Who Wichita can look to as it sketches out plan for homeless center

Health officials and Cleveland homeless shelters are working together to prevent a coronavirus outbreak among those who are experiencing homelessness. Mass testing, separate areas for the already tested and those yet to be, and a focus on more equitably disseminating information have been key to helping the caseload stay low, although the shelters are facing limitations such as a slow turnaround time for test results.

Atlanta has seen a decline in rates of people experiencing homelessness from 2008-2018, a trend that is particularly meaningful as other cities contend with stubbornly high numbers. Part of the solution? A new source of more flexible and consistent funding allowing non-profits to provide the assistance needed and help get people into permanent supportive housing.

Homelessness has many challenges that require different services to aid those who have no place to live—including daycare and laundry. Seattle has established Mary’s Place Family Center, a public space that collaborates with non-profits to provide a multitude of social services to the homeless. Large corporations have donated buildings to serve as Seattle’s Mary’s Place shelters to diminish costs.

The state of Vermont has been able to keep COVID-19 cases to a minimal, at least in part by focusing on offering preventive protections for the most at-risk and vulnerable – such as the unhoused. The state's response has included "state-supported housing for the homeless, hazard pay, meal deliveries, and free, pop-up testing in at-risk communities," all of which prioritize high-risk populations rather than those who can easily self-isolate at home.

Canal Street Veterans Housing was instrumental in ending veteran homelessness in Chittenden County, Vermont. The program provided two years of transitional housing for veterans and their families, job training services, and mental health care. An emphasis was put on providing mental and physical health screenings to help those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In Boulder, Colorado those working to address the increasing rate of homelessness are reallocating resources to support longterm housing options as opposed to the traditional temporary services – such as shelters. Although there are challenges to this approach and it's too early to gauge the longterm reality of this approach, early results from the method have shown that consolidating resources has reduced operational costs while housing over 450 people.

Housing First, an approach that has helped many cities address homelessness, has failed to make much impact in Boulder thanks to a shortage of permanent housing and complaints that the program suffers from a lack of coordination and ignorance of the views of the community it's trying to serve. Boulder County housing authorities and non-profits teamed up in 2017 to shift toward permanent housing and other services for people experiencing homelessness, rather than the previous policy of providing temporary shelter beds. But most people remain unserved by both temporary and permanent solutions.

West Virginians from Clarksburg mobilized to tackle the issue of homelessness once the pandemic highlighted the vulnerability faced by the homeless who could not shelter in place. Advocates came together to get people off the streets and into motel rooms paid for by nonprofits and organized by local government. The city looked 40 miles away, to the achievements of Morgantown, which was able to bring together different sectors to keep people off the streets. Immediate goals of keeping people safe from the virus are part of a long-term plan to create housing and provide mental and physical health services.

Prompted by the threat of COVID-19, Seattle and King County have rapidly taken steps to protect people experiencing homelessness with responses that activists have long sought. By moving hundreds of people out of crowded shelters into hotels, installing hygiene stations, and suspending the removal of encampments, officials scrambled to prevent the spread of the virus in ways that advocates hope will remain the policy after the crisis has passed. But the crisis has also gutted government budgets, and so permanent solutions may still be elusive.

In Los Angeles, city officials are working to repurpose recreational buildings to house those experiencing homelessness, in the hopes of containing the spread of coronavirus. The city and shelters are also partnering with a mobile laundry truck, which has been in operation for years serving low-income communities and those who are experiencing homelessness, to provide free laundry for those who visit.