Missoula’s ‘housing sprint’ houses 12 homeless vets, gleans dataa

Martin Kidston

(Missoula Current) Calling it a sprint, the City of Missoula successfully housed 12 homeless veterans over a 60-day window during the holidays, completing a task that provided insight into the benefits of using a data-driven response to end homelessness.

On Tuesday, Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis and several housing advocates employed with the city said the “Housed for the Holidays” push sought to find housing for a specific homeless population that faced a number of barriers in accessing housing, from the cost of a deposit to a criminal past.

“It was labor intensive and really required us rolling up our sleeves, but we have shown what we can do,” said Davis. “We're constantly in an iterative state when it comes to addressing houselessness. The issues are multifaceted and the solutions need to be multifaceted. We need to look at what we've been doing and if those practices are effective.”

Missoula was one of several cities and counties to receive a $30,000 grant from Community Solutions to explore an atypical response to homelessness. In doing so, it was also tasked to select a single homeless population.

The process identified 15 homeless veterans the city hoped to house. Of those, the effort secured housing for 12 of them. One veteran had been without housing for 13 months but under the intensive effort, he was housed in four days.

Dillon Barbash, the city's Built for Zero specialist, said the effort problem-solved for each individual to help them overcome their housing barriers.

“I looked at a lot of individuals who had their own employment or had a decent amount of income to sustain housing, but needed just a little additional help,” Barbash said. “After that, we found time to support those individuals after they got into housing.”

While the barriers facing each individual were unique, Barbash said personal backgrounds and finances played as a common theme. As a result, area landlords were often unwilling to sign a rental agreement, even if the veteran had an income or a housing voucher.

But Barbash was persistent in working with skeptical landlords and with funding from the grant, he was able to negotiate terms and trust to get a veteran housed. That included asking property managers or landlords to waive traditional application requirements in exchange for a financial incentive.

Though such an approach was outside the box, Barbash said it worked in housing 12 of the 15 veterans. It also demonstrated that a “housing first” approach and building personal relationships could help move the dial on homelessness.

“You get into housing first and figure out the rest,” he said. “You get people into a stable environment where they can think clearly and process and take the next steps to sustain that hosing for themselves.”

Future funding

The Built for Zero movement represents a consortium of cities and counties across the country and beyond that have committed to measurably ending homelessness for entire populations.

Emily Armstrong, the health and programs manager at the city, said the data-drive program demonstrates how a localized effort can find success in addressing a stubborn social problem. By participating, Missoula's housing advocates also gleaned new ideas while gaining a better understanding of their own system.

“That was part of the intention, to look at the data and see what the story is telling us and create a process to better understand these sub-populations,” said Armstrong. “We've discovered that we can actually move faster than we thought. But housing first must come with support.”

Such support isn't guaranteed where funding is concerned. The $30,000 grant helped fuel the recent Housed for the Holidays push, but securing future funding may be a challenge and future city budgets may be hard-pressed to cover the cost without outside support or novel partnerships.

But Davis said the housing push did offer insight into the possibilities of a targeted effort. She said the city will continue to explore funding opportunities and evaluate what programs it's supporting and if they're working.

“We're committed to looking at what resources we're spending, if they're effective, if they're getting the outcomes we want, and if we can spend them differently to achieve the outcomes we want, which ultimately is getting people connected to housing and services,” said Davis.

Davis added that the city may use its experience in the housing sprint to reshape its relationships with local service providers. The data may also play into future decisions on shelter space, the housing first model and other homeless services.

“It allows for this being a targeted approach. It's what this entire program has been attempting to illustrate,” said Davis. “It uses data, measures the activity and shows the results. When you take that, you can expand that to other populations.”