How to Ensure that Our Strategies for Addressing Homelessness Promote Dignity, Respect, and Pathways to Permanent Housing
The following information is taken from “19 Strategies for Communities to Address Encampments Humanely and Effectively” dated April 28, 2024. This document was written by USICH. The mission of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) is “to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and to create a national partnership at every level of government and with the private sector to reduce and end homelessness in the nation while maximizing the effectiveness of the federal government in contributing to the end of homelessness.”
It often happens that emergency shelters are full and permanent housing is not available. Communities may then use alternative short-term strategies to offer shelter to people while they await permanent housing. Some create “safe camping,” “safe parking,” or other similar settings with a goal of helping people stay in a safer and more sanitary environment, without the risk of being arrested or cited. Sometimes these settings feature sheds or other structures, or provide areas for people to stay in their cars or RVs. Others simply provide places for people to sleep in their own tents or on mats.
While seemingly (relatively) inexpensive, these environments can prove difficult to manage and maintain. For example, some facilities may require significant upgrades and/or repairs over time. There often need to be significant investments in security to ensure the safety and well-being of people staying in these settings, as many people may be vulnerable to victimization and such communities can become targets for illegal activities.
Interim strategies must not come at the expense of a commitment to developing long-term, permanent housing solutions.
All shelter should meet standards of care and the needs of individuals (such as accessible services for people with disabilities) that:
• Provide safe and sanitary conditions.
• Provide adequate on-site services that can connect people to housing, health care, and other support.
• Train staff and protect privacy to ensure services are person-centered, trauma-informed, and based on harm reduction strategies.
• Engage people living in the housing to ensure personal choice and voluntary services.
Before our community decides to create such environments, it is important to weigh the costs and consequences of that action, and the impact on the community’s systemic efforts to end homelessness.
Here are a few potential pitfalls to keep in mind:
• Creating these environments may make it look and feel like the community is taking action to end homelessness on the surface—but, by themselves, they may have little impact on reducing homelessness. They do, however, make life a little easier for those who are homeless while they wait for affordable housing to open up.
• These settings typically require significant funding, energy, and staff time from both public and private agencies devoted to locating and arranging for the use of sites, educating and engaging neighbors, addressing any permitting requirements, providing a secure and hygienic environment, setting up and maintaining any structures, providing adequate services and supports, and many other planning and operational details. It is critically important to discuss the opportunity costs of pursuing these efforts, and whether critical resources would be better focused on other strategic activities—or used directly for permanent housing and services interventions—that could have a greater impact on ending people’s homelessness.
• Although often proposed as “temporary” approaches, these programs prove difficult to close once they open. While a community may intend for these settings to be a temporary part of its response to homelessness, they can prove difficult to close, especially if there are not adequate plans and resources dedicated to helping people exit these settings and end their homelessness.of as something that can be addressed later. If these settings are to play any meaningful role in ending people’s homelessness, it is vitally important to ensure that people staying in them will have ready access to the services necessary to address their needs and to exit homelessness. Planning and adequate budgeting for people’s permanent housing outcomes should be central from the very first conversations and at every stage of the planning processes.
• Are we aiming as high as we can in providing a high-quality environment within these temporary settings?
Families and individuals experiencing the crisis of unsheltered homelessness deserve access to decent, high-quality places to stay as they create their paths out of homelessness. The creation of poor-quality environments can reinforce negative perceptions about what people experiencing homelessness need or deserve as living environments.
In many cases, the planning for these settings in communities does not seem to have been thoughtful enough about the quality of the environment they are providing; sometimes even basic safety or health issues, such as ventilation or heat, have not been planned for. There should be close consultation with public health officials to be sure that the land being used is not contaminated, that essential health, hygiene, and safety needs are being met, and that further public health problems are not being created.
If our community does decide to proceed despite these cautions, we need to discuss the following:
• Are we doing all we can within our existing emergency shelter programs, and can we also create more effective indoor shelter or crisis housing options, if needed?
These outdoor environments should not take the place of suitable indoor emergency shelter and other crisis housing options, which can be provided in a variety of settings, from designated facilities to hotels and motels, to new and existing housing units, and many others.
Many communities are transforming their current shelter systems or creating additional safer, low-barrier indoor shelter spaces where people can come inside “as they are” and access services. Communities have removed barriers to entry, including by accepting diverse household compositions, staying open 24/7 or for extended hours, welcoming people with behavioral health care needs, providing for secure storage of belongings, and allowing for pets.
When creating new shelter and crisis housing capacity, communities are also purposefully using sites that can be used in the future for other purposes, such as conversion to permanent housing.
• Are we planning and budgeting for how people staying in these settings will be able to exit homelessness and access permanent housing?
The creation of these environments is often pursued with urgency, but the planning is sometimes too rushed and the alignment of the services and housing solutions that will be necessary to help people exit is often thought
It is also essential to discuss whether the settings being planned will provide an environment for the target population— which sometimes includes pregnant women and children—that is aligned with your community’s values and expectations. For example: Within your community’s systemic response to homelessness, is it acceptable for infants and small children to be sleeping in tents or in sheds? Families and individuals experiencing the crisis of unsheltered homelessness deserve access to decent, high-quality places to stay as they create their paths out of homelessness.
• Are we assessing the outcomes, impact, and cost-effectiveness of these efforts?
Programs being operated in such settings should be integrated into the community’s existing Homeless Management Information System and performance measurement processes. The outcomes being achieved—including a primary emphasis on the outcome of exits from homelessness—should be carefully measured and monitored. The community should assess whether the investment of costs—including all planning, capital, operations, services, and housing placement assistance costs—is proving to be a cost-effective investment in comparison with other actual or potential strategies and programs.
For access to the full USICH report, use the following link:
https://www.usich.gov/guidance-reports-data/federal-guidance-resources/19-strategies-communities-address-encampments