Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Pinellas County, FL is seeking to increase capacity of services, including case management, recovery support services, evidence based mental health and substance use treatment services, and/or housing navigation to 320 individuals over the five-year grant period who have, or are currently, or at-risk of experiencing homelessness, and have serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, and/or co-occurring disorder (COD). The County will partner with three (3) organizations including a homeless emergency shelter and behavioral health treatment providers. These providers offer vast experience engaging with individuals experiencing homelessness, connecting individuals to treatment, and assisting clients' entry to housing including permanent supportive housing. Project Name: Pinellas County - Treatment for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness Population Served: The population of focus is primarily male/female adults who are or have experienced homelessness in Pinellas County, Florida, who have a serious mental illness (SMI), serious emotional disturbance (SED), and/or co-occurring disorder (COD). The County is seeking to focus on the population entering the County's largest jail diversion emergency homeless shelter, Pinellas Safe Harbor. The homeless population suffers a variety of ailment and health risks at rates consistently higher, and in some cases dramatically higher, than the housed. Homelessness and Health: What is the Connection Fact Sheet, published by the National Health Care for the Homeless Council in February 2019, showed homeless individuals had depression (49% vs 8%), and substance use disorder (58% vs 16%) when compared to their housed counterparts. The Point in Time study for Pinellas County showed 18.3% of the respondents reported a substance use disorder, and 23% reported having a serious mental health issue. Pinellas Safe Harbor serves on average, 1,385 unique individuals quarterly where 28% self-report having mental illness as a primary need and 14.5% self-report having both alcohol and drug use as a primary need. Project Goals/Measurable Objectives: Goal: Individuals experiencing homelessness are on a path to secure housing, coordinated behavioral health services and to improve their engagement and connection to wraparound services. Pinellas County's objectives are to 1) Reduce the caseload ratio of existing case managers through the hiring of additional staff; 2) Increase the average % of placements into permanent housing; 3) Reduce the # of emergency incidents through connections to medical and behavioral healthcare; and 4) Engage and connect clients to enrollment resources for health insurance, Medicaid/Medicare, and/or mainstream benefits. The County anticipates serving and avg. of 64 clients/year or 320 over the lifetime of the grant. Strategies/Interventions: The TIEH Program will utilize the following evidence-based practices to meet the Program's Goals and Objectives: Critical Time Intervention, Trauma-Informed Care, Stages of Change, Seeking Safety, Motivational Interviewing, and Supportive Housing.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
