The
Community Shelter Board (CSB) provides funding, coordination, and planning for
emergency shelter programs in Columbus and Franklin County. In addition to
providing a secure and clean place to sleep, all emergency shelters provide
access to basic services such as showers, meals, health care and material
assistance, as well as referrals and supportive services. In 2001 CSB allocated
over $2.8 million to its emergency
shelter providers. As a funder and coordinator of access to homeless services,
CSB aims to provide meaningful solutions to combat—and eventually
eliminate—homelessness in Columbus and Franklin County.
Columbus and
Franklin County’s Emergency Shelter System consists of
Four family
shelter programs:
·
YWCA
Interfaith Hospitality Network.
·
Catholic
Social Services-Holy Rosary
·
Homeless
Families Foundation
·
VOA Family
Shelter
Four men’s
shelters, one program for public inebriates:
·
Faith
Mission on Long Street
·
Faith
Mission on 8th Avenue
·
Friends of
the Homeless
·
VOA Men’s
Shelter
·
Maryhaven’s
Engagement Center
Three
women’s shelter programs, one program for public inebriates:
·
Faith
Mission (Nancy’s Place)
·
Friends of
the Homeless (Rebecca’s Place)
·
YWCA Wings
program (transitional housing)
·
Maryhaven’s
Engagement Center
The Family
Housing Collaborative, a direct housing program that aims to move families out
of shelter and into permanent housing as soon as possible, is part of the
community’s next-step housing programming.
The Family Housing Collaborative is evaluated annually as part of CSB’s
assessment of housing-related programming, the Housing Resource Center
(HRC).
Six years
ago, the Community Shelter Board adopted an outcomes-based funding model,
establishing measurable performance standards to monitor agencies’ progress. The
CSB Board adopted these performance standards as a component of their vision to
create an overall strategy for improving the shelter system, providing an “open
door” and working toward the eventual elimination of homelessness. The outcomes-based funding model was
further refined with the CSB Governance Polices, first adopted in March of 2000
and modified in January of 2001. As
stated in the Governance Ends Policies for Emergency
Shelter:
Global Ends
Policy
Homeless people and people in imminent threat of homelessness in Franklin County will have the opportunity to resolve their housing crisis through the collaborative development of an efficient use of a pool of available community resources, as part of a long-term strategy to end homelessness.
Level Two Policy
Emergency Shelter
Homeless men, women and families
will:
·
Have their
basic human needs met in a decent, secure environment;
·
Stay in
shelter for a temporary or short-term time period;
·
Move to
positive, stable housing; and
·
Not return
to shelter
Level Three
Allocation Policy
Emergency
Shelter
|
Ends |
Measurement |
|
1.
Basic
needs met in secure, decent environment |
·
Pass
shelter certification |
|
2.
Temporary,
short-term stay |
·
Decreasing
maximum length of stay ·
Average
stay not increasing |
|
3.
Move
to positive, stable housing |
·
Improving
housing outcomes |
|
4.
Do
not return to shelter |
·
Increasing
rates of persons not returning to shelter |
|
5.
Use
of a pool of community resources |
·
CSB
funds only a portion of total shelter
budget |
Level Two
Policy
Housing Programs
Individuals and families exiting emergency shelters
or leaving the streets (unsheltered homeless) will:
·
Have their basic needs
met in a non-congregate environment (individual, SRO or shared
unit);
·
Have their housing
stabilized;
·
Have access to
resources and services as needed to maintain housing; and
·
Not re-enter the
emergency shelter system.
An increasing percentage of CSB allocations will be used to address this policy.
Level Three
Policy
Housing Programs
|
Ends |
Tier 2
Shelters |
|
1.
Basic
needs met in non-congregate environment |
·
Pass
shelter certification ·
Private
or shared unit |
|
2.
Resources
and services to maintain housing |
·
Have
access to |
|
3.
Housing
stabilized |
·
Improving
housing outcomes |
|
4.
Do
not return to shelter |
·
Increasing
rates of persons not returning to shelter |
|
5.
