CARING COMMUNITIES
Case Management Services for Chronically Homeless Families
Summary:
Within the
population of people who become homeless, there is a distinct sub-group of
families who enter the shelter system, receive help and leave, having found new
housing, only to become homeless again and repeat their experience with the
service system. Many of these
families struggle within a cycle of decline where homelessness leads to
decreasing economic, social, emotional and physical resources.
Although such families need supportive services, they are too unstable to
succeed in existing programs or to maintain their housing.
Caring
Communities is a program between designed to respond to the special difficulties
of this chronically homeless population. Caring Communities stresses learning to
take responsibility for one’s situation through building trusting
relationships with peers and jointly discovering how to break the cycle of
homelessness. The program stresses
learning to experience successes and provides training in the life skills needed
to manage a stable household. Participants
in the program may receive services for up to 24 months.
Service Components:
Caring Communities serves only families with
children, and only those families who have been homeless and referred to the
program by a shelter. The program
cares for between 60 and 70 families at any given time.
There are three
main modalities used in working with all clients: individual outreach in the
client’s home; skill building workshops; and, the Caring Communities group.
Individual
Outreach
will be the means used to contact all potential program clients.
Case Management staff will use outreach to establish a relationship of
trust with the client family and to assess the family’s readiness for the
program. One-to-one outreach may
last for two to six months. Clients
who are ready to begin changing their lives are introduced, by staff, to the
Caring Communities group and assisted to complete a self-assessment that becomes
the basis for immediate short term goals for the family.
The
Caring Communities group
is made up of all of the adults in the program, plus staff.
The group meets once every week to participate in a group process. The
group is a peer support system as well as an opportunity to meet new friends who
also are in the process of breaking their cycle of homelessness.
A
set of Life Skills workshops
will be developed, covering communication, money management, parenting,
conflict resolution, goal setting and other basic skills needed to manage a
stable household. The client’s learning process in the workshops is linked to
their participation in the Caring Communities group.
Successful
clients may access short-term rental Section 8 rental assistance vouchers to
enter the private housing market.
