PART SIX: Using Data to Drive Program Improvements Data. I know it is a four-letter word. It makes policy wonks salivate lustfully and makes many front-line practitioners run for the hills (or the bottle). Truth is, data doesn’t have to be scary or cumbersome or a nuisance. Done right, data is the ace up your sleeve to make your program transition from good to great. As a starting point, know that there are resources out there that can help you if you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with data. The National Alliance to End Homelessness has a range of nifty resources. I especially like What Gets Measured Gets Done. Data and performance measurement is also a subject matter I get asked to speak about a lot. So, if you want to check out some of that – littered with “Iain-isms” – feel free. Plus there are a few previous blogs (not part of this current series) where I have talked about performance measurement, data and organizing information in the context of functioning like a system instead of a collection of projects. This one in particular is short and the feedback we’ve received suggests it is my most entertaining blog entry (fire alarms, vibrating bed, strobe lights, knocks on the door in the middle of the night – how can you go wrong?). A couple of other articles may be a useful read if you are unfamiliar with some of the core concepts of data and performance management, or want to better [...]
PART FIVE: Helping Landlords Help You There should be a range of housing options for clients of your housing program to consider. In the best of circumstances this will include everything from permanent supportive housing to private market housing (with or without vouchers or rent supplements) and public/social housing. It will hopefully include a wide variety of units from multi-unit residential buildings to suites in the secondary market like basement suites or rented houses. It may also include the likes of well-maintained and managed rooming houses or boarding homes. And I could go on with the diverse types of housing. The key is to have a range of options that clients can CHOOSE from. Choice is fundamental to housing program success. If your organization does housing placements instead of offering housing choices, you are missing an important part of program success. In one research study it found that clients who felt that they had a choice in where they lived were most happy with their housing, whereas those who felt that had less choice were much less happy with their housing. The latter is also more likely to move and/or experience a return to homelessness. For the purpose of this blog, I want to focus attention on working with private market landlords – even if your organization does not have access to any type of financial assistance to provide to landlords. In a perfect world there would be an infinite number of subsidies to provide; immediate access to subsidized housing; [...]
PART THREE: The Structure of the Housing Team and Its Functions Successful housing programs have three different types of positions: Team Leader – supervises the work, coaches team members and creates opportunities for professional development, assigns households to different case managers, sets priorities and ensures fidelity to the approach. (Read more about Team Leaders, their importance and why they need specialized training.) Housing Case Manager – provides direct support to households (individuals or families) that have been housed and works with them to create an individualized service plan that will help them achieve housing and life stability. Housing Locator – works directly with landlords, property management firms, etc. to secure available units for the housing program. (There is an entire future blog dedicated to how to make this work.) My experience suggests that in most cases social workers tend to make crappy landlords and landlords tend to make crappy social workers. While there will always be exceptions, I would argue that keeping them separate functions helps. The best Housing Locators I have ever met, for example, are not schooled in social work or other helping professions. They know how to speak “landlord” and how to make the business transaction part of the housing program work. But I digress…and again getting ahead of myself and a future blog. Each housing case manager can serve a MAXIMUM of 20 households at any one time. Any more than that and you have a list of people that you aim to serve, but truly [...]
In this multi-part blog series we are examining the essential elements of successful housing programs that focus on ending homelessness. We pick up here in Part 2 looking at the Service Orientation that is necessary. PART TWO: Service Orientation The secret to a successful housing program? Meet people where they are at in their life journey. Don’t set up barriers or unattainable expectations. Accept the decisions that people have made in their life and how they became homeless at face value, help them achieve housing, and then provide the supports necessary to help them achieve long-term residential stability. In case you missed the subtlety – house people, then support them. If you put together an elaborate service plan or case plan prior to helping someone get housing you are doing it “bass ackwards”. House people then support them. The evidence is clear that people achieve better long-term housing outcomes and achieve a more positive quality of life when this is the sequence of evidence. While it remains popular for there to be life skills training, budgeting classes, skills upgrading, addiction treatment, etc prior to helping people achieve housing, the evidence would suggest that this is unwarranted and actually results in poorer housing outcomes long term. We shouldn’t have different standards of behavior for people who access human services compared to others in society generally. For example, sobriety is not a precondition for successful long-term housing. Statistically, most people who are alcoholics or who use other substances are housed, not homeless. [...]
