It would be a great thing if homeownership could help mitigate homelessness. Currently the focus of most homelessness advocates is rental housing. But rental housing is the step just before homeownership for millions of people.
Michelle Flynn, associate executive director of The Road Home, Salt Lake City, told National Mortgage News she knew of just one of the agency’s formerly homeless clients who has made the jump to owning a home.
Instead, her group concentrates on “rapid rehousing” of homeless families staying in their emergency shelter, she told the Governor’s Housing Summit held recently in Albuquerque.
In fiscal 2010, rental units were found for 365 households. Of those, just 14 families have fallen out of the housing and returned to the shelter.
Key to the rapid rehousing is three to four months of rental assistance, paid for by state, county and city funds, plus the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Some $4.7 million is available for rapid rehousing for fiscal 2009 and 2010.
Currently, the program has seen a 39% rate of families that have been able to leave the program and stand on their own. The other 61% have required another three months of assistance, with the tenant paying 30% of income towards rent.
Obviously, not all formerly homeless families would be good candidates for homeownership. But that 39% that move through the program and re-establish themselves as good renters would be reasonable candidates to move up to ownership.
This “rapid rehousing” is part of a nationwide approach to homelessness called “Housing First.” John Aames, housing director of the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico, told the Housing Summit that the program looks to rapidly rehouse the homeless by considering both the program participants and private landlords as its tenants.
It helps participants with rental assistance and home-based case management. It helps landlords to identify suitable tenants and ensure timely payment of rent.
The program is available for persons with a qualifying disability (such as persistent mental illness) with incomes at 50% or less of area median income, and is paid for by the city of Albuquerque’s Department of Family and Community Services.
The Housing First concept has seen success all over the country, and could be seen as a station on the way to putting people back on their feet and maybe on the way to eventual homeownership.
