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.