In this multi-part blog series we are examining the essential elements of successful housing programs that focus on ending homelessness. Our thanks to Scotti Coles with Jasper Place Health and Wellness Centre for coming up with the suggestion. www.jphawc.ca PART ONE: Ensuring People Who Are Homeless Get the Right Housing Intervention and Supports to End Their Homelessness “The homeless”. Ugh. What a bland, homogenizing and completely inaccurate phrase. There are homeless people. There are homeless individuals and families. But “the homeless” is downright demeaning in my opinion. There is considerable diversity within the homeless population. While there may be some striking similarities when it comes to indicators of why/how a person becomes homeless, rarely are two paths into homelessness the same. Understanding the heterogeneity within homeless populations allows us to provide the opportunity of the right supports and right housing to the right person at the right time for the right reason. To be clear, the focus is on ending homelessness. Housing is the only known cure to homelessness. Homeless service systems need to have meaningful intake and assessment processes where acuity is determined. They cannot be “first come, first served” if they truly want to end homelessness. Truth is, some individuals will have rather complex needs and a higher acuity warranting one type of intervention, while other individuals will have needs nowhere near as complex and with lesser acuity. In the same way that these two individuals are not the same, the services that are offered and the expectations [...]
In working with housing and homeless information throughout my career it has always been my mission to get people to think and act like a system instead of a collection of projects. Truth is, funders like to attach the word “Program” to a lot of the work that they do, and this orientation has led many communities to organize their services by funding source rather than by what the outcomes are that the funding is trying to achieve. Across various funding programs there can be comparable, complimentary outcomes that are intended. So let’s take a closer look at how to organize information as a system instead of a collection of projects – which ultimately means organizing our projects like a system too. It is my ardent belief that housing and homeless programs and services exist to end homelessness. A system-based approach places this belief at the center of the organization of information and wraps program areas around the central belief of ending homelessness. This means that all of the programs that are funded must be seamlessly linked to ending homelessness. Outreach services? Exist to end homelessness. Prevention services? Exist to end homelessness. Rapid Re-housing services? Exist to end homelessness. Emergency shelters? Exist to end homelessness. And I could go on with other program areas. If we truly belief in ending homelessness – and we know that housing is the only known cure to homelessness – then each of these program areas needs to have a housing orientation as well. This [...]
Yogi Berra once famously said of Bill Dickey, “Bill is learning me his experience.” I have the great privilege of being a mentor to about a half dozen people throughout the US and Canada. Of all the many things I do, this is one of the most rewarding. Mentors have had a phenomenal impact on my life. They have helped shape my career track, instilled confidence, taught me different communication and problem-solving styles, given me a safe outlet to share, learn and grow. I will forever be grateful to people like Gerry Lalonde, Barbara Rahder, Noreen Dunphy and John Whitesell. (Prior to John and I becoming business partners, he mentored me for the better part of 10 years.) We need more mentors – and not just because it helps those who receive the mentoring. Many studies show that it improves retention (see Ragins, Gibb, Lewis). Other studies demonstrate that it increases diversity and gender equity in work environments (see Henford, Tennent). The evidence is also clear that it helps create both leaders and managers. Consider some of these facts: A meta-study by Blanchard et al found over 90% of organizations that encourage mentorship have more positive outcomes A 2006 study by Gartner showed people who received mentoring were 5 times more likely to improve their salary. The same Gartner study also showed that Mentors were 6 times more likely to advance in their careers and Mentees were 5 times more likely to advance in their careers compared to people not [...]
One of the themes that we weave through a lot of our work in Human Services is the importance of creating or recreating a healthy social network for individuals and families that have experienced considerable marginalization, poverty, homelessness and the like. We also speak about the importance of focusing on wellness instead of illness. If we consider illness to wellness as a continuum as opposed to a either-or construct, then we even further appreciate that achieving wellness is a journey…a process…something that can occur incrementally. We need to move beyond labels and pathology to focus on the individual’s potential and the remarkable ability of the human being to heal – physically, socially, emotionally. Our ability to heal is absolutely remarkable. It is even more impactful if we do not confuse “healing” with “cure” – as they are dangerously considered synonymous by some. So what is the link between a healthy social network and wellness? Lots. And as you read below, I hope you will become even more convinced that one of the fundamental jobs of support workers is to reduce social isolation by improving access to healthy social networks. I remember hearing a story – don’t know if it is true – about a doctor who specialized in addressing heart disease and a swami. As a guest of the doctor’s, the swami was asked what the difference was between “illness” and “wellness”. The swami circled the “I” in “illness” and the “we” in wellness. And it turns out that the [...]
