Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 114 | Part Two: Sarah Kahn, President & CEO, Housing Forward

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Episode 114 | Part Two: Sarah Kahn, President & CEO, Housing Forward · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is Change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: I'm back with Change Makers, Sarah Kahn. In part one,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: we explored the impactful work that's being done by Housing
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Forward to combat homelessness in Dallas and Colin Counties. Sarah.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: When we ended last time, we touched on the topic
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: of families experiencing homelessness. And often people think of homelessness
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: as an issue that impacts individuals, but you mentioned families
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: are impacted too. What trends are you seeing in terms
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: of families entering homelessness with children? Is this a number
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  Speaker 2: on the rise?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So on any given night there are you know,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: over eight hundred people in families, So that's adults with
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: children in the household who are experiencing homelessness. But our
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Family Homeless Response system is doing a lot of work
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  Speaker 3: to make sure that as families are kind of experiencing
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: homelessness for the first time, that we have a tailoader
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: response that can help those families quickly move back into
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: their own apartments with rental assistance if that's needed, and
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: case management to help families get back on their feet. Largely,
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  Speaker 3: we see that families become homeless because of economic reasons. Really,
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  Speaker 3: you know, their incomes are just not keeping pace with
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  Speaker 3: the cost of housing, and so with a little bit
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: of support to get back on their feet, families are
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  Speaker 3: very resilient. The thing that we need to ensure is
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  Speaker 3: that we have those interventions and resources available so that
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  Speaker 3: we can get families, we can immediately address and resolve
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: homelessness for those new families that are coming in, so
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  Speaker 3: that we don't see increases.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Can you share a success story from your time at
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Housing Forward, maybe something that illustrates the impact of the
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: work that you and your team are doing. Are you
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: able to share something?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely? I mean there's a lot of success stories. One
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  Speaker 3: that just always sticks with me was we do a
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  Speaker 3: lot of listening sessions after the various encampments that we've
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: supported to close through oury housing efforts. We have an
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  Speaker 3: effort called Street to Home, the Street to Home Initiative,
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  Speaker 3: which is an effort that really supports us to work
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  Speaker 3: in partnership with the City of Dallas and our Downtown
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  Speaker 3: Business Improvement District DDI to target those areas where there's
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: the highest concentration of people who have been sleeping outside
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  Speaker 3: for long periods of time, and we support people, We
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  Speaker 3: support the city to close those encampments by offering housing
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  Speaker 3: and supportive services to everybody living on site. Typically when
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: we see quite established encampments, those are the sites where
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  Speaker 3: that often people who are most chronically homeless are living.
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  Speaker 3: People who have been homeless for long periods of time
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: often have a disabling condition that might be making it
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: very challenging for that person to get off the street
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: on their own. And so we're bringing behavior healthcare, street
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  Speaker 3: medicine teams, housing navigators, case managers. I have a housing
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: location team all on site at those locations and supporting
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  Speaker 3: people to move back into housing, into their own apartments.
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  Speaker 3: And through that effort, we have just met some of
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  Speaker 3: the most incredible people, and we have just heard the
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: stories of really survival from our neighbors who are enduring
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  Speaker 3: life in this situation on the street. And one gentleman's
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  Speaker 3: story just has always stuck with me. He had been
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: helpless for five or six years. He had a disability
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: and a chronic health condition that were making it challenging
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  Speaker 3: for him to kind of hold down a job and
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  Speaker 3: to get back into housing and sleeping outside. You know,
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  Speaker 3: he was the victim of violence, which many people experiencing
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  Speaker 3: unsheltered homelessness are. It's a magnet for people to prey
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  Speaker 3: on those who are less vulnerable. And so he was
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  Speaker 3: the victim of violence several times. And so he started
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: drinking to be able to sleep at night. He knew
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  Speaker 3: he needed to get sleep. He was trying to get
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: back into a job, but because of being scared all
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: the time, the drinking was the only thing that would
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  Speaker 3: allow him to get a few hours of sleep at night.
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  Speaker 3: And I had the real pleasure of talking to him
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  Speaker 3: after he had moved into housing and hearing his story
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  Speaker 3: of how being in a home changed everything for him.
