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Community DC Lynn Rose MCCH · Community D.C.

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the program for the first time, Lynn Rose. She is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the director of Development and Community Partnerships at Montgomery County
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Coalition for the Homeless, also known as MCCCH. We'll talk
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: about a myriad of subjects, including what MCCH does and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: how it's been making tremendous strides for not only housing
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the homeless in Moco County, but working to get homeless
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: men and women prepped and back into the workforce. Here's
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: my conversation with Lynn. I hope you enjoy it as
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  Speaker 1: much as I did.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Lynn, Good morning Dennis. I'm so excited to
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: be with you today.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Well, it's great to have you on the program on
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Community DC for the first time ever. I'm glad we
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: got the introduction and I do want to talk about
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to educate our listener about the history of it. And
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I know everything kind of started in nineteen ninety. I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: don't know how much you know about it, but I
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: would love to hear just kind of about the origin
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: of it and then where you are today, and then
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  Speaker 1: we have so much to talk about about what you
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and your team do. But do you have just a
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  Speaker 1: little snapshot on the history of it for us?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And it's kind of a fun backstory because it
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: tells a couple stories at the same time. So MCCH,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: because Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless is a very
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  Speaker 3: long name and no one should have to repeat it.
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  Speaker 2: It's a mouthful.
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  Speaker 1: You're right, good, I'll do that from now on.
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  Speaker 2: It is it is so MCCH.
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  Speaker 3: So we are about thirty five years old and we
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  Speaker 3: are the largest homeless service provider in Montgomery County. We're
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: a nonprofit that got started in about nineteen ninety when
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  Speaker 3: people started to notice that some community members looked like
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: they were sleeping outside.
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  Speaker 2: And so there was actually a coalition of.
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  Speaker 3: People that got together in a couple of meetings that said, hey,
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  Speaker 3: we can fix this.
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  Speaker 2: We can figure this out. This really shouldn't happen in
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  Speaker 2: our community.
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  Speaker 3: And as they studied it and tried to solve the
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: problem a little bit more earnestly, they realized, wait, this
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  Speaker 3: is more complex and a little bit more trick so
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  Speaker 3: we need to maybe pull together an organization, and so
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  Speaker 3: they did. And so they started with just one or
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  Speaker 3: two people and then it's grown right now to we've
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  Speaker 3: got about one hundred and eighty team members that are
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: really working together with the same goal as when we started,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: how do we end homelessness in Montgomery County, Maryland.
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  Speaker 1: You know, years ago I heard an entrepreneur talk about
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  Speaker 1: homelessness and why it's not easy to solve in America,
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  Speaker 1: and it really gave me a lot of education because
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  Speaker 1: there were so many different buckets about it, because when
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: you did one thing gave them housing, there was another
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  Speaker 1: issue that you had to deal with. And I know
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  Speaker 1: you know about this, and I want you to talk
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  Speaker 1: about it, but I also want you to talk about data.
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  Speaker 1: And I know when we do these kind of things
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  Speaker 1: in the show that people get pretty alarmed, whether we're
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: talking about diseases to solve out there or how many
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  Speaker 1: homeless people we have in the DMV right now. It's
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  Speaker 1: always shocking. But the reason why we're talking about it
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  Speaker 1: not going to hold you to any certain data right now.
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  Speaker 1: But do you have any data you could share with
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  Speaker 1: us about what kind of numbers we're looking at in
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  Speaker 1: the area when it comes to homelessness.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, I think I need to back up even more
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  Speaker 3: and say that the study of homelessness and the work
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  Speaker 3: of homelessness and solving homelessness has really come a long
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  Speaker 3: way in the last thirty five years. And what started
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  Speaker 3: out for us. We run the men's shelter. That's one
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  Speaker 3: of the direct solutions we provide to homelessness in Montgomery County.
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  Speaker 3: It started out as just a trailer on a construction
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  Speaker 3: type site. It was on the dump, but it was
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  Speaker 3: just a trailer and when guys came in for the night,
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  Speaker 3: we gave them a blanket and then they left in
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  Speaker 3: the morning. And I'm quite sure we maybe prevented someone
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  Speaker 3: from freezing, but we didn't really help them get into
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  Speaker 3: a home, right, We just were there for that moment.
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  Speaker 3: Today we are operating the Neble Street Emergency Shelter for
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  Speaker 3: men and there's two hundred full time beds, meaning you
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  Speaker 3: don't have to leave in the morning.
