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Learn More About: Rapid Rehousing

BY JUDITH TACKETT

Rapid Rehousing is considered a permanent housing intervention. It provides short-term rental assistance and services, and if effectively applied, it follows a Housing First philosophy that focuses on moving people without preconditions and as quickly as possible to permanent housing with individualized wraparound support services, so households are able to maintain their housing long-term.

Over the years, Rapid Rehousing has either been touted as a cost-effective solution to homelessness or received harsh criticism as a hyped up program that does not show clear evidence of keeping people housed long-term. Let’s take a closer look at what Rapid Rehousing actually is.

Rapid Rehousing provides short-term to medium-term rental assistance with support services to move families and individuals out of shelters to permanent housing quickly. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), all list the following components as essential to an effective Rapid Rehousing program:

• Housing Identification;

• Rent and Move-in Assistance; and

• Case Management and Services.

Rapid Rehousing came into focus through the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP), which was part of the federal stimulus package (officially called the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act) of 2009. HUD explains in an issue brief* that Rapid Rehousing is effective for a wide array of populations including households experiencing homeless with “no income, with disabilities, with poor rental history. The only exceptions HUD lists are “households that can exit homelessness with little or no assistance, those who experience chronic homelessness and who need permanent supportive housing, and households who are seeking a therapeutic residential environment, including those recovering from addiction.”

However, communities often have not adopted unified standards when applying Rapid Rehousing and when taking a closer look at different agencies in Nashville, we are hard pressed to find one clear approach to Rapid Rehousing. One agency may provide move-in costs including utility and rent deposits plus the first month of rent, and then check in once or twice via phone – which is actually not a Rapid Rehousing program as you will learn. On the other hand, you may see a high-quality Rapid Rehouisng program by another agency that provides housing search services, a minimum of six months or rental assistance with a step-down program to reduce rental assistance over time, and up to one year of case management services.

National leaders are increasingly providing more guidance and support to outline solid Rapid Rehousing interventions. For example, NAEH** has released a toolkit, performance benchmarks, and program standards agencies and/or local communities can adopt, and USICH provides a quick overview of the different components a solid Rapid Rehousing program includes.***

In essence, I find that Nashville, as a community, has been working to put some clear housing standards in place through its Continuum of Care. For example, the city has utilized COVID funds in 2020 to develop a landlord engagement effort called Low Barrier Housing Collective to improve landlord recruitment, coordinate with providers to help households find and secure appropriate rental housing, assist with move-in costs (a program that the city has implemented since 2013 starting with a focus on households experiencing chronic homelessness), and help mediate landlord disputes to assist people with retaining their housing. In 2022, Metro appropriated and additional $4 million in American Rescue Plan funds to continue and expand the Low Barrier Housing Collective.

When it comes to rent and move-in assistance, the city launched a campaign called How’s Nashville in 2013 with a narrow focus on chronic homelessness, and ever since has provided move-in costs including security and utility deposits, first month rent and when funding was available some essential household items/furniture. A partnership between MDHA and the city expanded this program from the funding through the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). The city is now implementing a furnishing program (also paid for through the $4 million in American Rescue Plan funds mentioned above) to ensure people do not access empty apartments.

Whether or how much of these funds are available for households receiving Rapid Rehousing is unclear as Metro is focusing to increase much needed Permanent Supportive Housing programs. However, the elements of these housing locations and move-in assistance services remain the same regardless of the duration of the housing support intervention. In other words, they should also be applied when implementing Rapid Rehousing programs – the main difference is the intensity and especially the duration of the support offered.

When it comes to case management and services, the USICH sums up the Rapid Rehousing needs as follows (the following bullet points are copied from USICH):

• Help individuals and families experiencing homelessness identify and select among various permanent housing options based on their unique needs, preferences and financial resources.

• Help individuals and families experiencing homelessness address issues that may impede access to housing (such as credit history, arrears, and legal issues).

• Help individuals and families negotiate manageable and appropriate lease services and supports available to families and individuals to allow them to stabilize quickly in permanent housing.

• Monitor participants’ housing stability and be available to resolve crises.

• Provide or assist the household with connections to resources that help them improve their safety and well-being and achieve their long-term goals.

• Ensure that services provided are client-directed, respectful of individuals’ right to self-determination, and voluntary.

When the federal government made billions of dollars available through the CARES Act, to address homelessness, Nashville received $10 million in Emergency Solutions Grant-COVID (ESG-CV) funding to focus on moving the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness into housing.

It is important to know that these funds were one-time funding, which is why the federal government used ESG dollars. ESG is able to pay for street outreach, emergency shelter, Rapid Rehousing, homelessness prevention, and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). Thus, while the federal government wanted local communities to focus on getting the most vulnerable populations into housing to reduce their exposure to COVID, the only housing intervention eligible under ESG was Rapid Rehousing.

Nashville focused on its outdoor population and was able to house hundreds of people. The ESG-CV funds provided two years of assistance, which is unusual for Rapid Rehousing programs. And the federal government made Emergency Housing Vouchers available to use for some of the people who needed ongoing housing sub - Voucher program and since have learned that the city is struggling to utilize them due to a lack of permanent housing units/ landlords accepting them. Yet, there may still be people who experienced chronic homelessness, were assisted with Rapid Rehousing interventions through the ESG-CV grants to respond to the COVID threat, who need ongoing assistance that a Rapid Rehousing program won’t be able to provide. Metro’s focus on closing encampments may compete with the need to keep these people stably housed. On the other hand, Metro has yet to acknowledge that for years, we’ve struggled with “recycling” housing. We were able to house people experiencing chronic homelessness mostly when others lost their housing again.

In essence, it is important to pay attention to how agencies implement their Rapid Rehousing programs, and whether they use them for moderate-needs households that can be linked with employment and have the potential to increase their incomes. If we do not appropriately apply Rapid Rehousing, like with any other program, it won’t work. But for many people in need, a rapid intervention with its temporary assistance can make the difference between being homeless for months versus getting back on their feet as quickly as possible.

*https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Rapid-Re-Housing-Brief.pdf

** https://endhomelessness.org/resource/ rapid-re-housing-toolkit/

*** https://www.usich.gov/solutions/ housing/rapid-re-housing/