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Family Matters a Guide to Developing Family Supportive Housing

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Family Matters a Guide to Developing Family Supportive Housing Family Matters A Guide to Developing Family Supportive Housing Written by Ellen Hart Shegos Prepared for Corporation for Supportive Housing Corporation for Supportive Housing Corporation for Supportive Housing March 2001 Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to share with you Family Matters: A Guide to Developing Family Supportive Housing. For the past ten years, the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) has worked with hundreds of organizations who develop and operate permanent supportive housing—affordable housing linked to comprehensive services. We have used our resources to provide a variety of tools, including grants, loans, technical assistance and publications, to groups around the country who are housing people who have been homeless or are at serious risk of homelessness and struggle with the challenges of mental illness, substance use and other chronic health challenges. Increasingly, organizations are asking CSH for assistance in developing permanent supportive hous- ing for chronically homeless families. Family Matters was developed as a comprehensive guide to developing supportive housing for families who have struggled continuously to maintain housing and a stable family life. The manual offers practical information, planning tools and sample forms. We hope Family Matters will be useful to organizations new to supportive housing as well as experi- enced providers who now want to serve families. You can also download this entire guide or specific chapters and other CSH publications from our website www.csh.org. We’d like to hear from you. Was Family Matters a helpful resource? What else would you like to know about developing and operating supportive housing? Please let us know by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. Sincerely, Carla I. Javits President 50 Broadway, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10004 Phone: (212) 986-2966 Fax: (212) 986-6552 Web: www.csh.org E-mail: [email protected] Table of Contents Credits & Thanks . i Introduction . iii Chapter One: A Profile of Chronic Homelessness Among Families . 1 Chapter Two: Gathering Information and Defining Your Mission . 7 Exhibit 2-A: Sample Introductory Letter and Service Questionnaires . 17 Exhibit 2-B: Focus Groups . 41 Chapter Three: Planning for Services in Supportive Housing . 43 Exhibit 3-A: Core Responsibilities of a Primary Service Provider . 75 Exhibit 3-B: Evaluating the Service Provider . 77 Exhibit 3-C: Assessment Tool for Developing a Family Support Plan . 81 Chapter Four: The Housing Development Process . 111 Exhibit 4-A: Assessing the Role for Your Organization . 147 Exhibit 4-B: Selecting a Developer/Development Consultant . 151 Exhibit 4-C: Sample Consulting Agreement for Development Services . 153 Exhibit 4-D: List of Development Costs . 159 Exhibit 4-E: Selecting the Architect . 167 Exhibit 4-F: Choosing and Working with a Lawyer in Operating Supportive Housing . 169 Exhibit 4-G: Selecting the General Contractor . 171 Exhibit 4-H: Considerations When Selecting or Staffing the Asset Management Function . 173 Exhibit 4-I: Selecting the Management Agent . 175 Exhibit 4-J: Example of a Development Pro Forma and Budget . 177 Exhibit 4-K: Example of An Operating Pro Forma and Budget . 179 Chapter Five: Sponsor- or Tenant-Leased Housing . 181 Family Matters: A Guide to Developing Family Supportive Housing ■ Table of Contents Chapter Six: Supportive Housing Property Management . 193 Exhibit 6-A: Selecting the Management Agent . 231 Exhibit 6-B: Mission-Driven Property Management Services . 235 Exhibit 6-C: Example of a Projected Community Housing Profile . 237 Exhibit 6-D: Operating Pro Forma – the Basics About an Operating Expense Budget . 241 Exhibit 6-E: Sample Referral Form . 247 Exhibit 6-F: Sample Application for Supportive Housing . 251 Exhibit 6-G: The Tenant Interview . 257 Exhibit 6-H: Sample Monthly Leasing Report Form . 261 Exhibit 6-I: Sample Applicant Tracking Form . 263 Exhibit 6-J: Sample Content of an Applicant File During Tenant Selection Process . 265 Exhibit 6-K: Sample Tenant Selection Process . 267 Exhibit 6-L: Sample Preoccupancy Conference Agenda . 271 Exhibit 6-M: Initial Move-In Tenant Questionnaire . 273 Exhibit 6-N: Apartment Condition Checklist . 277 Exhibit 6-O: Sample File Maintenance System . 281 Exhibit 6-P: Safety Tips for Management Staff and Tenants . 283 Chapter Seven: Implementing Your Supportive Services Plan . 289 Exhibit 7-A: Family Support Plan . 299 Exhibit 7-B: Family Support Plan – Progress Form . 305 Exhibit 7-C: Service Partnership Survey . 313 Chapter Eight: Thinking Beyond “NIMBY” – Building Community Support for Supportive Housing . 