By Paul Tuthill
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Springfield, MA – A public policy and advocacy organization working to end homelessness in Massachusetts has announced support for an initiative to get chronically homeless individuals off the streets and out of shelters..WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance has pledged 50 thousand dollars to the Mental Health Association to allow that organization to expand a pilot program in Springfield that provides housing and intensive support services to chronically homeless individuals. Joe Finn, the executive director of the MHSA says the program has helped people who have failed in other systems to remain in permanent housing..
Funding for the new initiative was donated by the Citizens Bank Foundation, which also donated another 50 thousand dollars that is being used for a different program in Boston that also targets chronic homelessness.
The program operated by the Mental Health Association is part of the city of Springfield's housing first model to end homelessness this decade. It is credited with helping the city dramatically reduce the numbers of homeless living on the streets. Linda Williams, executive director of the Mental Health Association says the key to the program's success is its intensive case management services
Jerry Ray, the director of homeless services for the Mental Health Association says data shows the program is cost effective
People considered chronically homeless account for about 20 percent of the homeless population at any one time, according to Geraldine McCafferty, the city of Springfield's director of housing
The chronically homeless typically have mental health and substance abuse problems that are impediments to permanent housing, and that's why the outreach and following by case managers is critical
Annual counts done on a single day each January, have found the number of homeless individuals living outdoors in Springfield has dropped 85 percent since 2007. The shelter population has dropped 18 percent..