So you have a client that has engaged in case management supports with your organization, but they never seem to be around or seem completely unengaged when you do meet. They have high acuity. They likely have several complex issues and have experienced long-term homelessness. Is the fact that they are rarely around or seem completely unengaged sufficient to “cut them loose”? Should your organization move on to another person who is more eager to actively participate in what you have to offer? No. In this blog I talk about how to use assertive engagement appropriately to first engage with people who have accepted case management services and then become unengaged, as well as how to effectively engage with people who are homeless and do not seem interested in having a conversation about housing and case management. In a perfect world – heck, even in a lot of “normal” therapeutic environments – people seeking service come to a safe support environment. Appointments are booked. People are focused on the support and not distracted. People are sober and have taken medications. People have absolutely embraced that they want support and are going to work their butts off to get better. This is not the reality I work in. When working with a population with long-term street engagement, this is not the norm. Sometimes the best environment you get is an encampment in the woods or a dry spot under a bridge. In my career I’ve had to engage with people from [...]
I never expected to be working in homelessness and housing services.
My name’s Ali Ryder, and I joined the OrgCode team in April of 2011, but just one short year ago I had no idea what lay ahead of me. Heck, two years ago, I was moving to Peru for a contract to run a volunteering abroad program! But let’s start again, shall we?
This week we launched our re-vamped two-day Team Leader training program. Through the Introduction and 9 modules, we try to set the stage for excellence in program delivery. Through analysis and synthesis of the main currents of thought and practice in leadership and management across the public, private, non-profit and non-governmental sectors… [read more]
My last tweet from the conference claimed that #naeh11 rocked harder than KISS on a stadium tour. I stand behind that even as the days pass since the conference ended and reflection sets in and turns in part to wisdom. I think what made it rock for me this year was different than past conferences. From my vantage point there was a bit of an edge amongst conference delegates. The edge wasn’t defiance. It wasn’t even anger per se. It struck me that there was frustration. The source of the frustration? I heard over and over again the impact of the economy on local communities and state governments and decreased fundraising efforts. I heard over and over again about increasing demand for services. But I actually don’t think it was solely either or limited to both of those things. I think there are communities that entered into 10 Year planning fully committed to seeing homelessness ended. But now they see the 10 Year Plan sit on a shelf or the local leadership shift or the resources made unavailable. I think there are people and organizations that understand truly what effective approaches and evidence-based practices are and work hard to implement them, only to find other organizations still questioning Housing First, Rapid Re-housing, Critical Time Intervention, Harm Reduction, Trauma Informed Service Delivery and the like. They feel it is a constant, up-hill battle. I think that the misuse of phrases and terms is stoking the frustration. There was Sam Tsemberis – [...]
On one of my recent hotel stays, this is what the dashboard showed inside the elevator: Now, there are a few interesting tidbits that make this story even better. First, when I checked in I was told I was on the 1st Floor, which is AKA “L”. Second, 5 is really the second floor. Third, there are only four floors to the hotel. I suspect to the people that work at the hotel and use the elevator daily, this number series makes complete sense. To me, well, it reminded me of those times that I have been parachuted into homeless management systems to help make sense of what is going on. In most instances, they have a collection of data points – sometimes with peculiar labels like this elevator dashboard – and an assumption that everyone knows what the starting point is. Truth is, for any information system to have meaning, it has to be easily understood and be logical. Next week I will be in Washington, DC speaking at the National Alliance to End Homelessness conference. One of the sessions I am doing with Amanda Sternberg, Susan McGee and Kimberly Walker is on performance measurement. During that presentation I will be stressing these key points: Begin the design of your performance measurement system with the end in mind. Too often organizations or communities have been collecting oodles of data without knowing why they are doing it or what it is going to tell them. I say articulate in one [...]
I love the National Alliance to End Homelessness conferences. Great networking. Great learning. Best conference there is on homelessness hands down. Did I mention that I have been doing presentations at the conferences for many years now? All around, super duper awesomeness. I will probably blog about this more, but in the fashion of The Late Show, here is my Top 10 list of why I am stoked about this year’s conference: 10. It’s in Washington. When not at the conference there are amazing things to see and do even if the city was built on a swamp and the humidity can be intense. A couple of years ago I went to the Holocaust Museum. Changed me forever – and I am not easily moved. (Okay, so I cried at the end, but don’t tell anyone – and I am not Jewish.) 9. Cool cats. Movers and shakers. Industry leaders. Stalwarts of change. Motivation that all may be alright in the universe. Every year I meet that one person (or persons) who make me want to keep going for another year. Given my personality, these are not your usual touchy-feely burnt out social worker types. These are people who see the world from a different angle and see the beauty in problem solving. 8. Some of the best friends I have I met in Washington. In my adult life, I have always found making new friends to be hard. But something magical happens in Washington where I am exposed to [...]
