2.4 Preventing Family Homelessness Speaker: Sarah Morrison One of the keys to ending homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place. This workshop will examine the most effective strategies to prevent family homelessness, including using homelessness data to target interventions and partnering with providers serving high-risk families. Presenters will cover a wide array of services and solutions.

1. an initiative of Community Solutions
Collaborating with your
Public Housing Authority:
Preserving Affordable Housing to
Prevent Homelessness
Sarah Morrison, Director of Programs
(718) 637-6460
smorrison@cmtysolutions.org

2. Why Public Housing?
• Affordable Housing
• Concentrated Poverty
• Efficient Outreach
• Vulnerable Population
• Mission of PHA

3. Brief History of the Brownsville Partnership
• 2005 began eviction prevention in
Brownsville, Brooklyn after 25 years of
developing supportive housing in New York City
• 2008 transitioned to Partnership model and
narrowed focus to 4 public housing
developments
• 2012 partner programs include early childhood
interventions, child welfare prevention, financial
literacy, probation, alternatives to
incarceration, criminal justice
prevention, recreation center, farmer’s markets

4. Preventing Evictions and Maintaining Housing
Stability in Public Housing
• Appropriately targeting outreach and services
• Calibrating services based on vulnerability for
eviction and homelessness
• Use of community organizing
• Integrating financial literacy into case
management
• Cash assistance for rental arrears
• Connection to community resources

5. Targeting Outreach and Services
• Collect data from local homeless services and
housing authority
• Base services in neighborhoods that are highest
producers of homelessness
• Meet regularly with PHA management office as
well as PHA administration
• Narrow focus further to target outreach to
specific buildings with high rates of rental
arrears, eviction, and shelter entry
• Focus outreach to tenants with risk for
homelessness: e.g. previous
homelessness, evictions, young families

6. Calibrating Services
• Assess tenants’ strengths and risks then
tailor intensity of services to meet needs
• One size does not fit all: tenants need
different levels and types of services
• Crisis is an opportunity for intervention:
services offered at time of emergency with
follow up to maintain stability

7. Community Organizing
• Involve community residents in outreach
and organizing efforts, beyond tenant
associations
• Community residents lead organizing
efforts through house meetings with
residents
• Residents help reach out to their
neighbors, identify those in need
• Services sometimes better accepted from
neighbors

8. Financial Literacy
• Integrate financial literacy services and
counseling into case management services
• Provide different options for financial literacy:
classes, peer-led support groups, individual
counseling tailored to tenants needs
• Advocates trained as financial counselors
• Partner with financial literacy organization

9. Community Resources
• Form relationships with respected
community organizations resources that
can help tenants maintain stability: eviction
prevention, financial literacy, substance
abuse support groups, employment help
• Try not to reinvent the wheel, tap into
existing resources and collaborate
• Connect tenants to resources through
reliable referral networks

10. Contact Information:
Sarah Morrison
Director of Programs
444 Thomas S Boyland Street
Suite 104
Brooklyn, NY 11212
smorrison@cmtysolutions.org
(718) 637-6460
www.cmtysolutions.org