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  Speaker 2: You can or you can if you want to go
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  Speaker 2: to work.
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  Speaker 3: But in addition to beds and additions to a program
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  Speaker 3: for meals that is supported by the community.
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  Speaker 2: There's services on site.
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  Speaker 3: There's an employment center that an employment specialists to help
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  Speaker 3: guys move forward and find either education or back into.
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  Speaker 2: The worst force.
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  Speaker 3: There's a doctor's office, there's suites for folks to get
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  Speaker 3: mental health care. There is a housing locator, there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of different roles that we have on site to
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  Speaker 3: help guys move from shelter into an actual home.
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  Speaker 2: Because the solution to homelessness is what it's a home.
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  Speaker 3: And as complex as it is to fall into homelessness
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  Speaker 3: and sometimes to find that home and get approved for
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  Speaker 3: that home, it's still the solution is very simple.
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  Speaker 2: It's a home.
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  Speaker 3: In terms of numbers, when any community, and we are
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  Speaker 3: a community Montgomery County, sometimes a community is a city.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes it's a state. With some of the states that
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  Speaker 3: are so big, so small in terms of population. For us,
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  Speaker 3: our community is Montgomery County, and so our community has
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  Speaker 3: seen a noticeable rise in the last two years in
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: the numbers of people experiencing homelessness. But we need to
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  Speaker 3: do account every February, every January, February, every winter so
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  Speaker 3: that we have a good sense of how many people
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  Speaker 3: are experiencing homelessness. It's just kind of like a line
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  Speaker 3: in the sand, right, It's just one of the ways
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  Speaker 3: that we have so.
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  Speaker 2: At that last countless last I believe the.
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  Speaker 3: Numbers maybe come out in February, but it was in January,
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  Speaker 3: there were about eleven hundred people that were considered homeless.
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  Speaker 3: So that's street homeless, that is folks in the shelters.
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  Speaker 3: That's maybe someone who's experiencing homelessness but in a hospital
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  Speaker 3: at the moment experiencing homelessness, or in some kind of
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: facility where it's not a long term place.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a lot of people.
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  Speaker 3: However, we have a county of one point two million,
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  Speaker 3: and we are we have a robust system in this
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  Speaker 3: community of actually ending homelessnessness for people in a really
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  Speaker 3: organized way. Just like our shelter went from like a
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  Speaker 3: trailer on adult to a full blown, you know, two
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  Speaker 3: hundred bed facility, which now I've got to say it's winter,
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  Speaker 3: and we had to actually add an extra sixty I
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  Speaker 3: think there were seventy men there maps on the floor
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  Speaker 3: to really adjust to the need.
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  Speaker 2: There's still solutions that are possible.
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  Speaker 3: Let me broaden it out just a little bigger, because
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  Speaker 3: I want your listeners to really have a sense that
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  Speaker 3: this is complex and hard, but we are doing it
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  Speaker 3: and what we're doing is really working. In twenty twenty four,
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  Speaker 3: there was about seven hundred and ten thousand people recorded
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  Speaker 3: who experienced homelessness in our country. That's a lot of people,
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  Speaker 3: over half a million. But let me also share them.
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  Speaker 3: In twenty twenty four, all our communities helped six hundred
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  Speaker 3: and thirty thousand of them back into a home. So
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  Speaker 3: and that was thirty thousand more than the year before.
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  Speaker 3: And so what's really exciting in the field of homelessness,
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  Speaker 3: if you will, is that there are solutions that we
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  Speaker 3: are providing that are actually working, and so we want
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  Speaker 3: to continue to be able to provide them as we
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  Speaker 3: move forward. There's a couple direct service ways that we
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  Speaker 3: solve homelessness. One is shelters. We we're fortunate to be
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: in a community where there are a lot of nonprofits
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  Speaker 3: that play different roles. They're outreach teams, and those are
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  Speaker 3: the folks that know who's behind Trader Joe's maybe living
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  Speaker 3: in their car.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: There are shelters. We run the men's shelter, We run
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  Speaker 3: veterans shelters. They're called Safe Haven shelters, and so we
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  Speaker 3: have houses that are shelters just for veterans.
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  Speaker 2: Men and women.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing that we do to help end homelessness
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  Speaker 3: for people is we run something called supportive housing. So
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  Speaker 3: this has been a little bit in the news recently.
