Make Housing First programs a priority.
Several years ago, Ann Anderson became ill and lost her job as a cook. She lived in the woods of Orange County for almost two years, experiencing further illness and difficult conditions. Last week, Anderson stood up before an audience at Florida Hospital and told her story on behalf of 168 men and women who found permanent, supportive housing in our region.
These recipients of housing were chronically homeless — experiencing severe mental or physical illness. Most had been without a stable roof over their heads for more than a year. One had been living on the streets for nearly 20 years.
Two years ago, the city of Orlando and Florida Hospital stepped in to fund an important pilot program for these men and women, which spurred even more investment into this innovative approach. Central Florida leaders, business professionals and on-the-ground service providers have been diligently working together to provide housing and 24-7 wraparound care to our most vulnerable neighbors.
Today, after a full year in the program, 100 percent of participants remain stably housed.
This program represents a significant step forward for our community. Equally important, we now know that we have developed a coordinated system that will allow us to identify every one of our homeless neighbors by name — and, when they choose, help them move toward housing. But there is so much more to do: Nearly 1,000 chronically homeless men and women are still waiting for housing. And our community needs to apply a similar coordinated system of care for our families and young people who find themselves homeless — systems that don’t yet exist.
This “Housing First” philosophy has been the bedrock of Central Florida’s approach to homelessness since 2013. Pursuing Housing First solutions has pushed us to rethink how we invest in solutions, and to look at our homeless neighbors like Ann Anderson with compassion. Housing First means that helping people find a stable roof over their heads should be our highest priority — because when basic needs are fulfilled, personal transformation can occur.
The results show that Housing First works. For their investment in the Housing First pilot program locally, Florida Hospital saw a 57 percent reduction in expensive emergencyroom visits from program participants who had formerly been “frequent fliers.”
If we are to continue providing stability and opportunity for people like Anderson, our community, our state and our country must continue to make Housing First programs a priority for investments addressing every type of homelessness.
Our community has worked hard to come so far, and there is more to do together. With our minds and hearts open to innovative and compassionate solutions, we can create programs that yield meaningful and lifechanging results.