ValueOptions® Realizes Success with Maricopa County Housing Program
Focus on Chronically Homeless Demonstrates Strong Positive Outcomes
Phoenix, Arizona — January 23, 2006
Imagine dealing with a mental illness on a daily basis – depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia – and facing these illnesses with no place to call home. This is the dilemma faced by more than 2,000 people living in Maricopa County.
An innovative program in downtown Phoenix is addressing these issues faced by the chronically homeless – defined as those who have been homeless for one year or more – by finding housing to provide a stable housing situation so that their recovery issues can be more easily addressed.
"A typical person enrolled in our network of care is receiving $587 per month in income through Social Security. When you consider that 90 percent of that amount is allocated toward rent, that leaves a pittance for daily essentials such as food, healthcare, and other needs," said Suzanne Legander, site administrator of the Washington House Clinic, one of ValueOptions' direct service sites for consumers that focuses on serving the chronically homeless enrolled in ValueOptions' network. "Of course most people can't maintain that level of existence, so they inevitably end up homeless."
ValueOptions, alongside ABC, a provider partner, has developed a program that assists people in finding housing and provides financial assistance so that no more than 20 percent of the person's income is spent on rent. The program has achieved a tremendous success rate with 92 percent of consumers graduating in the past year able to maintain their independent housing status up to a year later.
"We have one woman who has been chronically homeless for 24 years, and now she's been in a stable environment for more than four months," Legander said.
Those receiving services at the Washington House clinic graduate after an average of three months and are transitioned to other ValueOptions' direct service sites to continue to receive care. The clinic focuses its efforts on the chronically homeless, and its current enrollment is 217. Most recent statistics from the Washington House Clinic tracked the progress of 99 individuals who graduated and transferred out of the program in the past 12 months and had previously been homeless an average of 3.8 years. Of this number, 92 percent were still successfully maintaining independent housing.
"This success clearly demonstrates our "housing first" philosophy and the reason we're recognized nationally for our housing programs. We can only effectively treat individuals in our care when they are in a comfortable, stable environment," said ValueOptions of Arizona CEO Vivianne Chaumont.
"Although we recognize there is still much work to be done, it is only through support for programs like this that we can continue to successfully tackle this issue one individual at a time," Chaumont said.
