No Place to Call Home

 

 

Vision:

Unite with a coordinated effort, utilize the passion of the community and channel it into action to have a positive impact on families of Johnson County who have no place to call home.

Mission:

A coordinated partnership to end homelessness in Johnson County.

Background

Beginning in late 2013, United Way of Johnson County started a systematic review of issues relating to housing and homelessness and then undertook the planning process to begin addressing the issues that were identified.

Upon the completion of the No Place to Call Home Needs Assessment—Phase 1, in late 2014, a Steering Committee was formed, and Phase 2 was started to develop a business plan for the Best First Step to address homelessness in a comprehensive fashion in the community- No Place to Call Home Coordination.

Working within a realistic budget and with resources currently in place, the No Place to Call Home Coordination program is our Best First Step to address homelessness in the community.
 
Coordinated Entry is the key to address Johnson County's Homeless issue
No Place to Call Home Coordination takes place in 3 parts: coordinated entry, coordinated case management and coordinated financial assistance. First, No Place to Call Home Coordination provides a single point of entry and assessment into the program for those who are homeless. Second, No Place to Call Home coordinates case management providers in the county and assigns clients to the most appropriate provider based on their presenting needs. Third, No Place to Call Home coordinates financial resources for clients to assist in addressing their housing needs.
 
Working with KIC-IT, as the program administrator, and Gateway Services, to oversee financial assistance for clients, the No Place to Call Home Coordination program hired a program director in September 2016 and began serving clients on October 1, 2016.  
 
How No Place to Call Home works

Johnson County's residents who are homeless or at risk of being homelss need to call Helpline at 317-738-4636.  The Helpline Director will talk with the client and discuss their housing situtation.  The Helpline Director will evaluate whether the client has the desire to work towards housing stablitly by pariticpating in 3 - 6 months of case management.  In addition, the client needs to have an income source or the ability to obtain an income source.   The number of clients that can be accepted into the program is limited due to the finanical and case management restraints of the program.  Upon acceptance into the program, the client will meet with No Place to Call Home program director to evaluate which case management agency is appropriate to help the client work towards housing stablity.  The No Place to Call Home program director will also discuss the options and resources available to the client to address his/her immediate housing needs.

The following graphic to describes how No Place to Call Home operates:

 

No Place to Call Home in operation

Since the program launched in October 2016, the following are our achievements: (stats are from October 2016 to September 2017)

  • 153 households have been referred to the program.
  • 46 households have been served with finanical assistance and case management.  Make up of these households included 146 adults and children.  
  • 8 households have completed the program which includes being active in case managment for at least 3 months, achieving 80 percent of their goals; being stably housed and having a stable income. 
 
Looking into the future
 
In addition to serving clients with case management and financial assistance for housing needs, the No Place to Call Home program provides a framework to plan for the future as well.  Through outcome tracking, referral tracking, continued work by our Steering Committee, and lessons learned from our initial launch of the program, we will be able to make informed decisions about the next efforts to combat homelessness in Johnson County. No Place to Call Home Coordination is a starting point for an on-going, long-term process.  Long-term objectives of the program include addressing transitional and long-term housing needs, acquiring federal and state funds for the program, and determining the long-term organizational structure for No Place to Call Home.
 
Data on homelessness in Johnson County
  • The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Eduction Assistance Act requires schools to count homeless students and ensure they have access to a public education.  The act defines homeless students as those who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nightime residence.  They could be temporarily doubling-up with a relative or another family. 
          Number of Homeless students reported by the six- Johnson County Schools

         

  • According to the 2015 US Census American Housing Survey, 5315 or 10 percent of  households in Johnson County paid more than 50 percent of their income on housing in 2015. In order for housing to be considered affordable by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), households should spend no more than 30 percent of household income on housing.   
  • No Place to Call Home program has found typical move-in costs in Johnson County can be $2,100 or more including first month's rent, security deposit, utility deposits and often last month's rent.  According to 2016 ALICE (Asset, Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report of bare minimum Household Survival Budget, 32 percent of Johnson County households can't afford to save towards this amount.  
  • According to the Self Sufficiency Standard for Indiana, a Johnson County family with two-working adults and two children, each adult would have to earn $14.97 an hour in order to sustain without the need for public or private assistance. 
  • Primary root cause of homelessness for those households referred into No Place to Call Home are:

Eviction/Foreclosure

Divorce/Separation

Physical Health

Loss of Job

Domestic Violence

Mental Health

Substance Abuse

Family Dynamic Change

Chronic Unemployment

Child Support Issues

No Place to Call Home:   Phase 1: Johnson County Homeless Needs Assessment