Among the many unmet needs of people with HIV/AIDS in Stanislaus County, none is felt more urgently than the need for permanent supportive
housing. This is especially true for low-income homeless people living with HIV/AIDS.
In response to this need for housing and services,
SCAP has developed the first component of our HALO House Project, this permanent supported independent living facility that will serve
up to 16 men and women in the Stanislaus County area who are members of this vulnerable population.
When it opens it doors in June
2005, the HALO House Project will be the first-ever HIV/AIDS dedicated housing project in Stanislaus County.
WHAT IS SUPPORTIVE
HOUSING?
Supportive housing is a proven, effective means of re-integrating families and individuals with disabilities into the community
by addressing their basic needs for housing and on-going support. Supportive housing is a solution to homelessness because it addresses
its root causes. It is an alternative to more expensive and less effective institutional settings.
Supportive housing has two major
components:
(1) Housing:
Safe and secure rental housing that is:
· affordable to people with very low incomes
· independent -
with tenants managing their own apartments
· permanent, with occupancy provided as long as the tenant pays his/her
rent and complies with all terms relating to the HALO House Program
(2) Support:
Support services are provided by seasoned staff that
are trained to work with homeless people with disabilities.
The support services are:
· flexible and responsive to the needs of
the individual
· available when needed by the tenant
· accessible where the tenant lives
Supportive housing combines affordable
housing with individualized health, support and employment services. Supportive housing looks like every other type of housing because
it is like other housing. People living in supportive housing have their own apartments, enter into rental agreements and pay their
own rent, just as in other rental housing. The difference is that they can access, at their option, support services – such as the
help of a case manager and connections to community treatment and employment services – designed to address their individual needs.
The
core of the support services funded by SCAP under the HALO House Program is case management. Case management services provide a single
point of accountability for coordination of services that are designed to offer the tenant support in living independently and establishing
and maintaining residential stability. Caseloads are in the range of one case manager to every 7-10 clients. Case management services
may be based at the housing unit or off-site. Other funded services may include training in independent living skills, employment
readiness and retention support, housing, credit, and money management counseling, peer support and mentoring, reconnections to family
and social supports, and connections to community treatment programs.
Supportive Housing Works to End Homelessness:
Supportive housing
is proven to help people who face the most complex challenges--individuals and families who are not only homeless, but who also have
very low incomes and serious, persistent issues that may include substance use, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS--to live more stable,
productive lives.
Without a stable place to live and a support system to help them address their underlying problems, most homeless
people bounce from one emergency system to the next--from the streets to shelters to public hospitals to psychiatric institutions
and detox centers and back to the streets--endlessly.
In an effort to stop that cycle, SCAP is very pleased to be able to bring the
first component of the HALO House Program online in June 2005.
Over the next six months, we will be submitting program requests to begin the second (transitional) and third (permanent) components of the HALO House Program. Thereby, increasing the number of dedicated beds available for people with disabilities to 47 – a substantial increase from the ZERO dedicated beds available in June 2004.
