Implementation of the Homeless to Homes Plan

Cincinnati City Council put the Homeless to Homes planning process into motion by ordinance in October 2008. The Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless, Inc. (CoC) is pleased to provide you with the Homeless to Homes Implementation Report and Update, containing information regarding the prioritization and implementation of the recommendations in the Homeless to Homes Plan (HTH) Plan.

The HTH plan seeks to ensure that single homeless men and women have access to safe, appropriate shelter facilities that provide them with the services necessary to move out of homelessness. The plan represents the combined effort, input, and work of many people and groups, and therefore implementation of many HTH recommendations had momentum even before the plan was submitted. As a result, significant progress has already been made on numerous recommendations in the plan, including:

•  Development of a new and separate women’s emergency shelter
•  Expansion of services for homeless youth, as well as development of a new emergency shelter for homeless young adults
•  Reconfiguration and de-concentration of men’s emergency shelter beds
•  Expanded case management services to chronically homeless individuals connected with 60 new housing units specifically designed to serve them
•  Expansion of the Central Access Point toward becoming a true “Central Access System”, which will serve all local homeless shelters
•  Development of 177 new transitional housing units, as well as the filing of funding applications for additional units
•  Applications for funding for four new Permanent Supportive Housing projects which would create a total of 99 new units of Permanent Supportive Housing
•  On-going and regular meetings of the Smart Funding Group, a collaborative of funders working to more effectively deploy available grant resources toward implementing HTH recommendations

There is certainly a great deal of work to be done to fully implement the HTH Plan, but progress is being made. The Continuum of Care, Inc., homeless services agencies, and new partners have begun to incorporate HTH recommendations into their own strategic plans. With the support of local foundations and funders, homeless service providers, the City of Cincinnati, and Hamilton County, and with ongoing input and support from individuals experiencing homelessness, the momentum begun with the Homeless to Homes process will continue to result in significant improvement of our homeless services system.

The Homeless to Homes Implementation Report and Update describes the course that the HTH Transition Team has set forth, as well as provides more detail on the progress made so far.

Additionally, recommendations from within the HTH plan have already received funding from the foundations listed below:

• Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./US Bank Foundation
• Daniel and Susan Pfau Foundation
• E. Kenneth and Esther Marie Hatton Foundation
• The Helen Steiner Rice Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation
• JP Morgan Chase Foundation
• Josephine Schell Russell Charitable Trust (PNC Bank)
• PNC Foundation
• Thomas J. Emery Memorial Foundation
• United Way of Greater Cincinnati
• Weathering the Economic Storm funders collaborative
• Ruth J. and Robert A. Conway Foundation
• The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Click here to view the full Homeless to Homes Implementation Ordinance.