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Home My WebLink About1.31.25 Lived Expert Needs AssessmentLive Expert Needs Assessment – January 31st, 2025 Held at the Winter Welcoming Center; Approximately 30 participants. Facilitators: Heather Dudley-Nolette; Cheryl Weinstein Needs Assessment Purpose: To design effective programs and policies to address homelessness, we need to understand who is experiencing it, how they became homeless, what their experiences are, and what is preventing them from exiting homelessness. Summary Takeaways Priority material support includes safe storage, laundry and showers. Client-Driven Service Delivery puts the focus on what people need rather than reviewing what the client is eligible to receive. Information resources allow people to make their own choices and are valuable as such. People have fears around case management. Additional resources needed on what case management is, addressing what the case management role is and is not. While material support is important, there is an equal need for services that address social and spiritual dimensions of people’s lives (e.g. need for safety through community). What Support Would Help Prevent or Would Have Prevented You Becoming Homeless? What does that support look like? Social Support Family support Having spiritual connections [and belonging] Positive reinforcement. Everything seems discouraging. Material Support Phones to communicate Had a house fire. Housing affordability and all the money [needed] to get into housing. Transportation Help from getting evicted Client-Driven Service Delivery Service that asks me my needs Help accessing resources: The process of getting SSI [is] so difficult. More streamlined systems that [support] being fully aware of the choices. [For example], how long it takes to get on SSI. If I had understood how long it took, then I would have looked for a job. Miscommunication in the system. Making sure we are in system – Not having tenure. HIPPA laws and sharing – false information Assumptions about what we need. More attention given to folks who are drug addicts. They get more than the rest of us. Outreach. [I was] Afraid to go to shelter [as it was] a stigma thing. What Support Would Help Make the Experience of Homelessness Less Stressful or Traumatic? What does that support look like? Material Support A place to leave car, keep possessions safe. Storage, storage, storage Laundry !!! Hardest thing is to carry your dirty laundry around – a tax Showers Social Support Placement into housing is not the total answer. You still have the same problems, if you [lived] on the streets. Legal support, legal advocacy especially around issues where there is criminalization of homelessness. How do we communicate with service providers, elected officials. Part time job or someway to pay back. [Need for] a sense of purpose. People who are going to walk with you through your fears. ADVOCATES. Social activities. Places for people to engage with others in safe environment. Client-Driven Service Delivery Placement into housing for safety. No one told me what the criteria was [for receiving support]. [There was] nowhere to go to have an actual conversation [about] actual facts. Communication. People providing services need training in different communication styles as everyone has a different style. Because I speak a little differently, [I need] patient communication. How to have good communication [to build trust]? Service providers not trained to communicate with people with disabilities. Everyone who is homeless has a disability, often invisible. Lots of intelligent folks who are neurodivergent – living with disability – and the social service people are not trained to deal with them. More one-on-one support instead of a list. People have fears around case management. Additional resources needed on what case management is, how case managers can help. People don’t understand what they do. [Suggest] webinars on what is the power of case managers. Address what the case management role is and is not. (Deal with peoples’ fears.) Clear messages about what it takes – honesty – this is how it looks – like this is the process for getting what you want. Trusted information. No sugarcoating how it is hard. Wish they had the information sooner. Oxford home programs, it took too long to get help, to get in their programs. Client has to do the foot work. There is less of a wait time for the landlord accepting vouchers. Help with mental issues, substance use, health care. Resources on what mental health issues available. Help with rental subsidies. Information on different programs – so many of them. What Support Would Help You End Your Homelessness? What does that support look like? Material Support Last month rents – covering. Ability to pay for housing Daily [access to] showers would allow me to look for a job. Storage Laundry – 24 hours a day. For night workers. Need to be able to have clean clothes. Dirty clothes are a tax for when you take a shower. Rides – transportation. Gas vouchers. Advice of Actual address on id. c/o care of. General delivery. Social Support Continuing support to help stay in a house. Caregiving. Learning personal accountability [in addition to] government accountability. People being placed need to be accountable too. [Accountability needs to be in] both directions. Things that require a residential address Stop discriminating against the homeless. See us as people. [We are] ignored and blocked. People prevent access to showers. [There are] people who don’t want you there and say it. Jobs [are] pathways back into community [provide] sense of purpose and opportunity to care. Chance to participate. Volunteership, such as picking for trash. – compensate. Ability to make a little money, Client-Driven Service Delivery Training as some services are restricted because you need address. Making sure everyone knows how to access resources. Education around technology – peer support. Empowering people who choose to live outdoors More facilitated conversations like this. System Barriers and Gaps Systemic abuse is a cause [of housing instability and homelessness] SAFETY. I wasn’t safe in low income housing in Colorado. Moved here because of transportation, then moved into an unsafe place here. SAFETY Landlord died. It would take months to get subsidy, and get the care I needed. [Stigmatization] People judge one and apply it to all. Filling empty units of supported/subsidized housing Dot Survey Results Participation was limited to 5 or so people What Support Would Help Prevent or Would Have Prevented You Becoming Homeless? What does that support look like? Advice on how to prevent homelessness Information about homeless prevention resources Information about legal resources to prevent eviction – 1 dot Transportation support to search for alternate housing – 1 dot A monthly rental subsidy worth $300-$500 – 1 dot A one-time payment of $5,000 – 2 dots A housing voucher that limits rent to 30% of your income Other (Please tell us what) What Support Would Help Make the Experience of Homelessness Less Stressful or Traumatic? What does that support look like? Ready access to resources to help with essential needs such as laundry, heat, sanitation, showers and transportation – 3 dots Help accessing prescription medications for physical health conditions Help accessing economic benefits to which you are entitled – 1 dot Care for household member (for example, child, spouse, significant other) while receiving in-patient health services Pet care services (for example, getting a license) Increased access to substance use treatment Increased harm reduction services – 1 dot Lower housing barriers for those with criminal justice system records – 2 dots Other (Please tell us what) What Support Would Help You End Your Homelessness? What does that support look like? Care for household member (for example, child, spouse, significant other) Getting an ID – 1 dot Case management – 1 dot Housing navigation services (someone to help you with searching for housing, negotiating with property owners, and gathering necessary documents, eg references, financial history) A monthly rental subsidy worth $300-$500 – 1 dot A one-time payment of $5,000 – 2 dots A housing voucher that limits rent to 30% of your income – 1dot Other (Please tell us what)