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  Speaker 3: Permanent support of housing and then there is rapid rehousing.
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  Speaker 3: So rapid rehousing maybe for two years you're need some
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  Speaker 3: support and then you're going to leave support and be independent.
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  Speaker 3: For permanent supportive housing, that's where people have some pretty
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  Speaker 3: significant disabilities and we're providing some rent support and a
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  Speaker 3: case manager, so once they leave homelessness and move into
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: a home, we can help them stay there and not
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  Speaker 3: fall back into homelessness.
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  Speaker 1: Lynn, this could be its own part podcast. My next question,
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  Speaker 1: So forgive me for this, but I know it's a
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  Speaker 1: real big one. But one of the things that when
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: we talk to people like you that are experts in
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  Speaker 1: this field, you know, we learn a lot. We get
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  Speaker 1: educated when it comes to the news and people in
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: general as we hear about homelessness and what you do
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  Speaker 1: with your staff for living. What are we getting wrong
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  Speaker 1: out there that we don't understand or maybe the people
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  Speaker 1: that are trying to help don't understand what's happening out there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate that question, because you know, if you
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  Speaker 3: haven't maybe sat down and talked with one hundred or
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  Speaker 3: two hundred, or three hundred or four hundred people that
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  Speaker 3: fell into homelessness and had that experience, How on earth
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  Speaker 3: are you going to know? And so one of my
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  Speaker 3: joys in participating and being an active part of MCCH
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  Speaker 3: for the last eight years is I've learned a lot
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  Speaker 3: and some of those inaccuracies that I had really have
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  Speaker 3: been able to change based on the information that I saw,
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  Speaker 3: based on real people and real stories and real experience
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  Speaker 3: I had with people that have fallen into homelessness. So
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  Speaker 3: I think part of it is it feels on the
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  Speaker 3: person who's experienced it. They feel so ashamed, and I
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  Speaker 3: don't think people realize that. Sometimes I'm standing with people
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  Speaker 3: in front of the men's shelter and I'm telling them
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  Speaker 3: a little bit of like, here's all that we have
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  Speaker 3: here to help people move forward. Isn't it great? I
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  Speaker 3: have to add, But at the same time, every man
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  Speaker 3: that walks through the door, it's the same for the
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  Speaker 3: women's shelter, same for the family shelters. We Ever, when
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  Speaker 3: you walk through those doors, you feel like you failed
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  Speaker 3: in the most terrible way. You did everything you could
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  Speaker 3: think of not to fall into homelessness, and it happened. Anyways,
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  Speaker 3: you feel like a failure so I think people don't
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  Speaker 3: realize that people have been actively trying to prevent this
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  Speaker 3: fall into homelessness for a while and it just hasn't worked,
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  Speaker 3: and so it's crushing. In addition to losing a home,
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  Speaker 3: I think people don't appreciate fully because they just don't
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  Speaker 3: know some of the.
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  Speaker 2: Causes of homelessness.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of times it's loss of a job, even
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: to find another one you're behind on rent, and then
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: trying to get back into it apartment after you don't
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: have that good you know, after you've been evicted.
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  Speaker 2: Good luck in Montgomery, cann or any place now right.
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  Speaker 3: Some people have been set by medical situations that pop up.
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  Speaker 3: We're sharing a story with our supporters about a mom
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  Speaker 3: and two kids.
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  Speaker 2: She worked all her life.
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  Speaker 3: She worked government contracting, she did accounting, and she did
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: some other things. She developed a sickness that stopped her
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: from talking and walking. It was crazy, and so they
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: held on for a while and then fell into homelessness,
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  Speaker 3: and so she needed extra extra help when she came
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  Speaker 3: out of homelessness.
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  Speaker 2: So she is a family.
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  Speaker 3: Her family was a family that was eligible for a
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: permanent supod of housing. That kind of helped that you're like, Hey,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to give you some rent support and a
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: case manager to help you move forward so you can
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  Speaker 3: become independent again. I think people don't appreciate that a
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: lot of times I'll fall into homelessness isn't personal failure,
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: it's life happened to them, and I've learned that in
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: story after story. The other thing I think people don't
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: fully appreciate is that a lot of folks that have
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: a substance abuse problem didn't have one until they fell
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: into homelessness. So there's less everyone who's addicted to something
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: is going to fall into homelessness. I think that's a
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  Speaker 3: little bit of the misconception, right, But actually that's less of.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: A reason people fall to homelessness.
