Buffalo and Erie County

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Buffalo and Erie Countys
Ten-Year Plan
A collaborative initiative to end homelessness
Katie McHugh Connolly Program Director Homeless
Alliance of Western New York Buffalo, New York
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Context

• Buffalo and Erie County
• Rust Belt
• Control Boards
• High poverty rates
• Homelessness
• In-line with cities of its size
• Continuum of Care
• Run by a non-profit lead agency
• Homeless Alliance
• Membership organization

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Getting Started/Timeline

• Outreach about 10-Year Plans at monthly meetings
• ICH representative presentation
• Discussion amongst the group
• Decision from the group to develop a plan
• Steering Committee assembled
• Volunteers from membership
• Funding secured
• Small grant, local foundation
• Lead person identified

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• Homeless Alliance
• Small Staff
• Membership
• Research Culture
• Root Causes
• VERY Limited Budget

• Groundwork
• Background Research
• Review of Other Plans
• Commitment to Change
• Member Buy-In
• Community Support

How do we make a ten-year plan RIGHT for
our community?
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Prevention
Enacting policies and developing services needed
to prevent homelessness
Resources
Using mainstream government resources to prevent
and end homelessness
Independence through Housing
Developing housing opportunities to end
homelessness and aid self-sufficiency
Services
Improving collaboration among existing service
providers and filling gaps
Maintenance
Ensuring that formerly homeless individuals and
families can stay housed
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Guiding Principles

• Ground process in the voices of people
  experiencing homeless and persons at-risk of
  homelessness
• Maintain an open and community-driven process
• Stay abreast of trends, policies, and best
  practices
• Ensure continuing relevance of the plan

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NEW DATA!

• Need for comprehensive data to inform the plan
  and the process
• Dont rely on census data
• Can meet HUDs required Point-in-Time count (last
  week of January)
• Use a survey to glean the most information

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Phase I Data Collection
Community-Wide Data Collection
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Phase I Data Collection

• 24-hours
• 165 Community Volunteers
• 35 Service Sites
• Dozens of Street Locations
• 1,000 Respondents

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Findings

• Service/Street Respondents
• 65 indicated they had been homeless in their
  lifetime.
• 40 were currently homeless
• 92 had been homeless more than once
• 10 met chronic criteria
• Shelter Respondents
• 53 were homeless for the first time
• 47 had been homeless more than once
• 7 met chronic criteria
• Self-Identified Reasons for Homelessness
• Lack of Income
• Lack of Work
• Lack of Affordable Housing
• Substance Abuse

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Phase II Planning
Community Forums and Homeless Think Tanks
Outreach Committee
Best Practices Committee
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• Think Tanks
• Conversational
• Review of Process
• Sounding Board
• Sharing Experience

• Forums
• Activity-Based
• Brainstorming
• Problem-Solving
• Sharing Expertise

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Whos around the table?

• Homeless service providers (All subpopulations)
• Government departments and officials
• Law enforcement
• Private sector (foundations, banks, business)
• Universities
• Concerned citizens

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Phase II Planning
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Releasing the Plan A Media Event!
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Phase III Plan Implementation and Progress
Evaluation

• Concurrent processes to both
• cooperatively implement the plans
  recommendations community-wide, including the
  development of an implementation plan and
  community indicators and
• provide continuous evaluation and monitoring of
  the plans progress to ensure relevance and
  success

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PRISM Participants
Alcohol and Drug Dependency Services Assemblyman
Sam Hoyts Office Back to Basics
Ministries Belmont Shelter Corporation Buffalo
City Mission Buffalo Metropolitan Housing
Authority Buffalo Urban League Catholic
Charities Cazenovia Recovery Systems Community
Action Organization Community Services for the
Developmentally Disabled Compass
House Cornerstone Manor Crisis Services Durham
Memorial AME Zion Church/Central City Café Eden
United Methodist Church Food Pantry Erie County
Department of Environment and Planning Erie
County Department of Mental Health Erie County
Department of Senior Services Erie County
Department of Social Services Erie County Office
for the Disabled Feed My Sheep Franciscan
Center Friends of the Night People Gerard
Place Group Ministries
Hearts for the Homeless Hillside Childrens
Center Hispanics United of Buffalo Homespace,
Inc. Interfaith Hospitality Network Key Bank Lake
Shore Behavioral Health Living Opportunities of
DePaul Loaves and Fishes M and T Bank Mental
Health Peer Connection/Independent Living
Program Mid-Erie Counseling Neighborhood Legal
Services Restoration Society The Salvation Army
Buffalo Area Services Social Security
Administration South Buffalo Community Table St.
Lukes Mission of Mercy Transitional Services,
Inc. FLARE - Teaching and Restoring Youth UB
Department of Social Work UB Institute for Local
Governance and Regional Growth United Way of
Buffalo and Erie County Veterans
Administration Western New York Veterans Housing
Coalition YWCA of Western New York
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To learn more about the PRISM Project, visit our
website
www.wnyhomeless.org
Or call the Homeless Alliance of Western New York
at [phone]