SHARPP

Spokane Homeless Assistance Response & Prevention PartnershipA Correctional Institution Community Re-Entry ProgramFunded from the Homeless Grant Assistance Program (HGAP) of Washington State Department of Commerce and Spokane County Community Services, Housing & Community Development Department

Project Goals & Highlights

• Ultimate goal of project is to reduce homelessness and recidivism

• Multifaceted approach

• Collaborative partnerships− Partners include Spokane County,

Volunteers of America, Transitions for Women, Goodwill Industries

−Using Spokane’s HMIS system

• Emphasis on “systems change”

Description• All people (estimated at 600 over three years)

without a home exiting institutions will have access to vocational training, responsible renter program, expedited access to medical, food, and other needed services. They may also access housing referrals, landlord guarantees and incentives.

• Approximately 200 people over three years will have access to transitional beds. These staffed homes will include intensive case management, treatment aftercare, vocational assessment, training, and mentoring. After completing this phase, they will then receive rental assistance and landlord incentives to offset rents as they transition into their own homes.

Why Spend Scarce Resources on Criminals?

• Nationally, more than 650,000 people are released from state prisons and an estimated nine million are released from jails each year.

• In the United States, the number of people being released from prison has increased 350% over the last 20 years. During this same time, the number of people who are homeless has swelled dramatically, to the current level of up to 850,000 on any given day.

• More than 10% of those going in and out of prisons and jails are homeless before their incarceration and 49% of homeless adults have reportedly spent five or more days in a jail over their lifetime.

• Locally in 2007, Spokane County Jail released 20,782 people, while another 5,000 were released from Geiger Corrections Center. The Department of Corrections released 843 prisoners into Spokane County.

• Shelter use, both before incarceration and after release, is associated with an increased risk of return to prison or jail. Studies show that this risk of going back to jail increases by 17-23% if homeless.

What is the CREST Team SHARPP is a collaborative program. It consists

of a project team, called the Community Re-entry Service Team or CREST. Its mission is to provide wrap-around and coordinated supportive mainstream services. This new team includes a Housing Resource Specialist from Volunteers of America; Program Manager and Employment Specialists from Goodwill Industries; Community Development Specialist from Spokane County; and additional support for transitional housing through Transitions and Volunteers of America. The Responsible Renter Program from Transitions will be used and actually is taught within several institutions.

Role of Volunteers of America

• Housing Resource Specialist− CREST team member− Housing referrals to all clients− Administers Tenant Based Rental Assistance and

Landlord Incentives

• Maud’s House North and South− Transitional Homes with six beds for men in each− Staffed with on-site residential advisors and House

Manager− Myriad of services provided at home in order for clients

to successfully transition into community• Treatment aftercare management• AA/NA meetings• Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)• Responsible Renter Certification classes• Living Skills• Vocational training and mentoring while in transitional

phase

Roles of Transitions for Women

• Administer and provide certificates for Responsible Renter Certification curriculum

• Provide Transitional Housing Units for single women and women with children

• CREST team member

• Provide instructor to teach Responsible Renter curriculum within Geiger, Eleanor Chase, Women’s Hearth and other institutions

Roles of Goodwill Industries• CREST team member

• Evaluate vocational assessments from incarcerated applicants

• Provide vocational assessments, training, and mentoring to clients exiting incarceration

• Provide MRT & Vocational classes

• Pays for bus passes, food handlers cards, birth certificates, ID, driver’s license

Roles of Spokane County

• Project Coordinator

• CREST team member

• Assessment of potential clients

• Case Management for Transitional Housing Clients

• Measurement and Evaluation of Project

• HMIS input for homeless people exiting institutions

Other important partners and colleagues of SHARPP

• Spokane County Jail and Geiger Corrections

• City of Spokane Human Services Department – Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)

• Department of Corrections – Community Justice Center

• Eleanor Chase and Brownstone Work Release Center

• Spokane County Prosecutors, County & City Public Defenders, Drug Court, Mental Health Court, Spokane Courts

• Washington State Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA)

• DSHS

• Pioneer Services/Spokane Residential Re-Entry Center

Current Status• Five staffed transitional homes

− Two -Single men – two 6 bed –− Single women – 2 beds− Woman with children – 1 apartment

• Teaching Responsible Renter Program Curriculum in transitional homes, Geiger Correctional Facility, Eleanor Chase House, Brownstone W/R, Spokane County Jail and Goodwill

• Vocational assessments, training, and mentoring at Goodwill for all homeless people exiting incarceration

• Housing referrals and assistance, along with applicable landlord incentives to all applicants

• Tenant-based rental assistance to people successfully exiting transitional houses

• TBRA Lite – for those programming but not going through transitional houses

How does it work?• A person commits a crime, is sentenced, and finds themselves

incarcerated without a house to go home to.

• This person becomes aware of the SHARPP program and asks for an initial application

• A meeting within the institution is scheduled with the applicant and members of the CREST team, whereupon in-depth application and assessment material is provided

• Person starts the Responsible Renter Program (RRP) and Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)

• Assessments are scored and applicant is placed on appropriate housing lists

• Person is staffed by CREST - placed on housing lists, Goodwill lists

• Person exits incarceration, either to transitional home or elsewhere.

• Re-entry process starts, vocational training at Goodwill, housing resources provided upon completion of RRP.

• Upon completion of RRP, MRT progress, job, savings, and time at transitional houses is eligible for Tenant Based Rental Assistance.

FUTURE DIRECTION

For more information Spokane County Community Services,

Housing and Community Development Department

Julie Driscoll

SHARPP Program Coordinator

312 West Eighth Avenue, Fourth Floor

Spokane, WA 99204

(509) 477-4516

Fax: (509) 477-2561

jadriscoll@spokanecounty.org