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  Speaker 3: And one thing that really stuck with he was so
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: he was so glad to not have to drink anymore
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  Speaker 3: to be able to sleep at night, and he was
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  Speaker 3: thankful for having the furniture and the things in place
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  Speaker 3: in his apartment to allow him to move on with
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  Speaker 3: his life. And that's just one of many faces of
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  Speaker 3: homelessness among the neighbors that are living outside. And those
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  Speaker 3: are the stories that really keep us doing this work
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  Speaker 3: day to day.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned furniture when he moved in. I've had a
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  Speaker 2: previous podcast trigger Scrosberg, who created a nonprofit called Humble Design,
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  Speaker 2: and she's in six different cities, but their whole goal
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  Speaker 2: is to accept donations for furnishing apartments for people who
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  Speaker 2: were formerly homeless. Explain to us, for people who have
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  Speaker 2: furniture and who have access to furniture, what is the
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  Speaker 2: power of not just moving a person into a home,
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  Speaker 2: but then furnishing it. Tell us the dynamic on a
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  Speaker 2: personal scale, what happens when they have that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's critically important. And you know, I
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  Speaker 3: think our sector wasn't always able to do that systematically
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  Speaker 3: to provide furniture. And we'd heard a call from our
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  Speaker 3: incredible pace managers, our heroes on the front lines. We
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  Speaker 3: heard a call from them about how important it was
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  Speaker 3: to really ensure that we're not just moving people into
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  Speaker 3: a house. We are creating a home by ensuring that
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  Speaker 3: people have furniture and have all of the things that
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  Speaker 3: we all would want, the creature comforts of home that
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  Speaker 3: we all need to feel stable and to lead a
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  Speaker 3: healthy live life, and furniture is just a basic element
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  Speaker 3: of that. And so because of that, we have tried
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  Speaker 3: to systematically ensure that we have furniture delivered at someone's
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  Speaker 3: house at the time that they're moving in, so that
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  Speaker 3: we are not only just helping someone move into their
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  Speaker 3: own apartment, but that they can also have a starter
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  Speaker 3: kit with a bed and furniture as well as pots
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  Speaker 3: and pans and a sort of a movement kit of
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  Speaker 3: things that they might eat as they're getting started and
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  Speaker 3: transitioning into their new home. So it's very important.
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  Speaker 2: Equipping them with furnishines is such a wave for people
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  Speaker 2: to start to belong, start to feel safe, and really
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  Speaker 2: accept where they are. So it's a piece that you're right,
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  Speaker 2: hasn't been talked about or maybe hasn't been provided a lot,
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  Speaker 2: but now we realize that comprehensive part of housing stability
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  Speaker 2: also has this so good inclusion there. If I could
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  Speaker 2: ask you one question about public policy, because it's also
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  Speaker 2: a change agent for the population you're serving and what
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  Speaker 2: you're trying to accomplish. What role do you see public
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  Speaker 2: policy in making a homeless truly rare and non occurring?
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  Speaker 2: And this could be more than just this economic policy
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  Speaker 2: housing policy. Do you have thoughts on more of the
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  Speaker 2: policy side of this.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So from a policy perspective, I mean, I guess
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  Speaker 3: I would say a couple of things. One is, if
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: we are going to prevent homelessness from continuing this country,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: we've got to solve the affordable housing crisis. The challenge
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: is that that is a beast right and that's going
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  Speaker 3: that's the five to ten year plan in our community
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  Speaker 3: that we need to remain committed to. And that is
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: absolutely the root cause of homelessness in this country is
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: not being able to afford housing costs. And so if
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  Speaker 3: we are going to truly prevent and solve homelessness, that
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: is a structural issue that has to be tackled. In
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the meantime, there is a lot that we need to
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  Speaker 3: do to make sure that we are ending homelessness for
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: those who are falling in as quickly as possible, so
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  Speaker 3: that we can keep up pace and ensure that we
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: don't have a huge spite of homelessness on our street.
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  Speaker 3: And so public policy plays a critical role in that
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  Speaker 3: element of the solution as well. You know, the private
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: sector is really funding critical funding that fills gaps, but
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: it's really government public dollars that have to be in
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  Speaker 3: place and aligned to strep solutions that work. And I
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  Speaker 3: think one thing through our street to home effort that
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  Speaker 3: has been really really important is we can meet the
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  Speaker 3: needs of our policy makers in our community and also
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  Speaker 3: provide a compassionate response to homelessness. Right so, I know
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  Speaker 3: with the Supreme Court case that gain cities the ability
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  Speaker 3: to ticket people or arrest people for sleeping and camping.
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  Speaker 3: Texas has had a lot like that since twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 3: But ultimately, in order to actually solve homelessness and resolve encampments,
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  Speaker 3: we need to have a passway to housing for folks.
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  Speaker 3: And by targeting those outdoor locations and housing everybody at
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  Speaker 3: a certain place and providing them with supportive services and
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: then opening up that public public space to the community.
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  Speaker 3: That's addressing the public health and safety concerns that are
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: a challenge being expressed by businesses and community, but it's
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  Speaker 3: also providing a compassionate response to the human lives that
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: are affected by living outside. And I think it's important
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  Speaker 3: for policymakers to understand we can do both. We can
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  Speaker 3: address the calls from our community to meet public health
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  Speaker 3: and safety concerns and also provide a compassionate response to homelessness.