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  Speaker 3: Certainly is for some people, right, But when you've lost
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: your home and you lost everything, and you feel like
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  Speaker 3: a failure because you did everything prevent it but you
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: just couldn't, and then you also feel that moral failing
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: that we all feel for no good reason except it
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: feels like people are judging us. Right, then that's just
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: that's a terrible storm of challenge that you know you're
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: going to maybe have a few drinks to kind of
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: relieve the pressure. On and so then after a while
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: you can't solve it quickly, you're going to develop a problem.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I'm glad we're talking about this because
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people as we get educated
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: about why you know, and what you've learned over the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: last eight years and visiting with all of these people,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: is that it's not people wouldnking in drug problems, maybe
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: some mental health issues. It doesn't discriminate. And I think
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  Speaker 1: that's the thing, that there's all different shapes and sizes
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  Speaker 1: of people that this happens to. You could be, as
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: you mentioned, working your whole life, have a family, you
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: lose your job, and you lose your home, and it
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: happens that quickly, and as sad and tragic as that
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  Speaker 1: it is, it does not discriminate, does it.
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  Speaker 3: What we're also seeing in terms of numbers, it's not outsized,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: but in terms of an increase in the last couple
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: of years, we're seeing an increase of seniors experiencing homelessness,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: and a lot of the stories they're sharing is, well,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: the landlord increase my rent and I just on my
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: fixed income couldn't make it, and then I couldn't figure
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: out how to find another place that I could afford
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: and do all those pieces where I could transition. Well,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: we've had people who have been caring for a relative.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: This has happened a number of times where you've got
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: someone who they're a single person, so they go home
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: to care for their mom or their dad who's got
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: for five or six years, got some pretty severe illness,
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: and so they're the caretaker in the home and they
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: help that person stay in their home.
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  Speaker 2: And save the rest of us a lot of money
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: or whatnot.
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  Speaker 3: But also or they're there and they can be that
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: loved one for their parent as they kind of can
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: you know, take the final steps in their life. And
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: then they pass away, and then they're stuck because that's
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: not their home, or they lose access to or they
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: don't have enough of an income because they were caring
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: for their parent and so that was really a full
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: time job. And so so there's a lot of ways
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  Speaker 3: people are falling.
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  Speaker 2: Who are seniors into homelessness.
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  Speaker 3: We've got gentlemen at the Nimbles street s, elders that
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  Speaker 3: come with a walker, that come with a breathing you know,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: the oxygen machine, and that I think is also something
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: that we don't necessarily think about like, wait, they're seniors
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: that are literally falling into homelessness because even if your
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: rent increases, you know, three or four cent percent a year,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: if you live there for twenty years, you know, and
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: your income is still fixed because you're not going out
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: to get or better job because you're sixty eight or
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: seventy five or eighty two, then that's a real challenge.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So I'd love to talk a little bit more about
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the shelter and what it offers. Obviously, there's warmth, there's bed,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: there's blankets. I'd love to talk about, you know, when
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: it comes to food and to you know, anything else
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: as they try and make a transition to the next step.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I know there's as I said, there's a lot of
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: buckets to this, not just housing somebody for a night
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and keeping them warm so they can get a good
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: night sleep and be safe. Can you talk about some
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: of the other things that you offer.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, if our goal is to get people back into
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: a home, we need to do a lot of things
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: to help people. And I will say I will also
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: add that the number one the most essential element that I.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Would have not realized.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: That people needed our Men's Shelter and every shelter, I
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: think is just hope, and so they need people to
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: believe in them. I've heard time over time the fact
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: that someone just came and talked to them and helped
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: them walk through some basic things that felt overwhelming. That
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: was the unlocking of the hope that let them move
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: forward and take the other steps. So, in terms of
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: actual is on site, like I said, we've got an
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: employment center and we've got an employment specialist to help
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: people actually get into the workforce. Again, one of the
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: things that's happened the last number of years, last couple
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: of years really is most jobs you have to go
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: through an online portal. So we had a gentleman who'd
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: worked with Goodyear for twenty years and then life happened.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: He experienced homelessness, and so he saw at a local
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: there was a sign in the jiffy lup. He's like, oh,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: I'd be great for that role. I'm excited. I love cars,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: I'm very good at it. I've worked on it for
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: two decades. It was it was quite a leap to
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: get him even to be able to apply. So our
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: employment special worked on us. Took him an hour and
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: a half to fill out because he had never uploaded
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: anything or downloaded, and so he went back and he
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: said it, I applied online.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: You know, can I talk to anything. Well, they're like no,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: keep checking back.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: And it was such a challenge because all of the
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: online you know, HR pieces are managed somewhere else. So
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: having someone to kind of help him stay okay, go
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: ahead and email them again, go ahead, and those things
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: that if you work in a professional office you might
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: know to do, but if you don't, you're going to