315 Exhibit 8-A: Sample Research on the Impact of Affordable Housing on Housing Values . 325 CSH Publications . 327 How to Contact CSH/Mission Statement . 329 Corporation for Supportive Housing Credits & Thanks Ellen Hart Shegos developed and managed the state of Minnesota’s first emergency shelter for homeless women and children as well as developed, managed and consulted on a number of transitional housing programs for women and children. Ellen has also developed and conducted training programs for a number of subsidized or publicly sponsored housing and advocacy programs for homeless families. We would like to thank the following people and organizations who so graciously gave of their time in an effort to help make this manual possible. Thanks to: Ann O’Rielly for guiding the process and consistently supporting the work Anne Ray for providing valuable editing support Joseph Biber, Housing Development Consultant who shared his wisdom and experi- ence through the writing of the chapter on development Mary Hartmann for her valuable insight and guidance The staff of New Foundations for their patient support as we gathered information The tenants of Crestview and the Wilder Roof program who are the real experts Susan Marschalk and the staff at Wilder’s Roof Project for talking about scattered site and leased housing issues George Stone at the CSH Minnesota office and the folks at the Rental Housing Alliance of Minnesota (RHAM) who shared information on tenant education Melanie Majors at the CSH Minnesota office who kept the focus on encouraging new, community-based nonprofit participants in supportive housing development Kathy Cowan at HOMEBASE who encouraged us to use their valuable work, much of which influenced the writing of Chapter Eight Mark Alpert at the National Center for Housing Management, Inc. who authorized access to NCHM’s materials and wisdom as part of the development of the property management chapter Family Matters: A Guide to Developing Family Supportive Housing ■ Credits & Thanks Page i Nancy Freeman of Freeman and Associates who shared materials on community support and property management The folks at Lakefront SRO in Chicago who freely shared their service and property management materials George Mercer at Community Housing Management Services who shared their management approach The staff at CSH who took the time out of their busy schedules to review the drafts: Janice Elliot Cynthia Stuart Joe Weisbord Carla Javits Sally Harrison Elena Epstein Nina Marinkovich Veronica Miklaszewski Roger Clay Brigitt Jandreau-Smith Jim Steiner at NEF, who offered valuable insight into the development and asset management processes Mary Ann Hayes and Elizabeth Flannery at NEF, who helped to strengthen the information on asset management The law offices of Goldfarb & Libman for their excellent work on the legal issues in supportive housing which guides much of the discussion on Fair Housing practices Christine Jacox who contributed valuable research And Stacy Majestic who continues to support this project with software ideas Please Note: Throughout the manual are examples of community case stories illustrating various points of the text. Unless otherwise noted, the organizations are fictionalized versions of practical experience. Founded in 1991, the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) is a national financial and technical assistance intermediary dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations develop and operate service-enriched permanent housing for homeless and at-risk families and individuals with special needs, including mental illness, HIV/AIDS and substance use issues. CSH currently carries out its programs in eight states and localities with offices in: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York City, and Ohio. As a local intermediary, CSH convenes community-based stakeholders, brings relevant research and data to the table, works with networks of providers and government from planning through imple- mentation and makes grants and loans. Its goals are to expand the supply of supportive housing, build new constituencies and local capacity for reform, help networks take advantage of funding opportunities, and provide assessment of the efficacy of new initiatives. Page ii Corporation for Supportive Housing Introduction This manual is designed for a number of different audiences. You may be… ■ A drug treatment counselor who finds that participants in your program can’t succeed because their energy is consumed by finding a place to live for themselves and their children; ■ A grassroots group of women who have escaped homelessness and poverty and want to help others to do the same; ■ An affordable housing developer or housing authority who wishes families living in your housing could find the counseling and services they need; ■ A religious congregation that is committed to building housing for homeless families in your community,
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