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  Speaker 2: Let's talk about the data driven approach that you employ
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  Speaker 2: when you're collecting and using this data to then in
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: turn make decisions, improve outcomes and impact policy. Because you
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  Speaker 2: guys are doing something really unique here, can you share
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  Speaker 2: some of that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, I mean we track a lot of data,
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  Speaker 3: We use a lot of data in informing public policy
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  Speaker 3: and most importantly in managing the performance of our system
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  Speaker 3: as a rehousing system. But ultimately, what I have learned
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  Speaker 3: over the last five years or so is that is
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: not really always the center of public policy making, right.
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  Speaker 3: It's also humanizing this issue and bringing along with stories
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  Speaker 3: like the one that I shared with you about the
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  Speaker 3: people that are impacted, and it's about the narrative around
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  Speaker 3: homelessness and the perception of wlllessness in our community, and
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  Speaker 3: that all of those things work together to inform policy.
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  Speaker 3: It's not just the data and the evidence in the outcomes,
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  Speaker 3: but it's also pairing that with the stories and the
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: narrative and the visible progress that I think allows the
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: community to better feel the progress and then in turn
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  Speaker 3: their policymakers, the elected officials. If that makes sense.
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  Speaker 2: If you were going to give a call to action
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  Speaker 2: to just a general person, not a housing person, not
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  Speaker 2: a caseworker, you know, not an elected official. If you
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  Speaker 2: were just going to say call to action, general public,
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  Speaker 2: what three things would you want to tell them that
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  Speaker 2: they could do for homelessness or whatever.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, first and foremost, we have some of the most
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  Speaker 3: incredible service providers, my heroes, that I have ever worked with.
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  Speaker 3: And I've worked in a lot of I've worked in
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  Speaker 3: three countries and a lot of cities, and I am
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  Speaker 3: so impress with our service provider network. So first and
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: foremost volunteer or more importantly, give money to local nonprofits
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  Speaker 3: that are working on ending call lists in our community
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  Speaker 3: across Dallas in Collin County two is talk to your
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  Speaker 3: elected officials at every level of government about really investing
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  Speaker 3: in solutions, but more importantly about saying yes to affordable housing.
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  Speaker 3: Say yes to affordable housing in your own community. Tell
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: your elected officials to say yes to affordable housing in
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  Speaker 3: their districts, or and let's kind of stop this cycle
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  Speaker 3: of projects not coming to fruition because neighborhoods do not
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: want affordable housing in their community. And then lastly, I
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: would say, just you know, as you've listened to this podcast,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: try to have conversations with family members and other community
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: members about just some of the real solutions related to
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: homelessness and the human face behind this population, to ensure
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: that to ensure that we stop kind of the othering
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  Speaker 3: of this population and acknowledging that people experiencing homelessness need
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: the same things that we all need to live a
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: life of dignity, and that we all need to continue
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  Speaker 3: to move forward on this journey until everyone has a
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: safe place to call home.
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  Speaker 2: So what are your long term goals for housing forward?
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  Speaker 2: How do you envision your impact in the next five
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  Speaker 2: to ten years, Because what you've just described as far
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  Speaker 2: as structural changes, mission call to action, there's a lot
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: on your plate in the next five to ten years.
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  Speaker 2: So tell us what your goals are and how you
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: want to accomplish those.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely so. Our mission of making homelessness rare, brief,
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  Speaker 3: and non recurring is something that I believe and know
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: as possible. That doesn't mean that we are never going
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: to see another person experiencing homelessness. What that means is,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: over the next five years, our system is going to
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: be equipped and resourced to ensure that as someone becomes homeless,
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: they only have to stay in homelessness for a very
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: short period of time thirty to ninety days and then
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: we have them back in a home so that we
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: are equipped and we are resourced to meet this moment.
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  Speaker 3: And at the same time, we have to be working
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: on the structural issues obviously to solve the affordable housing
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: crisis right and to work with our broader set of
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: partners to do that really important structural work. But for
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: the next five years, that is about building our capacity
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: to truly lean into that mission and to make that
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: mission possible so that we are resourced and equipped to
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: meet the needs of anyone who falls into homelessess in
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: our community.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Sarah, as we close out here, is there anything that
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: you would like to address that we haven't covered or
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: what is a takeaway for us in addition to those
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: call to action steps that you gave us.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I just will say once again, I think
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: the most important thing to remember is that home is
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: just the foundation of social well being, right. This is
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: a place where your home is the thing that provides
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: you the opportunity to connect with employment so that you
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: have income to survive. That is the place where you
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: can connect with good healthcare. That is the place where
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: you can do better at school, and you know, kids
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: can thrive thrive in education it's the place where you
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: can rebuild connections to family and friends, and so our
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: sector is just very committed to ensuring that we do
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: not stop until everyone in our community has a safe
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: place to call home.
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  Speaker 2: Excellent, Thank you so much Sarah. Again, I've been talking
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: with Sarah con the president and CEO of Housing for
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to change makers with Katie Gore. To
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: find out more about Katie, go to quad L dot com.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: That's qu a d e l dot com. This has
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: been a production of Forbes Books Radio