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: need that help. Eventually, it took almost a month and
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: a half, but he started that job. He started that job,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: and within a month he was back in his own home.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: He went to a rented room, which is what most
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: people go to from the shelter. They're not really yet
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: able to be able to secure an apartment, but they're
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: able to secure a rented room.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Well that's huge. That's a great success story. And you know,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: it's really interesting and you know the message that I'm getting,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: which I think is really cool. What you and your
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: team do is that there's a problem with homelessness. So
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: you shelter somebody, but then you also come up with
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: a solution. As you talked about the beginning of our
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: conversation to moving forward to get them back in the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: workforce and also hopefully to just have their own place
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: again too. And there's so many places out there that
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: just do the one thing. They house them, that's it.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: That's a great thing, but you take it to the
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: next level for extra solution. I love that you do that,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and it makes a lot of sense too well.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: The other I mean, I think part of it is
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: when you've been around a while and you think that
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: part of our mission.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Every year is to figure out how to do it better?
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: Yea, and how do we accomplish because honestly, the numbers grow, like, so,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: how can we do So we've been able to put
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: in place some things that we weren't sure that worked
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: and they actually worked. And you can only do that
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: if you kind of got the basics down right. So
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: there's been more. There's teams that do diversion in the county.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: It's great.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: It's like, how can we help somebody maybe not even
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: fall into homelessness. Right, there's prevention and then there's diversion.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: You've explored everything, but you need some help with those
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: emergency solutions that only someone outside of yourself and a
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: little extra money or resources can come up to so
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: some really good diversion services our county has because we've
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: got this wonderful whole system of homeless services of Montgomery
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: County of which we in are other nonprofits.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Are part and so that's great.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: But we're having some guys come to the shelter and
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: we're like, you know, they have the lowest level or
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: the smallest number of challenges to get back into a home.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: I wonder if we could kind of create our own
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: little team and our own little rapid exit right and
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: let's have a person in charge of that. Let's call
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: them the rapid Exit Specialist, and their focus is after
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: we assess people really well, like work with these guys
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: and help them get out without within thirty days. It
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: was a phenomenal success because that position had some extra funding,
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: some different solutions, and it was it was hosted by
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: somebody who kind of really was good at negotiating things
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: with people in the community and could work and facilitate
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: with that individual and maybe a possible solution. And in
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: the first year, you know, there was like eighty men
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: that went within thirty days from shelter into a home,
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: which is great because it showed us that Yeah, again,
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: when you target certain things to do, you can do
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: them better than if you just leave everybody a group,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: you know, a larger group.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: In addition, those beds then became available.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Now we've got other folks that are not going to
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: leave in thirty days, as it does take a long
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: time to kind of figure things out for some people.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: And then if you have a pretty severe and persistent
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: mental illness, you're going to need some help, and you
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: might need a special program like our PSH program and
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: so or you know, like a PSH and so you're
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: going to need some extra help, and it's going to
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: take a little bit longer. But we want to get
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: people out of the shelter as quickly as possible because
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: what we found is not this anybody. If you think
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: about it, it would make sense. The longer you're there,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: the more challenged you're going to feel. You're like, oh,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: it hasn't worked out like any one of us. Like
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: if we have a problem, the longer that problem lasts,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: the less hopeful we feel about it, even if we're
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: making progress. I broke my ankle in the summer. I
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: still am not walking the right way and I'm delighted
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: that I'm out of the cast and out of a
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: boot and whatnot, but it's a little discouraging that I'm
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: not yet back to my active, regular self.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: And so we find that it's really true for the guys' shelter.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: So we want to get people out as fast as
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: we can and get them into a home. One of
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: the things that I think a lot of people don't appreciate,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: and you'll hear this pop up in the news a lot,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: is this is this philosophy of like housing first. A
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: long time ago, when Homeless Services First was trying to
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: figure out what was working best for people, we tried
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: to solve all someone's challenges. Let's get you medically together,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: let's get you physically or mentally together. Let's solve all
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: your subsistues problems, that's work on all your family dynamic like,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: let's solve it all and then you know you'll be
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: eligible for a home. But if you've actually had to
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: solve any problem in your life without having a home,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: you'll realize it's not very successful. You need a home first,
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: and then all those other things right, And so the
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: model that we've been utilizing our community many other Communities
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: developing DC in New York all other places. Is this
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: housing first where And there's a lot of misconception right
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: now about what that is.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: It basically you.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Start with a house and then you add the other pieces, right,
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: And so that's really been helpful if we can focus
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: on how do we get people in a home?
