Three Core Components that Put the Rapid in Rapid Re-Housing
Are you trying to implement an effective rapid re-housing model? This session will arm you will the basic knowledge and strategies of rapid rehousing, and give you the foundation for successful implementation of the three core components.
On the Cutting Edge of Ending Family Homelessness
What does it take to end family homelessness? This workshop will provide an overview of federal efforts to end family homelessness and state and local leaders who are working to make this goal a reality.
What Client-Centered Practice Means for Providers and Consumers
Is your program as consumer-centered as you want it to be? Do you struggle to balance consumer choice with program requirements? Experts will address these and other challenges, providing a framework for how client-centered practice can be applied throughout the homeless services field, including in rapid re-housing, Housing First, and permanent supportive housing for families.
Prevention and Diversion for Families
Many families struggle with housing stability and risk becoming homeless. Experts will share strategies that help stabilize families in housing and prevent housing loss and homelessness. Because it is so difficult to predict which families will actually become homeless, speakers will discuss how to properly target prevention efforts and resources. Finally, for those who do lose housing, speakers will explore ways to rapidly reconnect families to housing, averting entrance to shelter.
Developing an Effective Systemic Response to Youth Homelessness
Historically, our country’s response to youth homelessness has been a patchwork of programs, but ending homelessness requires a systemic response. This includes implementing a framework to incorporate all the pieces of such a system, improving the ability to count homeless youth and to assess the outcomes of programs that serve them, and ensuring that young people play an active role in developing the plans that will affect their lives.
A Better Way to Serve Survivors of Domestic Violence
Join us for an honest look at homelessness through the lens of domestic violence. This panel discussion will be led by domestic violence experts who will talk about how coordinated entry, data collection, and referral and assessment processes can be more responsive and sensitive to the needs and rights of domestic violence survivors. Strategies to integrate homeless and domestic violence housing and service interventions at a system level will also be discussed.
Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Young Adults
This workshop will include an overview of emerging research on the effectiveness of early engagement in meeting the mental health needs of young adults as well as lessons learned from innovative practitioners who are supporting at risk and homeless youth and young parents with mental health challenges.
Show Me the Money: Creative Funding Strategies for Rapid Re-Housing
Is your community struggling to fund all the rapid re-housing you need? Come learn about potential resources and creative strategies to braid those resources together to meet the rapid re-housing needs in your community to quickly end family homelessness.
How to Recruit Landlords So They Don’t Say “No”
A key component of successful rapid re-housing is having staff with the skills to effectively market and engage public and private landlords, particularly in tight rental markets. Come learn from expert housing locators about the tools and practices you can use to effectively engage landlords in your community.
Critical Time Intervention and Its Application
Critical Time Intervention is an evidence-based case management model with the goals of helping consumers transition to community living and preventing returns to homelessness. This workshop will provide an overview of the Critical Time Intervention model and opportunities for application in rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing programs.
Positive Youth Development and Building Permanent Connections for Youth
Homeless youth are at a unique stage of psychological and emotional development that requires similarly unique service strategies. This workshop will provide an overview of the principles of positive youth development and discuss the important role that permanent connections play in the lives of youth. An evidence-based practice model that helps youth develop positive support networks, known as ‘Wraparound’ will also be presented.
Off the Streets: Improving the Crisis Response for Homeless Youth
On a single night in 2015, at least 17,000 unaccompanied homeless youth were unsheltered, including almost 2,500 minors. Youth are in grave danger of exploitation, so it is imperative that we improve our capacity to ensure that no young person spends even one night on the streets. This workshop will highlight the importance of drop-in centers and outreach for connecting with youth on the streets and explore strategies for creating emergency shelter options for minors and for ensuring that adult shelters are safe and responsive to older youth.
Is Your Public Housing Authority (PHA) Doing Enough to End Family Homelessness?
When local systems work together, outcomes for families and individuals experiencing homelessness improve. Just ask the experts working with or for Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) who have created preferences for persons experiencing homelessness and partnered with Continuums of Care (CoCs). Our experts will answer questions about how you can get your PHA to do the same.
