Housing first: Breaking the cycle of homelessness

Press release from Alachua County

Stori Sandridge still remembers watching the tents come down at Dignity Village.

For years, the encampment was the closest thing to a home for hundreds who surrounded the gates of GRACE Marketplace, a one-stop shop homeless service center located in northeast Gainesville. 

It was a place where people could rely on hot meals, blankets, and a place to rest, but it was also known for being dangerous due to its frequent crime and substance abuse among some already coping with mental health issues. 

Sandridge, who has been homeless since age 16, was one of many seeking their next move. 

He began to work with the advocates and after being assessed was referred to a housing program provider. One morning, he walked into the office at the shelter and was informed that he was selected to move into an apartment funded through Alachua County’s Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program, a new initiative that aims to serve the region’s chronically homeless population through housing and various other needed services. 

“I honestly thought it was a joke because everything in my life up to that point had gone so catastrophically wrong,” he said. “I didn’t believe it.” 

Sandridge is among the more than 70 individuals who have found stable housing thanks to Alachua County’s PSH program since its initial launch in mid-2020. The population served includes the most complex and vulnerable individuals to help and keep track of. 

“To this day, it amazes me that I have been given such a privilege and such a gift,” he said. “To know that I was given a second shot at becoming somebody worthwhile. It’s really kind of incredible.”

The program was initially pitched in 2019 following negotiations with the City of Gainesville regarding GRACE Marketplace’s annual funding. The County Commission opted to pivot away from shelter services and double its annual investment in housing ($1.5 million) for its most vulnerable residents incrementally over three years. In return, Gainesville would double its investment for shelter services to ensure GRACE didn’t lose money.

Since then, the new housing program has begun to take shape. Much of the first year was dedicated to program design/development, recruiting, training qualified candidates for the case management positions (one for every 15 households), and shifting to prioritize the most vulnerable at the onset of COVID-19. The next iteration has been increasingly focused on identifying properties to convert into apartments.  

By 2025-26, the County expects that its number of available units for permanent supportive housing will double and provide additional stable living options for people in need. 

But the County’s Permanent Supportive Housing program, which falls under the Division of Social Services, goes beyond just finding someone a home. It involves prevention, intervention, access to basic needs such as food, mental health assistance, advocacy for benefits, rental & utility assistance, support towards making gradual steps toward stability, and more. 

Each PSH candidate has a unique situation that brings unique challenges to ending their homeless journey. In some instances, case managers find that people living on the street have had to rely on survival behaviors and support systems that have had a negative impact on their lives, which further complicates their situation. 

Referrals for the program come through the Continuum of Care’s Coordinated Entry System, which identifies people who have disabilities in addition to being homeless.

Once selected for the program, it takes about 60 days to find a home. Data shows that about 41% have a mental health diagnosis, while 39% struggle with substance abuse. At least 37% have also experienced domestic violence, and 23% have chronic health conditions in need of regular treatment. Those statistics, however, are on the low end and only factor in those who have disclosed that information. 

“It’s not just dealing with homelessness; many times there are co-morbidity situations involved,” said Sarai Cabrera, director of the Division of Social Services. “They have multiple barriers that make them the most vulnerable.” 

About 60% of the PSH participants have no income, while the rest typically have a small amount to get through the month. Using affordable housing guidelines from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the County requires that those who receive a monthly income put 30% of their funds toward rent. The County program covers the rest, along with utility costs. 

The average rental costs for a unit in the program align with the HUD fair market rent rates in Alachua County.

There are some rules people need to abide by, such as maintaining their lease requirements and regularly meeting with their case managers. 

Sandridge says it’s easy for people who have been in his position to fall back into old habits due to addictions and influences, which is why he makes it a point to no longer surround himself with people he used to hang out with.

The program’s success data shows almost 90% of participants stay housed after six months, but it drops to about 77% after nine months. 

Admittedly, shortly after finding an apartment, Sandridge relapsed and lost his first home. But case managers wouldn’t give up on him. They meet with him frequently and have worked through the struggles he was facing to get him back on a path to success. Now he is inching toward a full year in his current apartment. 

“People in the program are very forgiving and very persistent in terms of saying ‘You are worth something, act like it,’” he said. 

The average time someone in the program has been homeless is over four years. Approximately 69% of the people slept outside or in their cars, while the rest relied on emergency shelters.

But with rising rental costs and fewer single-room occupancies around Gainesville, finding housing isn’t as simple as one might think. 

Housing-first model 

Claudia Tuck, Alachua County’s director of community support services, has spearheaded the PSH program, a model that she says is nationally recognized as a best practice to help unhoused people. 

She has dedicated her career to helping the homeless, including past work as director of the Palm Beach County Division of Human Services and associate director of a local mental health center. The Florida Association of Counties designated her to represent them on the State Council on Homelessness in 2012, as well as the National Association of Counties (NACo) Human Services and Education Steering Committee, and she serves as vice chair for the NACo Social Services Subcommittee.

When hired in 2016, Tuck and her staff were tasked with finding and buying properties that could later be used for housing. Soon after the PSH program launched, the pandemic hit, adding to the challenge of hiring qualified case managers and finding available rental units. 

Tuck said the noticeable disappearance of single-room occupancy spaces around the state – and nationally – over the years didn’t make the job easier and has only exacerbated costs of living. She said rents that were once about $50 a week have turned into about $850 a month in many cases. 

“If you’re earning minimum wage, even though it’s increased now, it’s not affordable for housing,” she said. “Many unhoused individuals who are homeless are also disabled.” 

She found that private developers and real estate companies were purchasing buildings faster than local governments could respond. 

But in January 2021, HUD created a “Small Cities Community Development Block Grant” for local governments to help residents fend off the impacts felt by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The announcement came at the perfect time, as Alachua County closed on its $2 million purchase of the Budget Inn the next month. 

County staff was already looking at ways to renovate the motel into 36 single-bedroom units, each with a kitchen and living room. The expected renovation cost per unit is approximately $111,000.

Staff applied for the block grant to cover the renovations in October 2021 and then put out a bid to land an architectural and engineering company. Almost a year later, the State announced that Alachua County would receive $4 million. 

After receiving all the necessary documentation from the State in October 2022, the County Commission approved the funding, and staff signed off on the contract and eagerly sent it back to the State within four days, an unprecedented turnaround for a grant.

Alachua County has been waiting for funding to begin renovations for more than a year. The State contract doesn’t allow for any project reimbursement, meaning no funds can be spent on the renovation before the State releases the money. The project has a firm deadline of Sept. 30, 2025, for expending all funds. 

On Nov. 14, the County Commission also agreed to purchase the Scottish Inn for $1.77 million. The project, funded with American Rescue Plan Act dollars, will require renovating the motel into 31 efficiencies for the unhoused people in need of permanent housing, as well as a manager’s apartment. 

An outside party will manage both motel properties. 

“The support that our commissioners have provided to our mission of reducing homelessness in Alachua County has been extremely important,” Tuck said. “Providing the ability to locate new opportunities for housing, as well as to seek alternative funding, will be of significant benefit to our unhoused residents.” 

For people like Sandridge, the program means much more than finding a place to live. He said he is hopeful that the County’s continued efforts will help others who have been in a similar position to know there is hope.  

“A lot of us out at Dignity Village, we couldn’t do it without this program,” Sandridge said. “A lot of us were addicts, a lot of us were dehumanized in various other ways through our history or society’s view of homelessness. You can only feel so low about yourself for so long before you stop caring about anything and everything. The program, to me, symbolizes as a reminder that I am worth something.”