Overview & History

HISTORY:

InterFaith Shelter Network implemented the Transitional Housing Program after ten years of experience operating emergency shelter for the homeless. Wesley House—opened in April of 1999 as a pilot project—was the first of ten planned facilities. Agency leaders set an ambitious goal in 1999: to establish ten facilities or one hundred Transitional Housing beds within five years! At the end of five years, seven facilities had been established and three of them had been purchased. Two facilities were purchased with $500K grants awarded by Proposition 46 EHAP Capital Development funds; a third application was submitted in February of 2007 for acquisition of Meadow Lane in Glen Ellen.

The preliminary operational strategy, program policy and procedure, and management design was based on the existing successful program methodology utilized by other homeless service providers. Successful templates came from Community Action Partnership (CAP), formerly known as SCPEO’s (Sonoma County People for Economic Opportunity), Community Support Network (CSN) and clean and sober housing programs operated by DAAC (Drug Abuse Alternative Center) and other organizations. Although target populations, staffing requirements and management strategies differed from agency to agency, basic operational principles were consistent.

IFSN priority target population for the first new Transitional Housing Program facility (Wesley House) were those least served and most at-risk; the individuals who “fell through the gaps.” Those least served among homeless populations including, but were not limited to: seniors (50 or older), chronically and terminally ill, mentally or physically disabled, abused women, substance abusers, and dual and multiply-diagnosed men and women. In order to avoid duplication of services, and because of the unmet need in the community, IFSN’s target population has remained essentially the same, however; one monumental change occurred with the implementation of the reunification program located at Elsa—IFSN began housing children for the first time!

Because necessity dictated that Wesley House operate in the most cost effective manner possible until funding for additional staff could be secured, CAP’s Giffen House template was initially utilized—an on-site, live-in manager, however; during the first six months of operation, a number of things became apparent:

1) resident’s were harder to supervise and serve than anticipated,
2) daily operational issues and problems were extraordinarily more complex (than the armory),
3) staff and services were inadequate for the population.

Ultimately, it was decided that a live-in site-manager, supervised by a largely volunteer advisory committee—while able to adequately manage the facility—could not manage the occupants. Our at-risk, hard-to-serve target population desperately needed case management, therapy, counseling, rehabilitation and recovery services, as well as other coordinated supportive community and mainstream services in order to stabilize, rehabilitate, recover and transition into permanent housing.

A client service-template evolved from this initial trial and error period.