Efficient
use of a pool of community resources |
·
Full
occupancy (at least 92%) |
By setting
performance outcome standards that measure length of stay, housing outcomes,
shelter occupancy, movement and recidivism, CSB’s performance outcomes monitor
the success of each provider and determine the system’s effectiveness as a
whole.
This report
will evaluate the current emergency shelter system in Columbus and Franklin
County using CSB’s established performance standards.
In working
to address homelessness in Columbus and Franklin County, CSB examined regional
and national statistics to provide more context to the issue of homelessness in
our community.
Each year the National Low Income Housing Coalition releases a report discussing the disparity between wages and the cost of rent. The following table highlights Columbus and six other similar cities evaluated in 2001.
|
Disparity
Between Wage and Cost of Rent |
|
|
2001
Annual Family Median Income (AMI) |
2001
Fair Market Rent (FMR) (2
Bedroom Apt.) |
Income
Needed to Afford 2 Bedroom FMR |
Hourly
Wage Needed to Afford 2 Bedroom FMR (at 30% of
income) |
Percent
Change in Wage Needed to Afford 2 Bedroom FMR
(2000-2001) |
Columbus,
OH |
$60,500 |
$626 |
$25,040
(41% of AMI) |
$12.04 |
3.51% |
|
Indianapolis,
IN |
$67,800 |
$578 |
$23,120
(38% of AMI) |
$11.12 |
3.40% |
|
Madison,
WI |
$61,300 |
$699 |
$27,960
(41% of AMI) |
$13.44 |
3.40% |
|
Minneapolis,
MN |
$75,400 |
$862 |
$34,480
(46% of AMI) |
$16.58 |
22.79% |
|
Philadelphia,
PA |
$60,100 |
$839 |
$33,560
(56% of AMI) |
$16.13 |
11.12% |
|
Tacoma,
WA |
$52,800 |
$672 |
$26,880
(51% of AMI) |
$12.92 |
4.64% |
|
Washington,
D.C. |
$86,500 |
$943 |
$37,720
(44% of AMI) |
$18.13 |
9.27% |
National
Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of
Reach 2001: America’s Growing Wage-Rent Disparity.
In the past
year many U.S. cities have faced economic hardship. The downturn of the technologies market
coupled with the September 11 attack has left many Americans with limited
economic opportunities. A recent
report from the U.S. Census Bureau, issued September 2001, gives a look at the
pre September 11 poverty rates.
The following table gives the number and percentage of all people in poverty in the 6 communities highlighted in the previous table:
|
People
of All Ages in Poverty |
|
|
Number |
Percentage |
Franklin
County
(Columbus,
OH) |
111,965 |
11% |
|
Marion
and Hamilton County (Indianapolis,
IN) |
102,961 |
11.9% |
|
Dane
County (Madison,
WI) |
29,111 |
6.9% |
|
Anoka,
Carver and Hennepin County (Minneapolis,
MN) |
117,229 |
9.3% |
|
Philadelphia
County (Philadelphia,
PA) |
299,541 |
21.1% |
|
Pierce
County (Tacoma,
WA) |
69,907 |
10.3% |
|
District
of Columbia (Washington,
D.C.) |
90,664 |
18.2% |
The “poverty
line” is defined as:
One
person
$8,794
Two
people
$11,239
Three people
$13,738
Four
people
$17,603
Five
people
$20,819
Six people $23,528
County
Estimates for People of All Ages in Poverty, U.S. Census Bureau, March
1999.
Given the
increasing cost of housing and the current rise of unemployment, many cities
will face an even greater housing crisis over the next couple of years. The following information describes the
general housing characteristics for Franklin County, Ohio.
|
General
Housing Characteristics: Franklin County, Ohio
| |||||||
|
Total
housing Units |
Occupied
Housing Units |
Vacant
Housing Units |
Vacancy
rate | ||||
|
Total |
Percent |
Home-owner |
Rental | ||||
|
For
Sale Only |
|||||||