Bringing New Voices to the Table

Yesterday, January 23rd, United Way co-hosted “Ending Homelessness in the Commonwealth: A Leadership Summit on Housing First.” Our partners, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance and One Family, Inc., joined us in bringing together a variety of community leaders to learn about the issue of homelessness in our state as well as how they can get involved in brining about solutions to the problem. Northeastern University generously donated space for us to gather approximately 100 members of Boards of Directors, philanthropists, elected officials, researchers, and others. Check back to my blog later to see video from the event - it'll be posted soon!

The morning began with welcoming remarks from Professor Barry Bluestone from Northeastern and Myra Kraft, President of The Kraft Group and member of United Way’s Board of Directors. This was followed by a presentation of recent and ongoing research conducted by Dr. Dennis Culhane from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Culhane has been studying shelter usage in Massachusetts formally for the last couple years, but began his career in Massachusetts in the realm of housing and homelessness services. Dr. Culhane's research has enlightened our understanding of who uses our shelter system, for how long, and under what circumstances. He showed us that families staying in shelter the longest oftentimes have more limited service needs - contrary to what we might have assumed.

What I have found most compelling is his idea that we could think of the emergency response to a housing crisis more like how insurance companies operate. Hopefully I'll do his analogy justice, but the main idea is that most people will need an intervention that is short and inexpensive to help them get back on their feet (e.g., emergency financial assistance to pay overdue rent). A smaller number of people will have higher service needs, and require more intensive and expensive interventions (e.g., supportive housing). Basically, the right resources should be targeted toward the right people at the right time. If someone falls behind on their rent because of a temporary medical issue, it shouldn't mean they have to live in a shelter to receive the help they need.

After hearing from Dr. Culhane, the audience listened to a panel discussion made up of a variety of stakeholders involved in ending homelessness. Anna Colton, Executive Vice President at Bank of America, and United Way Board member joined Jim Cuddy, Executive Director of South Middlesex Opportunity Council, Matt Fishman, Vice President at Partners Healthcare, and State Representative Byron Rushing. Each provided their own perspective on the importance of using research like Dr. Culhane's to develop more effective and cost-efficient policies and programs to truly end homelessness, not just manage it. We hope that those in attendance were able to see how they could get more involved as the panelists have.

We were also lucky to have Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray offer a keynote address. Lt. Governor Murray provided remarks on the success of the Commission to End Homelessness and the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing. Additionally, just as the Summit was concluding, the Governor's Budget for Fiscal Year 2009 was released. Lt. Governor Murray was able to express how committed the Administration is to finding long-term solutions to homelessness. This is evidenced by their proposed increased financial support of State public housing, and a $10 million fund to implement the recommendations from the Commission to End Homelessness.

Finally, Peter Forman, Executive Director of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, shared his experiences in becoming involved in the issue of homelessness. As many of the guests were leaving yesterday morning, I heard them talking about how interesting his thoughts were on how it makes business sense to find solutions and not only support band-aid programs that would never make real systems change. Peter made a call-to-action to everyone in the room to get involved. Fund agencies focused on results. Call your local legislators. Volunteer.

Our goal was to bring this message of change to folks who hadn't heard the message before. We hope to have increased the public's will around ending homelessness. I write this entry in the hopes it will also serve as a call-to-action for any reader. Tell me what you think. Tell me how you will help. We're all in this together, and we need to leverage your voice and action to bring an end to homelessness.