The many faces of Houing First

This blog is all about something that has been bothering me, and I hope that in writing this, I will have some kind of amazing sparkly epiphany and all will become clear (hopefully?). For the past week or so my tiny mind has been battling with the scope of Housing First in the US. In the UK we talk a lot about Housing First in terms of model fidelity, and I definitely came to LA with a very fixed idea on what Housing First was (scattered site tenancies, intensive support), and who it was for (long term homeless – substance misuse/poor mental and or physical health). In the US Housing First seems to be used as a much broader, conceptual idea, which at Downtown incorporates both scattered and onsite permanent supported housing for chronically homeless women, with intensive support, AND rapid re-housing schemes for survivors of domestic violence and chronically homeless women, where limited financial support is given to help clients find private rented tenancies, and the case management is light and short term.

I want to stress though, that the ‘core’ principles of the model remain the same here; the main points being that clients get their own tenancy, as quickly as possible, the separation of housing and support, no pre-requisites to housing, and all of this firmly underpinned by a philosophy of choice and self-determination. In my time here I have visited a woman who had been evicted from her previous tenancy due to domestic violence and re-housed through the domestic violence rapid re-housing programme; she had ended the relationship, is working, and did a lot of the work to find her new property herself. I also helped move a woman out of a tent on a corner, where she had lived for nearly three years, into her new private rented property. This woman has a mental health diagnosis and is deemed chronically homeless; she has been re-housed through Downtown’s Housing for Health programme and will receive long term, intensive support. My faith has been officially shaken! Now to make sense of it all…..

One phrase that does make sense, that I have heard repeated over and over again, by case managers, day centre staff, and clients themselves is, ‘We work with women and meet them wherever they are at’. That could start out as a shower, a meal and some colouring in sheets in the day centre, an appointment with the onsite therapist, or meeting a case manager to view a flat. The women I have met at Downtown are a diverse and wonderful bunch, who reflect the many faces of homelessness in the US, and whose experiences have been shaped by the intersections of gender, race, sexuality, immigration status and a rapidly changing political and socioeconomic landscape. No one-size fits all approach could ever begin to meet the varied needs and experience of these amazing women. Housing First has to do more in Skid Row, it has to mean housing, now, wherever a woman is at.