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: But no, for some of them, we're going to.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Need to keep some supportive services in place to connect
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: them to the resources that are going to really make
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: them feel as independently possible and function as well as possible.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: We have a really.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Cool site in downtown Bethesda called Gordell Place and we've
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: got thirty two people in our PSH program there again
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: permanent supportive housing. And what's great about it is almost
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: all of them, I think there's one or two that
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: have physical severe physical disabilities.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: But almost all of them have a pretty severe and
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: persistent mental illness.
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: And did this terrible dance between street homelessness and jail
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: because you can't be in public, which is a good rule,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: but if you don't have a home, that's kind of
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: what you're going to do to you know, maybe a
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: psych unit for a day or an er because you're
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: physically Unwell, it's this terrible cycle of things.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: They just were never stable.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Well, we've got thirty two people that are now in
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: a home in downtown Bethesday at Cortell Place, and what's
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: really great is they're able to keep they're able to
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: stay in that home. We have a phenomenal director who said,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: you know, what would be what kind of a lot
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: of solving problems for any of us is like breaking
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: down barriers, right, And so she said, you know, for
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: these folks that are you know, experienced street homelessness, so
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: it had to be tough so not they could try
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: not to be attacked and robbed and whatnot, which happens
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: all the time if you're street homeless. What if we
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: bring a doctor right on site. Right, So she brings
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: a doctor on site, brings a nurse on site, and
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: suddenly it went from like sixteen of them being somewhat
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: engaged with mental health treatment, now all of them are
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: engaged with mental All of them are engaged with mental
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: health treatment.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: And so being able to kind of say, hey, let's
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: have some of the things accessible when you have a home,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: then that's really what builds stability.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: So that's an exciting place because people have a home
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: that didn't for a lot of years. One gentleman there
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: was street homeless for over twenty five years in downtown
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: Bethesda and now he has a home and he's been
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: there for the last five or six years.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: That's extraordinary. I really appreciate you sharing that before I
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: ask how people and our listeners can help. I know
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: there's always challenges. Funding is always a big thing. How
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: are you funded right now at mcch.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: So we've got a mix of federal funds, we receive
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: funds out of HUD that's probably been in the news,
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: and a lot of we have five programs they are
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: and a bit at risk from that funding. That funding
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: was supposed to be continued for a second year after
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: all the all the the grants that we did, and
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: that's that's HUT is not sure it's going to do that.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: So we've got five five five programs are a little
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: bit of risk right now, but usually it's at federal.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: We live in a community.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Montgomery County is a community that's really dedicated to actually
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: ending homelessness. So we've got great support from the county,
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: the county execs, support of the County Council, supportive. The
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: county government's really supportive, and so they provide funding for
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: a lot of our programs too. And then we've got
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: individual individual people, individual families, corporations, faith communities, and a
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: whole variety of I think probably about twenty percent of
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: the money that we used to actually end homelessness for
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: people comes from Montgomery County community members, which is wonderful.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Well, that's a great segue, so we could talk a
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: little bit about getting on the website and ways to give.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: With that said, if a small, medium, large business or
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: an entrepreneur out there, or somebody that just wants to help,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: what's the best way for them to do that? With you?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Where should they.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Start finding the very best way to jump in to
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: helping to end homelessness takes just a little bit of work,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: but we found that it's worth it. There's a variety
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: of things that we have and we want to make
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: sure that what people choose to do, it's a good
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: fit for them and a good foot for the people
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: that we serve, and a good fit for the on
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: site teams.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: So we try to open as many doorways as we
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: can think of.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: And then we like to work with people and say Oh,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: is there a doorway that might work for you that
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: we haven't thought of, Let's talk about and so some
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: of those doorways include our annual drives. We've got a
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: back to school drive where we're collect backpacks with all
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: the supply stuffed in the backpacks. We've got a holiday
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: giving drive that just wrapped up where we collect gift
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: cards for all the folks that we have in supportive housing.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: We have five hundred and forty.