When I do work in Detroit, I tend to stay at the Motorcity Casino Hotel. The main reasons: it is located close to the offices of the organization I am doing work for; and, it is the cheapest hotel in the area on Expedia by a lot. I stay in a lot of hotels. This is one of the best. Amazing staff. Clean. Fast WiFi. Oh, and the casino has a Star Wars slot machine (that only focuses on the original three movies, so it is cool – Jar Jar Binks free). Yesterday at check-in they asked me if I wanted a free upgrade. I wish these sorts of things happened more often. I said sure. Danielle – the super awesome check-in lady – wanted me to know that the suite they were providing me was on part of a floor where all of the suites are also accessible for people with physical disabilities. No problem to me, unless I would be taking it away from someone who needed an accessible suite. At around 3am, the fire alarm went off. This isn’t the first time that this has happened when I have stayed in a hotel. It is annoying to be sure. But I have never experienced a vibrating bed and pulsing strobe lights and ear splitting pitches that make fire engine sirens sound tame. After the first few minutes, I thought it might be a real fire. The alarm indicators (vibrations, lights, pitches) weren’t stopping. Then I did the [...]
I spend a lot of time in airports, airplanes, hotel lobbies and restaurants alone where I tend to eat at the bar. One of the inevitable questions in these types of environments is “What do you do for a living?” Sometimes I use the bland “I’m a consultant.” But I have learned that begs more questions about what type of consultant I might possibly be. Sometimes I say that I teach at York. Like saying “I’m a consultant” this usually leads to questions about what I teach. See, for a long time I have been avoiding telling people that I work on homelessness, housing and social policy issues. It’s one of those subject matters where lots of people have opinions. I am cool with that. But what I am not cool with is that we seem to have gotten to a place in our society where having a big heart is seen as sufficient qualification for working on homelessness issues. Ending homelessness is hard work that requires specialized skills. I have nothing against charities. Charities play an important role in meeting immediate needs. Think of a major disaster – hurricane, tornado, flood, earthquake, wild fire. We need charitable responses to provide food, clothing and shelter for a short period of time in each of these unfortunate situations until other responses can take over. Charitable responses are not designed to be long term. And here is a kicker for some – charity has never solved a social problem. One of the [...]
In human services delivery, there are several effective approaches to performance measurement. My leaning is towards an approach that is comprehensive and system-focused, while remaining client-centred. A comprehensive approach will have four essential elements: Identifying the chronically underperforming services. Identifying the services that can meet performance standards with a little coaching and/or technical assistance. Identifying outstanding services that not only exceed performance targets, but also have a unified commitment throughout the organization on performance excellence, use of evidence-based practices and a sincere commitment to continuous improvement. Emphasis on financial stewardship. Identifying chronically underperforming services to some may seem intuitive. “Haven’t we always known they weren’t very good at meeting the needs of the households they are funded to serve?” While true in some instances, it has also been my experience that a framework will show you that some of these seemingly chronic underperformers actually will do just fine with coaching and technical assistance (they aren’t as bad as you thought). And, it has also been my experience that there are some services that turn out to be chronic underperformers (but with a panache for spin) that you thought only needed a little coaching to operate well. In an era of limited resources, it is important that we put our emphasis on coaching and technical assistance with those organizations that would benefit from it the most. Outstanding services will need training and professional development too, but not the sort of coaching and technical assistance that other lesser performing organizations will need. [...]
When I led the largest Housing First program in North America, one of the things that bothered me was that we had no defensible way to prioritize who we served next. We dabbled with different instruments and had some stellar research thanks to folks like Toby Druce – but couldn’t quite put our finger on exactly how to prioritize who got served next and why. At least not in a defensible, reliable, consistent and valid way. Sure, there are some awesome instruments out there like the Vulnerability Index used by Common Ground and now the 100k Homes Campaign (and we are big fans of both); the Camberwell Assessment of Needs; the Outcome Star; the Denver Acuity Scale. But none of these were a perfect fit for the type of Housing First program that I was leading or other Housing First programs that I was familiar with. One of the first things I started working on when I made the move to OrgCode was to develop the right tool for determining who should get served by what type of housing intervention and why. Being the nerd that I am, I took an inventory of all existing tools that I could get my hands on – hoping that I had just missed something in my previous work. No point re-inventing the wheel. Truth is, not much with credible overlap other than the ones previously mentioned – and even then, too many limitations or shortcomings. I found a small number of communities and [...]