Permanent Supportive Housing Development

Program Timeline: July 2021 - June 2024

PROJECT AIM
Reduce chronic homelessness in the region by developing Permanent Supportive Housing which combines affordable housing with supports to improve health outcomes, promote self-sufficiency, and reduce costs to healthcare systems and crisis services.

FUSE evolved in 2018 out of a collaborative conversation by key regional stakeholders to develop Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to address chronic homelessness and reduce frequent use of emergency resources in Central Oregon. FUSE stands for Frequent User System Engagement and is working closely with many partners to develop a system to identify those at-risk unhoused individuals who are frequently using crisis services, and to quantify health outcomes and cost impacts of stable housing. FUSE’s work supports both the Continuum of Care’s Coordinated Entry System (CES) and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) which are critical components of the regional homeless data system. FUSE is currently leading the effort to develop Permanent Supportive Housing in Central Oregon, an initiative designed to close a critical gap in the regional housing continuum by addressing the needs of our most vulnerable populations. FUSE focuses on mobilizing intensive and long-term resources to meet the complex needs of unhoused individuals whose barriers to stability may include substance use disorders, severe and persistent mental illness, chronic health conditions, and an extended history of homelessness. FUSE is already working in close partnership with many key stakeholders including Deschutes County Health Services, Mosaic Medical, the City of Bend, Housing Works and NeighborImpact, and is well-positioned to engage other prospective partners.

2020-2024 Regional Health Improvement Plan Priority Area

Stable Housing and Supports

Future State Measures

1) Create a way to accurately measure individuals experiencing homelessness
2) Increase Housing Choice voucher holders able to find and lease a housing unit

Project Details

Priority Area and Organizations Involved

This project is funded through the 2020-2024 Regional Health Improvement Plan's Stable Housing and Supports workgroup.
The project received $265,000 in funding and is implemented by FUSE.
Learn more about the importance of the measures from the Stable Housing and Supports priority area.

What We Want to Accomplish

Chronic homelessness has long been a growing problem in the region and it seems to be getting more pronounced, recently increasing 76% (up to 286 individuals) between 2019-20, and the number of people experiencing literal homelessness in the region has grown to at least 1,000. FUSE’s project to develop Permanent Supportive Housing will provide a bridge from chronic homelessness to supportive housing through housing voucher utilization. FUSE serves adults with disabilities who are experiencing long-term homelessness and frequently utilizing crisis and emergency services. Central Oregon's current need for Permanent Supportive Housing is estimated to be approximately 250 units, which far exceeds current program capacity (8 households), and even projected program capacity (at least 41 households within 3 years). We anticipate that our community members experiencing homelessness and living with disabilities will be supported in finding and leasing voucher-subsidized housing units.

Project Description

Our proposal will accomplish the following short and longer-term goals:

Convene a strategic process with key stakeholders to project long-term funding needs for on-site supportive services for 33 Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units - the Cleveland Apartments concept, the first dedicated Housing First site in Central Oregon
Enact a targeted plan to mobilize the resources necessary to finance the development of 300 units of PSH – ideally spread across the region
Build both organizational and homeless continuum capacity by expanding staff at FUSE
Provide valuable supportive services to participants exiting homelessness through our current scattered-site program and plan for staffing at one or more single site PSH facilities

FUSE is working with our partners to operationalize evidence-based practices in supportive services, leverage investments into developing housing-first resources (facilities and services), and strategically mobilizing new stakeholders with a goal of ending chronic homelessness. This project will allow FUSE to better leverage existing federal and state funding towards addressing critical social determinants of health by providing stable housing and supportive services.

Equity and This Project

FUSE provides fair and equitable access to services and is a Fair Housing provider working to end homelessness for people of all identities. We recognize that homelessness disproportionally impacts people of color, LGBTQ+ identified individuals, and people living with disabilities, including substance use disorders, severe and persistent mental illness, and chronic health conditions. Our programs are trauma-informed and use "housing first" principles - an evidence-based model that offers housing and supports without preconditions such as sobriety. Specifically, some of the ways that FUSE mitigates barriers are by ensuring that referred clients have access to cell phones, housing navigation support including reasonable accommodation appeals, and their privacy and self determination are respected. Clients are referred via a standardized assessment tool from homeless service providers across Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook and CTWS, ensuring geographic representation.

FUSE is committed to incorporating the expertise of the community we're serving into project design. Currently, we rely on a system for participant feedback built into our case planning and longitudinal assessment process, as well as feedback gathered from conversations with advocates (e.g. the first participant we housed expressed to his advocate that the Intake Packet was tedious and long, so we've since abbreviated and streamlined documents as much as possible.) FUSE is still building the basic scaffolding of an organization and is eager to convene a Community Advisory Panel as we grow staff capacity.

Objectives

We are trying to conduct a comprehensive and strategic planning process to secure long-term funding for on-site supportive services necessary to develop and successfully implement Permanent Supportive Housing for our target population - adults with disabilities who are experiencing long-term homelessness. This will be done by what we will refer to as the PSH Services Funding Task Force.

We are trying to build both organizational and homeless continuum capacity by expanding FUSE staff. To really move the needle on PSH in the region, funders and policy makers are being encouraged to invest not just in individual PSH projects, but also in the larger PSH infrastructure (advocacy, research, convening of partners, developing pilot projects, outreach to landlords, etc.) that will bring about needed systemic change. FUSE plays a leading role in all of those elements.

We are trying to develop capacity to provide on-site operations for Cleveland Avenue Apartments, a 33-unit PSH community to be built in Bend in 2022, while also preparing to support services at future PSH developments.

Reporting Timeline

A Year One Report for this project will be available in July 2022.

A Year Two Report for this project will be available in July 2023.

Please check back under "What We're Learning" to see the outcomes of this project after the Final Report is submitted in August 2024.