuals with disabling health conditions to exit the streets and remain housed for one year in sustainable permanent supportive housing. Social Venture Partners’ expertise in strategic planning and outcome measurement are key resources that are enabling CSH to meet this vision.