The Boulder County Pathways to Housing Stability (BCPHS)project targets adults experiencing chronic homelessness who have a mental health, substance use or co-occurring disorder, and who may have or are at risk of medical issues. The project is designed to quickly identify, enroll and transition participants into permanent supportive housing (PSH), and provide needed services to ensure that placed individuals can remain stably housed over the long term. The project, which is focused on the provision of services across Boulder County, Colorado, will enroll 345 participants and seek to place 280 in PSH over five years.
BCPHS will be implemented in coordination with an existing effort known as Homeless Solutions for Boulder County(HSBC), a county-wide Housing First initiative focused on housing individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. The county is in a high state of readiness to implement BCPHS due to efforts by HSBC leadership to implement core elements of a county-wide homeless system including an intake and triage process, shelter and day services and a cross-agency management information system. While HSBC is supported by government and non-profit agency leaders, the county lacks sufficient navigation, behavioral health and medical resources to meet the needs of those eligible for PSH. As a result, housing vouchers and other housing opportunities are not effectively utilized as needed service support cannot accompany placements.
The Project will be implemented through a highly experienced collaborative team:
- The Project Director, Jennifer Biess has diverse experience managing homeless projects for the Urban Institute, and currently directs the HSBC initiative. She will be dedicated 25% to the project and supported by Dr. James Adams-Berger who has extensive experience overseeing SAMHSA projects and managing evaluation and reporting requirements.
- The Primary treatment provider Mental Health Partners (MHP), manages housing vouchers for the State’s Division of Housing and brings over 55 years of experience providing evidence-based, trauma informed substance use disorder, mental health and co-occurring disorder treatment services to the County’s most vulnerable populations. MHP’s lead on the project, Barbara Guastella, is the Housing Team program manager and coordinates clinical services at MHP for homeless populations.
- OMNI Institute (OMNI), the project evaluator, is Denver-based evaluation firm with extensive experience evaluating SAMHSA projects, homeless and treatment-related service efforts, and conducts the state’s annual Point-in-Time survey. Dr. Katie Page, the project evaluator, has extensive experience evaluating homeless and treatment projects.
- The HSBC Executive Board will also play a key role in supporting the project. This board is comprised of key county leaders who have a direct role in funding and supporting the homeless services system in Boulder County. Members include, public housing directors; directors of the Departments of Housing and Human Services, Public Health and Community Services; municipal leaders from the two largest cities, Boulder and Longmont; and the director of the HUD continuum of which Boulder is a member. Support from the HSBC means that the BCPHS project will be well-managed, that there will be access to additional resources needed by the project, and that BCPHS can be sustained well after the funding period. Also, participation of the continuum director ensures use of the coordinated entry process known as OneHome.
The project is also fully supported by the State's Division of Housing and a large number of community based services providers. Finally, the project is cost effective as the County is donating the time of two staff to manage the project - Jennifer Biess, the current director of the HSBC project, and Dr. Adams-Berger. This means that the vast majority of resources will be used to support the provision of needed treatment services.
