For the second year in a row, the Bowser Administration has reduced homelessness among families by improving the quality of services and investing in housing solutions.

DHS is reducing homelessness among families by:

• Ensuring year round access to shelter in emergencies, regardless of the temperature outside;
• Preventing homelessness through a targeted prevention program;
• Leveraging rapid re-housing as a progressive engagement resource;
• Strengthening the supportive services in housing programs;
• Utilizing interim eligibility to provide immediate shelter for families in urgent need while the department needs more time to discern whether shelter is the most appropriate intervention for each family;
• Implementing a faster process to exit families to long-term subsidies;
• Facilitating the launch of a private fund to mitigate risk to landlords who relax their tenant screening criteria;
• Enhancing landlord partnerships in family rapid re-housing so landlords receive one full payment and the District collects the tenant portion of the rent; and
• Creating a resolution portal for landlords and case managers to quickly resolve payment or other program-related matters.

Mayor Bowser’s strategy to close DC General and replace it with smaller, service-enriched, community-based Short-Term Family Housing programs is well underway.

DHS is reshaping the homeless services continuum for families in communities across the city. This map shows the existing and planned permanent locations where families experiencing homelessness are temporarily placed in shelter.* The size and color correspond with the capacity and status of each program.

• DC General
• STFH, Ward 1
• STFH, Ward 3
• STFH, Ward 4
• STFH, Ward 5
• STFH, Ward 6
• STFH, Ward 7
• STFH, Ward 8

*The District also uses motels for overflow capacity as necessary to meet the full emergency need.

As of October 31, 2018, DHS and our partners at DC General are working with 0 families on their housing stabilization plans, and the goal is to move all families into permanent housing before DC General closes.

DHS stopped making shelter placements at DC General on May 15, 2018. For DC General families who have not yet exited to permanent housing, DHS and our partners continue working with them on their housing stabilization goals. If families are unable to move to permanent housing, DHS will ensure they have a safe place to stay.

What do these categories mean?

• Clear Exit Path means the family is still at DC General but has a lease up scheduled prior to the shelter’s closure or has a clear and actionable exit path identified.
• Housing Search Underway means the family will be ready to lease up as soon as they find a viable unit and that unit passes inspection.
• Housing Stabilization Plan in Development means the family is still working on their housing stabilization plan with their case manager and is not yet ready to conduct their housing search.

How are families implementing their Housing Stabilization Plans?

• Each family works with a case manager to develop a customized housing stabilization plan that will assist them with transitioning from DC General to permanent housing. Weekly meetings with case managers can help reduce barriers, make adjustments to the plan, and track progress.
• Families and case managers conduct a housing search in the community and online to identify possible leasing options for permanent housing.
• For families receiving TANF, families can connect to their TANF employment provider for help increasing their income.

Connecting families to permanent housing is one way DHS is reducing the number of families experiencing homelessness, which enables us to close DC General.

What are the permanent housing options for families?

• Rapid Re-Housing (FRSP) is a research-based intervention designed to help individuals and families quickly exit homelessness and return to permanent housing. Rapid Re-Housing assistance and the resources and services provided are tailored to the unique needs of the household. The program includes first month’s rent and security deposit, furniture assistance, housing search assistance, connections to job training, a temporary rental subsidy up to 12 months, and moving assistance.
• Targeted Affordable Housing is a supportive housing subsidy targeted to key populations of individuals and families being served by the homeless services system that do not need ongoing supportive services and that, but for long-term subsidies, could not exit homelessness or would return to homelessness.
• Permanent Supportive Housing is a supportive housing subsidy and case management for an unrestricted period of time for individuals and families who were once homeless and continue to be at imminent risk of becoming homeless, including persons with disabilities for whom self-sufficient living may be unlikely and whose care can be supported through public funds.

What are the other exit destinations?

• Transfers within the homless services system are sometimes necessary. For example, a family could move to a different emergency shelter or to an apartment-style shelter depending on the circumstances in each case. These are not true exits from homeless services, but may be exits from DC General.
• At any time, a family can move on their own into stable housing outside of the shelter system.
• Apartment-style Shelters are smaller, community based emergency housing facilities with private-room units and the amenities families need to quickly exit shelter into permanent housing.
• Terminations can occur when program rules have been violated. However, it is possible to be in a dual status where a family has technically been exited from the program due to termination, but remains in shelter while the case is being appealed.
• An adult client can be referred for removal when they are no longer in the household. If the client continues to need homeless services, they are referred to services in the single adult system.

We forecast net entries and exits in the homelessness system and compare it to the actual weekly system entries and exits.

DHS utilizes an open-source algorithm developed by Facebook which leverages an additive regression model to forecast seasonal trends as well as changes in entries and exits based on historical change points in the data.

This chart shows the actual and projected entries and exits over time. As you can see, there are instances of net inflows into the system, and other months show net outflows. This is simply a planning tool to ensure our homeless services system is well positioned to handle expected inflows based on historical performance. For more information about the algorithm, please check the following website: https://research.fb.com/prophet-forecasting-at-scale/.

Learn more about our progress toward ending homelessness in DC by visiting our blog.