How use of Outreach Ambassadors and a SMART System help the Homeless and Improve Public Safety
We use the ACCPD homeless call reporting (in addition to annual HMIS enrollments) to monitor the transient nature of unsheltered chronically homeless on the streets of Athens. Most reports involve this subgroup of homeless which are of particular interest from a safety and security standpoint.
See updated graph of number of homeless incidents by month as reported by Athens-Clarke County Police Department. While the number of calls may have leveled off in the last couple months, the hours spent on homeless incidents have increased to 8 hours per day in 2023 from 6 hours per day last reported in 2022.
Since 2018 - YTD, ACCPD has encountered approximately 1,200 unique homeless individuals. As you can see from the next graph, over 4,000 incidents were reported in 2022. It is quite common for ACCPD to be called multiple times for same homeless individuals. In fact, ACCPD keeps a running list of “Top 10 Homeless Individuals” for homeless calls.
Currently, the largest number of reported homeless incidents is 34 for person #1 on their list. The frequency drops to 12 reported homeless incidents for person #10 on their list.
During a recent Cloudburst Presentation (April 5th) to the Athens Homeless Advisory Committee regarding unsheltered homelessness, it was mentioned that Advantage Outreach has an increasingly cooperative relationship with ACCPD especially over the last couple years. Typically 72 hours notice is given to unsanctioned camping in illegal spaces prior to removal. It was mentioned that ACCPD will call Advantage Outreach to engage and/or assist with these calls as much as possible.
We understand there are currently 2 Advantage Behavioral Health (ABH) outreach personnel to engage unsheltered homeless on the streets and woods within ACC. In this conversation with Cloudburst, it was reported that on average, Advantage Outreach logs 400-500 homeless engagements per month (engagement with same individuals) while only enrolling 4-5 clients in Clientrack (GA Homeless Management Information System). Advantage outreach has their admirable goal of reaching every known unsanctioned homeless camp at least once per week. Advantage Outreach also mentioned their 2 hour visits to the sanctioned homeless camp once per week where they typically engage 1-4 individuals.
The HMIS system requires significant data to be entered for each client receiving services. A 90 day follow-up upon exiting the system is mandated by HUD as well. When dealing with a transient unsheltered homeless population this data collection is difficult. HUD funding can be affected if insufficient data is entered into the HMIS creating a disincentive to enroll clients.
It was also mentioned that it would be preferred by Outreach if there was an easier system to track clients, without these data mandates.
We can develop that system by using Block by Block Outreach Ambassadors. Their Smart System Platform allows tracking “most active unsheltered homeless”, customizing data collection. Incidents can be logged and those involved tracked on a real-time basis. In addition, a Block by Block program would assist Advantage Outreach by providing the needed outreach support hours to engage unsheltered street homeless. It is known that the more unsheltered homeless are engage the more likely they are to accept services. But, they must have a place to go.
The Smart System Mapping of unsheltered homeless encounters in our October 2022 assessment.
Mental Health Housing Needs
In this Cloudburst discussion, the need for more Permanent Supportive Housing (typically designed for the disabled and those chronically homeless with mental health issues, etc) was reported critical as well as mental health services in ACC. It is important to note that one program of PSH known as the Georgia Housing Voucher Program, GHVP, a fairly new program operated by Advantage in 33 counties, is not included in the HMIS data set and thus not yet part of Cloudburst’s analysis of PSH supply. It has been reported that roughly 150 or more households have been placed in rental housing with these direct state landlord payments which is very promising since these vouchers can walk with the client to any county. Expansion of the GHVP will help only if appropriate housing is available and the individual is capable of living independently (approximately 2 mental health visits per month) which is a very real challenge. Data suggests at least half of chronically unsheltered homeless individuals have mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders which commonly go hand-in-hand.
We know that surrounding counties have essentially no services to address these subgroups of homeless. Why? And, we know that roughly half or more of the unsheltered homeless are from other counties, some from out-of-state, and counties are willing to give “courtesy rides” to ACC for “suspicious persons.” Out-of-county unsheltered homeless individuals may receive medical transport to Piedmont Medical ER, only to leave and walk the streets of ACC. As a result, ACC is organically growing into a regional HUB for homeless services as described by Cloudburst in their presentation on the $2.5 Million HOME-ARP Grant. We have advocated for the state of Georgia to decentralize homeless services in to all counties for superior outcomes and to relieve the burden placed upon ACC regionally. This is absolutely necessary so that city government can focus on pressing local needs of its’ residents.
As mentioned in our article entitled “A win-win for UGA, the Homeless, and Residents” we advocate for immediate construction of the Advantage mental health housing facility at their mental health treatment center on Mitchell Bridge Road (SPLOST 2020 Project 28). We argue this is imperative to public safety and security and addresses the most critical need for both the community and unsheltered chronically homeless individuals living on the street; having housing directly connected with mental health and substance abuse treatment. The state of Georgia will need to explore ways to fund capital projects such as this one to meet the mental health housing needs of unsheltered homeless throughout the state. We advocate for using the $5 Million in ARP SLFRF funds designated for homeless projects in Athens, and the $4 Million in ARP SLFRF designated for Mental Health, as needed, to complete this capital project immediately, rather than wait years for SPLOST funding to come available. There is no operational costs to ACCGOV as Advantage, a community service board of Georgia, has operational capacity. Our main concern is having this mental health treatment housing turn into permanent placement given that many clients unfortunately will not be able to move on to independent living thus availability will be reduced over time.
As we point out, it is important to distinguish between unsheltered chronically homeless individuals (most with mental illness and/or substance abuse) and households recently displaced from affordable housing and the working poor unable to afford existing units. ACC should not be responsible for all of Northeast Georgia’s unsheltered chronically homeless population. And, ACC tax payers should not see funding diverted to sustain measures of accommodation, negatively impacting efforts to subsidize affordable housing for Athenians and future county economic development.