Special Challenges in Rural and Tribal Lands
Join us for a panel discussion on how homelessness differs in rural and tribal communities. Learn practical strategies for overcoming shortages in emergency shelter, treatment and services, affordable housing, employment, and transportation.
The Power of Persuasion: Ramping Up Rapid Re-Housing in Your Community
Community buy-in is critical when it comes to bringing rapid re-housing to scale. But what if stakeholders are standing in your way? Join us and learn how one community leader decided to turn the corner on rapid re-housing, and four simple tools that can help you persuade others to do the same.
Families Living in Motels: How Can We Help Them?
This workshop will examine what we know about families relying on motels for housing and ways that homeless service systems are working to address their needs. Included will be examples of how to address poor rental, credit or criminal histories, and how to help with the cash flow issues that prevent the families from moving to more stable rental housing.
Making Difficult Decisions: How to Design an Effective Project Review and Reallocation Process
Reviewing project performance and its impact on system performance is a crucial part of the Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Learn how one community has developed a data-driven project evaluation process that measures program outcomes against local and national performance targets. This workshop is for Continuum of Care (CoC) leadership, Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) staff, funders, and community leaders.
The Roadmap: Moving from a Transitional Housing to a Rapid Re-Housing Organization
Are you ready to shift to a rapid re-housing organization? Come to this session and explore the roadmap one former transitional housing organization used. This journey will include an in-depth look at the detours and re-routing they took with staffing, policies, and funding strategies.
Closing a Case: Knowing When to End Rapid Re-Housing Assistance
Determining the right time to end assistance and close a case is one of the hardest decisions a service provider must make. For both consumers and providers, it can be a challenging time. Learn what tools and strategies providers can use to help prepare both themselves and consumers for the transition away from financial and/or case management assistance.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Continuum of Care: Working Together to End Veteran Homelessness
Want a better understanding of how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collaborates with your Continuum of Care (CoC)? If so, this session is for you. Speakers will talk about how to approach coordinated entry, increase collaboration between programs, share ideas for how to get Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and VA data systems to work together, and discuss how this kind of collaboration can reduce homelessness for families.
Yes, You Can: Effective Rapid Re-Housing in Challenging Housing Markets
A challenging housing market, including those with high costs and low vacancies and rural areas with limited housing stock, can impact the way rapid re-housing is implemented. Come explore innovative strategies for landlord recruitment and housing identification as well as how to modify financial assistance and case management efforts for challenging environments.
How Can Funders Drive Change?
Learn new and creative ways funders can encourage sustainable system change. Funders presenting in this workshop will touch on using tool such as performance and system-wide evaluation to promote promising practices for families and youth. Specific community examples and successful strategies will be included.
Looking into the Crystal Ball: What to Expect from the Federal Government
Come get insider knowledge on how homeless programs are faring at the federal level. Experts working with the Administration and Congress will talk about changes in policy and funding that matter for homeless families and youth in your community, what it means for your programs, and how you can be an advocate and influence federal policy making.
Engaging Your Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Leaders
Your state and local Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agency can help you meet your goal of ending family homelessness. Join us for this workshop and learn how TANF works, ways the funds can be used, and why TANF leaders are investing in ending family homelessness.
Helping Youth Go Home: Family Intervention Strategies
Can youth go home? The answer may surprise you. Come to this session and learn how providers are helping youth and their families mediate conflicts, improve communication skills, and rebuild relationships, enabling many youth to return home safely.
Crafting Safety Plans for Survivors of Domestic Violence
There is no one-size-fits-all safety plan for survivors of domestic violence, but there are essential elements to consider for survivors and staff at every point in your system. This workshop will teach you how safety planning can permeate your housing system—both in domestic violence-specific programs and in general programs—including in coordinated entry, emergency shelter placement, housing selection, home visiting by staff and family, and planning for the long-term.
Making Coordinated Entry Work for You
As more communities establish coordinated entry systems, they are learning what critical adjustments need to be made in order to make them more effective. Panelists for this session will share these lessons and discuss the best ways for you to evaluate your system, assessment tools, and current targeting and prioritization efforts. They will also provide guidance on how to work through common challenges to improve the functionality of your coordinated entry process.
