Compendium of Housing Resources for Health Care Providers

For health care providers hoping to improve how they facilitate connections to housing, a first step is improving staff understanding of the nuances of homelessness, homeless services, and what the local housing resources look like in their area. This section provides foundational knowledge and resources on identifying homelessness, becoming familiar with the homelessness response system, as well as implications for health centers and medical respite care programs.

1. Building Knowledge About the Homelessness Response System - Training resources from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) about the Homelessness Response System in each community.
   • HUD CoC Interim Rule – HUD Exchange
   • Definitions of Homelessness – HUD Exchange
   • Closing the Front Door: Creating a Successful Diversion Program for Homeless Families – NAEH
   • Rapid Re-Housing – NAEH
   • Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) – NAEH
   • Check For Knowledge Game – NAEH (Interactive Learning Activity)
2. Homelessness Educational Resources for Health Care Providers – Visuals and overviews on basic principles of homelessness, geared toward an audience of health care providers.
   • Where does Homelessness Happen? - NHCHC (Infographic)
   • Homelessness and Health: What’s the Connection? - NHCHC
   • Housing First – National Alliance to End Homelessness
3. Health and Housing System Coordination – Guides and examples of how health centers and MRC programs can work with agencies and organizations within the local homelessness response continuum.
   • Expanding Options for Health Care Within Homelessness Services: CoC Partnerships with Medical Respite Care Programs – NAEH
   • Housing and the Medical Respite Care Program – A Practical Guide to Navigating the Homelessness Response System – NHCHC
   • Continuum of Care (CoC) Grantee Contact Information – Database to Find Local CoC Contacts

Effectively responding to housing needs begins with understanding how to identify them. This section offers tools and strategies for assessing the housing needs and preferences of people experiencing homelessness and identifying appropriate housing supports for those transitioning into housing. These tools can be integrated into the work of health centers and MRC programs during screening processes, care/case planning, and to support transitions across care.

1. Direct Care Tools for Identifying Housing Needs – Tools for providers and care teams to use when working with clients on identifying supports before, during, and after housing transition.
   • Identifying Supports Needed for Successful Housing – NHCHC
   • Housing Supports  – NHCHC (Resource Table)
   • Self-Assessment and Checklist of Supports Needed or Desired for Housing Transition – NHCHC (Interactive Checklist)
   • Housing Discharge Planning Checklist  – NHCHC (Interactive Checklist)
2. Guidance on Client-Centeredness and Consumer Housing Preferences – Recommendations for prioritizing client needs, preferences and working collaboratively with clients on housing goals.
   • Centering the Preferences of Community Members Experiencing Homelessness – NHCHC
   • Housing Preferences and Increasing Choice in Housing Options – NHCHC
3. Building or Adapting Housing Assessments – Recommendations and templates to utilize when 1) building or adapting social needs screenings to incorporate housing-related questions or 2) working toward improving housing system assessments of vulnerability.
   • Rebuilding Systems: Adapting Housing Assessments to Prioritize Health, Equity, and Belonging  –NHCHC (Full Toolkit)
   • Housing Insecurity, Housing Instability, and Homelessness Screening Questions – Social Interventions Research & Evaluation Network

Health centers and medical respite care programs can play a critical role in bridging the gap between health and housing. This section includes resources to help build program capacity for this type of support, including assessments of internal and external housing-related resources, as well as tools to plan for change. These resources can be integrated to help with larger, organizational-level initiatives to support providers in navigating and connecting consumers to housing resources.

1. Organizational Tools for Locating Housing-Support Resources – Fillable tools for providers and/or administrators of health centers and MRC programs to locate which housing-related supports are available in the community.
   • Housing Support Resource Mapping Activity – NHCHC (Worksheet)
   • Guide to Resource Mapping and Assessing Community Needs – Homeless & Housing Resource Center
   • 211: Database For Locating Local Support Organizations – United Way (Resource Database)
2. Change Management Tools – Exercises on assessing readiness for organizational capacity building around programs and approaches to meeting housing needs.
   • Assessing Internal Capacity to Meet Housing-Related Needs – NHCHC (Worksheet)
   • Change Map Tool Guide – NHCHC (Short Online Course)
   • Sample Change Map – Health Center and Housing Case Management Partnership (Example Change Map Graphic)
3. Brainstorming and Assessing Potential for Community Partnerships – Exercises and recommendations for the planning stages of external health & housing partnerships.
   • Pursuing and Planning for Housing-Health Partnerships – NHCHC (Worksheet)
   • Sample Medical Respite Care Program Entry: Pursuing and Planning for Housing-Health Partnerships – NHCHC (Example Completed Worksheet)

Strong partnerships between health and housing providers are crucial for meeting the short and long-term needs of people transitioning into housing. This section provides guidance on forming and maintaining cross-sector collaborations, including examples of successful models and strategies for integration, and methods for measuring the impact of partnerships. These tools can be used to plan and implement more effective partnerships between housing and health services within a community.

1. Strategic Partnership Frameworks – Guides and overviews of how strategic health and housing partnerships can be modeled and built.
   • Partnerships: Frameworks for Working Together – Compassion Capital Fund National Resource Center
   • Strategic Partnering: A Guide to the Conceptual Framework – CDC
   • End Homelessness Winnipeg Logic Model and Evaluation Framework – The Homeless Hub (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness)
2. Planning for Success and Sustainability – Models, recommendations, and worksheets to reference when developing an evaluation plan for long-term strategic partnerships.
   • Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) Cycles – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
   • “SMARTIE” Goals – University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration
   • Logic Models – University of Kansas Center for Community Health and Development
   • Logic Model Worksheet: CDC Evaluation Framework (Worksheet)