October 29,1999

Rebuilding Lives Recognized by the U.S. General Accounting Office
and the Corporation for Supportive Housing

 

Two national organizations – the U.S. General Accounting Office and the Corporation for Supportive Housing – recently endorsed the Community Shelter Board (CSB) and the Greater Columbus community for their leadership role in housing homeless men through the Rebuilding Lives initiative.

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) selected CSB as being one of the best efforts in the nation for addressing homelessness. The GAO conducted extensive studies to identify "particularly effective or innovative" homeless assistance programs, and from that research, CSB emerged as one of only four "model" efforts.

A special report developed by GAO features Community Shelter Board, along with outstanding homeless assistance programs in Minnesota, Massachusetts and King County, Washington (Seattle). The report praises CSB for playing a central role among service providers and programs in the community, and for ensuring that the whole system works together. CSB also was recognized for its ability to track and measure outcomes of homeless assistance programs countywide.

"It is an honor to realize that, although Rebuilding Lives is still in its infancy, it has already been cited as an example that other communities can look to when developing their own programs to house homeless people," said Barbara Poppe, executive director of the Community Shelter Board.

Rebuilding Lives received another important national recognition when the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), a New York-based organization with expertise in supportive housing, opened an office in Columbus last month. CSH will serve as a technical consultant and advisor to the nonprofit agencies that develop affordable housing for Rebuilding Lives, and will staff the Funder Collaborative, the group of social service organizations that oversees the funding of the housing developments.

CSH’s decision to open an office in Columbus was based on a comprehensive six-month assessment of the community. The key reason Columbus was selected was that the Rebuilding Lives initiative had very strong support from the local government and the community.

CSH has appointed William J. Flaherty to serve as Project Director, and Nikki Delgado as Program Officer.

In addition to providing technical assistance, CSH will be involved with linking the housing developers and social service providers, educating the community about supportive housing and continuing to build support for the effort.

The Rebuilding Lives plan was developed last year by the Scioto Peninsula Relocation Task Force. The task force studied the problem of homelessness in Columbus and found that 15 percent of homeless men in Franklin County use 50 percent of all shelter services. The task force’s plan to end this cycle of homelessness included the creation of permanent, affordable housing combined with counseling, job training and other services. As part of this plan, 800 supportive housing units will be built throughout central Ohio.

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