Essential Strategies for Serving Vulnerable Families with Rapid Re-Housing
There is mounting evidence that rapid re-housing yields positive outcomes for even the most vulnerable families. This workshop is perfect for providers seeking new strategies to help families with multiple tenancy barriers, like no income or past evictions, and will include data and experience from Supportive Services for Veteran Families providers.
Listen Up! Employment Experts Have Something to Say about Rapid Re-Housing
Struggling to integrate employment into your rapid re-housing services? Get the inside scoop from funders and employment experts about what works when it comes to securing jobs for consumers and keeping them employed. You will walk away knowing how to engage with employment partners and how to best support consumers in seeking and keeping work.
Improving Affordable Housing Opportunities for Families
How do we increase affordable housing opportunities for families? Experts will share research on affordable housing gaps, present opportunities to partner with affordable housing providers, and talk about how to make the most of the National Housing Trust Fund. They will also show you the best ways to work with state partners to ensure effective use of valuable housing resources.
Making Rapid Re-Housing and Housing First Work for Youth, Too!
Innovative organizations are transforming their response to youth homelessness. Join us and hear what providers have to say about the value of housing first, harm reduction, and client choice for youth. These experts will also discuss how these philosophies are employed to create effective rapid re-housing models.
Is Housing the Missing Piece? Partnering with Child Welfare Agencies
Did you know that child welfare agencies are challenged by the lack of safe, appropriate housing for the families they serve? Solving this can result in reunifying families faster or preventing children from being placed into foster care. Explore the strategies child welfare agencies are adopting to address the housing needs of the families they serve.
The Importance of Education for Homeless Youth
Education and service partnerships can help youth stay in school or return to complete their high school educations. Learn how school liaisons and homeless providers work together to ensure that homelessness does not disrupt education for unaccompanied youth. And find out about strategies that encourage and support successful post-secondary education for youth who have experienced homelessness, including making vital connections with local community colleges.
Rapid Re-Housing Performance Benchmarks and Program Standards
The three core components of rapid re-housing represent the minimum that a program must be providing to households to be considered a rapid re-housing program, but do not provide guidance for what constitutes an effective rapid re-housing program. This workshop will provide an introduction to rapid re-housing performance benchmarks and program standards newly released by the Alliance. These benchmarks and standards can be used by funders and providers to increase the effectiveness of rapid re-housing efforts.
Emerging Knowledge on Homelessness Among Families
In the past year, significant new research on family homelessness has been released and the implications of that research are being translated into policy and practice. Workshop presenters will provide an overview of recent research findings. A discussion on the implications of those findings will follow.
Built to Last: Lessons Learned from Communities Ending Veteran Homelessness and Sustaining Progress
Communities have made great progress towards ending veteran homelessness. How can you make similar progress and ensure that your progress is sustainable? What can you learn that sets the path for ending family and youth homelessness? Communities that are making significant strides will share the strategies and interventions integral to reaching and sustaining functional zero. Learn how to institutionalize successful practices, use data to identify problems, collaborate with partners, and pinpoint the essential components your system needs to be successful for all populations.
Supporting the Most Vulnerable Families
Join providers and system leaders as they share lessons learned from their experiences targeting and serving families with the most significant challenges. Harm reduction policies in permanent supportive housing and other service intensive housing models will be among the topics explored.
How to Serve Survivors of Human Trafficking
Youth experiencing homelessness are particularly vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. How do we keep them safe? What are the best ways to serve this population? Join us for an honest discussion of human trafficking and get expert advice on how to support victims. This session will debunk myths and walk you through concrete strategies every service provider should have in his or her tool box.
Vital Connections for Employment to Help End Youth Homelessness
Explore innovative programs and community solutions for connecting youth with meaningful internships, apprenticeships, and employment as part of a strategy to end their homelessness and ensure their long-term success.
Working with Schools to Combat Homelessness
What steps are schools in your community taking to combat family and youth homelessness? This workshop will provide practical strategies for how schools and homeless service systems can work together to prevent and end homelessness for children and families.