Seminole Community Action Strategy: Impacting and Reducing Homelessness

2. Seminole Community Action Strategy SEMINOLE COMMUNITY ACTION STRATEGY: An Approach to Impact and Reduce Homelessness in Seminole County Presentation to the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners May 10, 2016

3. TASK FORCE MEMBERS

4. Seminole Community Action Strategy PARTNERS Central Florida Foundation Seminole County Public Schools The Foundation for Seminole County Schools Central Florida Commission on Homelessness Homeless Services Network of Central Florida Goodwill/GoodSource Northland Church Seminole Housing Authority Leadership Seminole

5. Seminole Community Action Strategy PARTICIPANTS IN PROVIDER AND INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS Pathways to Home Recovery House of Central Florida Rescue Outreach Mission SafeHouse of Seminole Salvation Army, Sanford Seminole County Attorney’s Office Seminole County Community Services Department Seminole County Manager’s Office Seminole County Public Schools Seminole County Sheriff’s Office Shepherd’s Hope Southern Affordable Services, Inc. St. Peter’s Episcopal Church St. Stephen Catholic Church The Salvation Army The Sharing Center Aspire Health Partners Camaraderie Foundation CareerSource Central Florida Catholic Charities Community Based Care of Central Florida City of Sanford Dave’s House Florida Department of Health in Seminole County Goodwill Industries of Central Florida Health Care Center for the Homeless/ Orange Blossom Health Health Council of East Central Florida Heart To Heart Homes Homeless Services Network of Central Florida HOPE Helps Leadership Seminole Northland Church Pathways to Care

6. Seminole Community Action Strategy The Task Force prioritized two basic principles drawn from the business mindset in its deliberations — Accountability Action

7. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACCOUNTABILITY To achieve Accountability, the Task Force recommends the creation of the Seminole Action Board.

8. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACCOUNTABILITY Seminole Action Board will: a. Set metrics and benchmarks for the Action Strategy. b. Be accountable for the goals of the Action Strategy c. Confirm that Seminole County receives a fair share of federal, state, and philanthropic resources targeted to the region. d. Work with County government to ensure collaboration in achieving the housing goals. e. Create Seminole Action Network Exchange (SANE), chaired by the County Manager to convene a wide range of community stakeholders to overcome impediments. f. Establish the Seminole Action Opportunity Fund (SAOF) to secure private sector resources for investment. g. Enhance partnership and collaboration among private, public, faith, and non-profit sectors. h. Insist on a broader audience of stakeholders and monitor, encourage, and assist in refining due diligence focused on cost efficiencies. i. Engage a facilitator to ensure that these accountability elements are implemented.

9. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACCOUNTABILITY Seminole Action Board will apply business principles and practices to the issue of homelessness. Old Approach Business Approach 1. Conjecture & anecdote 1. Research & data 2. Performance based 2. Process based 3. Results oriented 3. Maintenance oriented 4. Accountability ensured 4. Good intentions 5. Consumer centric 5. Provider centric 6. Business focused/Solving 6. Social services focused servicing 7. Partnership & planning enhanced 7. Isolated response 8. Status quo maintained 8. Innovation infused 9. Deductive planning 9. Inductive planning 10. Limited response 10. Inclusive partnership 11. Crisis interventions 11. Strategic planning 12. Inputs 12. Outcomes

10. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION 120 Homeless Families Homeless 0 Housed 50 Homeless Individuals Homeless 0 Housed Total Homeless Persons Housed 400 Homeless 0 Housed

11. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION Seminole Action/Action Strategy Action If there is a theme that resonates all the way from people who are homeless on the street to provider agencies to business owners to Commissioners, that theme is “we want effective action.” The members of the Task Force intend to move beyond the efforts of the past, while embracing their best ideas, to a focus on resolute, timely, effective, and efficient intervention to remedy homelessness.

12. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION • Year One Strategy • End the homelessness of the 120 most vulnerable families • in Seminole County. • End the homelessness of the 50 most vulnerable and disabled individuals in Seminole County. • Ending the homelessness of a total of 400 Seminole residents.

13. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION • Encourage strategic investments: • To maximize federal and regional funding opportunities • To expand and extend promising existing initiatives • To encourage a more entrepreneurial approach to solving a social problem

14. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION • Encourage efficiency and effectiveness: • Building on existing resources and opportunities in the community • Strengthening what already works • Adding best practices that have achieved results in other communities

15. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION Task Force Recommendations for Families • 120 of the most vulnerable families should be prioritized for housing resources and housed in the first year of the Action Plan. • The priorities established in consultation with a wide range of community stakeholders, particularly the school system and the valuable contributions and insights of Dr. Walt Griffin and his staff: • Any family found living on the street or in a car • 75 of the most vulnerable families living in motels/hotels paid by an agency or family as determined by the VI-SPDAT • 45 families living in doubled up, motel, shelter situations identified by School Department social workers, the Families in Need (FIN) initiative of the Seminole School Board, and other school related personnel as being most at risk.

16. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION Task Force Recommendations for Families 1. Increase the Operation New Start (ONS) initiative to house 75 families 2. Expand the FIN contract to 45 families with added resources to extend case management for a year, and to include housing search, placement, and stabilization. 3. Utilize 25 Section 8 rental vouchers designated by the Seminole Housing Authority for non-working homeless families. 4. Ensure that case management resources, according to best practice, are apportioned one case manager to every 12 households. 5. Exploreexpansion of childcare programming for homeless families with children up to school age.

17. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION • For school-involved Homeless Families, • Educational Achievement and Housing Stability will be enhanced by: • School social worker visits related to sustaining of educational achievement • Agency case management supports related to family stabilization • Faith community involvement related to the development of social capital and a sense of belonging

18. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION Additional Task Force Recommendations Related to Families • Commence a County analysis of the results of the Prevention Program for Families. • Initiate through the County an exploration of ways to expand the successful Family Self- Sufficiency Programand target openings to more homeless families. Hire an Employment Specialist. • Facilitate through the Seminole Action Board a prioritization of collaboration and coordination among County agencies with non-profit providers, the private sector, and faith organizations. • Identify for the faith community network services required by homeless families to stabilize their tenancy and create a trajectory to employment. • Sensitize Seminole public and private employers to the situation of employees who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

19. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION Task Force Recommendations for Individuals 1. Prioritize the most vulnerable and disabled individuals, those experiencing chronic homelessness during Year One of the Action Strategy. 2. Target the 50 most vulnerable, visible, and disabled with the evidence-based Housing First strategy. 3. Partner with the Central Florida Foundation, Homeless Services Network, and Health Care Center for the Homeless to secure assessment priority, case management, and housing resources. 4. Hire 3 Seminole County assessment workers to facilitate completion of an assessment tool 5. Engage research to create a cost benefit analysis in Seminole County

20. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION ACTIONS TAKEN 1. Rapid response for any family living outdoors or in a vehicle 2. Commitment of 25 housing vouchers from Seminole Housing Authority 3. 3 positions committed through County resources to facilitate assessments 4. 7 Seminole chronically homeless individuals now housed 5. Fair share discussions underway. 6. Cost study/cost benefit analysis initiated.

21. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION THE COST OF CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS IN SEMINOLE COUNTY Preliminary data 33 chronically homeless individuals in Seminole County were tracked in health care and law enforcement systems $837,408 - total 1-year costs for 33 individuals $25,376 average per person/per year in public costs • $666,178 total annual cost of emergency room visits and inpatient and outpatient hospital visits • $171,225 total annual cost of arrest and incarceration • Actual booking costs for each arrest were $85.54. • Daily cost of incarceration in Seminole County was $78.52. • Average length of time incarcerated was 40.85 days. Based on study done by Greg Shinn for the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness and updated for Seminole County, May 2016.

22. Seminole Community Action Strategy ACTION Key Principles • Engage with what’s already moving to produce results. • Don’t reinvent the wheel. • Don’t fund or expend, invest. • Achieve modest goals. • Create a template for the future. • Facilitate collaboration among agencies and cooperation between sectors. • Create a public, private, faith-based strategy that coordinates all activities. • Ensure a fair share threshold setaside for Seminole County for federal and regional resources. • Leverage foundation resources. • Maximize federal, state, and regional investment resources.