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: One households in permanent support housing and rapidory housing.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of great households.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: They earn almost nothing, and so when the community steps
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: in and adds a gift card present or gift card gift,
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: it makes a big, big difference. A lot of times
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: it's collecting what people need. We've got a really fun
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: thirty by thirty challenge where you and your group and
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: we just had a seven year old.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Host another one.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: You create a move inkit and we have your list
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: and we have an online sign up.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: We try to make it super easy for people, but really.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: You get to donate when someone moves from shelter and
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: to home everything they need. Because you need a coffee mug,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: I think yeah, to be dignifying your home, and you
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: might need a comforter and you might need a back map, right,
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: so people can do that. We've got cleaning bags of
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: care people that people. If you haven't had a lot
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: of experience with people that don't have a lot of money,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: you'll realize you don't realize that there's a decision people
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: make at the store, do I buy the apples or
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: the cleaning supplies?
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And if you don't have enough money, you're going to
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: buy the apples.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Right, And so we are always trying to get cleaning
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: supplies out to our families and toilet papers because food
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: always comes first. Recently because a lot of cuts and
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: because food is getting expensive.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Food bags of care.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Creating food bags of care is a wonderful way for
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: people to give back directly to our families and our
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: individuals and supportive housing. We just a corporation and do
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: a giving day event with us, and they spent four
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: thousand dollars on food and have their team members stuff
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: it into bags because people love to stuff things into bags,
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: which I love.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: We'll just tell you.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: The right things to step into bags and then we'll
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: bring it to our office and then our direct care
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: team our case managers.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Will pick it up and be able to deliver it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: So it works well for the volunteer, for the group,
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: for us, and for the family and an individual. We
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: also have a really wonderful meal program at the Men's Shelter.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: So you may wonder how we can serve two hundred
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: and two hundred and sixty people meals.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: How do we do that? Well, I'll tell you what
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: our budget is, like fifteen thousand dollars. Isn't that crazy?
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: How is that possive?
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: It's only possible because we actually have a community meal program,
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: and so community signs up and provides a meal for
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: the men at the Men's Shelter. We've got some groups
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: who have been regular for the last five or ten
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: years and they all get together and they're the third
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Tuesday and they make tacos and that's what they do.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: It's fantastic. But that's a great way that people have
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: to give back. We have a really cool cast role
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: club where you can jump in and if you don't
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: want to do a.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Whole thing, you can do a piece of it. But
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you it is.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: It is the holidays, and it is really hard to
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: have holidays if you don't have as many resources as
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: you want for yourself and your family, And so we
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: invite people to We've got a campaign going on right
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: now donate to or give the gift of a home
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: because at the very very basic what people needs a home.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: And so when you give to MCCH, you're giving to
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: help people stay in their home. You're giving so the
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: guys at the shelter will get into a home, and
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: so it's more of an open door opportunity. Magical theory
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: does does not end homelessness. Money does, right, I use
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of money for the things I need.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: It's useful for us.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: But when you're really giving to MCCH, you are investing
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: in people either being in a home, getting into home,
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: or stay in a home after their experience of homelessness.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: So it's really you're not just giving money, you're giving
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: the gift of a home. And what's really great is
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: and I just I'm not a big crier, but I
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: tear up a lot because so many of our donors
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: are not giving us one hundred thousand dollars or a
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: million dollars.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: So I love that and we'd welcome that, and we'd
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: put it for.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: Good use they're giving, you know, twenty forty one hundred dollars,
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: two hundred dollars. They're a regular donor at like thirty
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: five dollars a month. And it's because there's so many
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: people that say I care about homelessness. Maybe I can't
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: personally do anything, but I can give to MCCH. They
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: do it every day all year long.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Great stuff. Listen before we go, Lynn, let's give the
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: website to everybody. It's very important because there's a lot
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: of data on there. It's easy to navigate a lot
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: of information. What is that for everyone?
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: It is mccch dot net, Well said Lynn.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: It's great to have you on the program. We're going
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to visit again. But thank you so much for everything
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: in joining us on Community DC.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Dennis, have a great holiday yourself.