July 2018
Office of Homeless Services 2017 Annual Report
Our first ever Annual Report is out! “This report is for all of our stakeholders. You are a stakeholder if the quality of our performance in the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) can make positive things happen for you, your organization, or community” – Liz Hersh, Director
You may download the 2017 Annual Report as an Acrobat PDF file or click on the heading above to view it as an e-book.
May 10, 2017
A Unique and Effective Multiyear Partnership to Expand Permanent Supportive Housing
By Marcella Maguire, Director of Health Systems Integration, CSH
“The Philadelphia Blueprint Project is a historic partnership among the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHIDS), the Office of Homeless Services, and the Housing Authority that aligns resources between affordable housing and Medicaid Supportive Services to create a unique and effective Supportive Housing Program that has housed 1,200 people since 2008. The Blueprint program has had an 87 percent success rate in preventing a return to homelessness for men and women who have serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and/or concurrent disorders and who have had long-term or chronic homelessness. The multi-year agreement between the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), known as the Blueprint, provides for a portion of affordable housing resources to be targeted to the community’s most vulnerable population—those sleeping on our streets—and combine them with services, creating a homegrown Permanent Supportive Housing program.” Read the Report
CLS Releases Two Studies:
Converting Medicaid, SNAP, and SSI to Block Grants Would Harm Pennsylvania Families
“The block grant funding remains unchanged over time, or increases are capped at low, fixed rates. In 1996, Congress converted cash assistance for the neediest families to . . .TANF block grant. The results have been disastrous for Pennsylvania families. . . . .” Read the Report. (January 2017)
Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Program Is a Vital Tool in Fighting the Opioid Crisis
“Medicaid provides critically important health care to Pennsylvanians who need substance use treatment. Yet Congress is considering cuts to Medicaid that would reverse the progress that Pennsylvania has made in addressing the opioid crisis.” Read the Report. (January 2017)
Living With HIV – Study Released
January 23, 2017
From the Report:
“In 2001, Culhane found that among people living with AIDS in Philadelphia, 9% had been admitted to a shelter in the three years prior to the study, a rate that was triple that of the general population for the same time-period. In another section of this current study, Metraux finds that between 2007 and 2014, 6.9% of people with AIDS in Philadelphia had at least one shelter stay, a rate that is more than double that of the general population. These results indicate that people living with HIV (PWH) are at considerable risk of experiencing homelessness. This report presents the results of a qualitative study examining the housing related challenges confronting PWH in Philadelphia, and the manner in which The Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA), a federal housing program for low-income people living with AIDS, is addressing these challenges.”
Outreach Survey, Executive Summary, DBHIDS, TIP Unit
October, 2016
This Report provides a summary of the outreach surveys administered between October 3, 2016 and October 14, 2016.
The purpose of this survey was for outreach to be able to engage with and discover the current living environment, needs, and housing plans for individuals that may be experiencing street homelessness, with a focus on those seen in areas around Rittenhouse Square, Aviator Park
and Two Penn Center.