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Partner's Place - Housing First

Why Housing First?

The philosophy of Housing First is simply to put homeless persons into housing as the first step in helping them. After they have a safe place to live, then they can begin to work on their problems one by one. The experience of other Housing First project is that the tenants’ health improves and their alcohol consumption is reduced. When their attention no longer has to be focused on finding a place to camp and protecting their belongings, they can begin to think about what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

Many homeless persons suffer from a combination of physical disabilities, chronic illness, mental disorders, addictions and stress from trying to survive day to day. If they camp on public property, the police may give them a 72 hours notice to move. If they are on private property, the owner can tell them to leave if neighbors complain. They are often victims of theft, with their meager belongings being stolen. If they are sick or in pain it is hard to get to the Stone Soup meals.

In these circumstances, it is very difficult for them to take care of their health and get to medical or counseling appointments. Even if they have a small income and could pay a modest rent, they often cannot find a place that will accept them because of past evictions, or criminal records.

For the most vulnerable among the homeless population the concept of housing first is both a compassionate and practical approach to reducing homelessness.

Plans for Partners Place: A Housing First Facility

The Corvallis Homeless Shelter Coalition has been working toward establishing a housing first facility at 17th and Harrison. The eight apartments will house fourteen to eighteen chronically homeless persons. Men, women and couples will be accepted. It will be called The Partners Place.

An on-site property manager will make sure that operations are going smoothly. Tenants will pay one-third of whatever income they have in rent, the rest being subsidized. The tenants will be required to abide by the lease, but all other services will be voluntary. A case-manager will help tenants develop their own personal plan based on their identified goals. Objectives could include taking medication, getting mental health symptoms under control, seeking addiction counseling, enrolling in job training, finding employment, mending relationships with family members, or developing healthy hobbies. Use of alcohol is allowed as long as the peace and safety of other residents are not threatened.

The Partners Place will not be shelter or transitional housing. This is their home and they can stay as long as they want if they continue to abide by the terms of the lease. Costs of purchasing the property ($780,000) will be covered by grants from state and federal funds. We must raise funds (about $85,000) from local donors to cover start-up costs.

Housing First Really Works - What the research shows

Studies of Housing First projects show that it is much less expensive to provide apartments to chronically homeless persons than it is to leave them on the streets. Providing housing reduces emergency room visits, hospital costs, jail stays and criminal justice system expenses. When homeless persons are moved into permanent housing their health improves, their involvement with law enforcement goes down and alcohol consumption decreases.

iMary E. Larimer, PHD, of the University of Washington, in a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association reported that the Housing First Program cut costs from $8 million to $4 million across the study sample.

Corvallis Homeless Shelter Coalition Board: Aleita Hass-Holcombe, President, Ilene Anderton, Treasurer, Tom Eversole, Jim Gouveia, Kathy Frieze, Rhonda Mueller-Warrant, Jim Spain, Beth Schaefers, Sue Schultz, Barbara Ross, Joan Collison.