OHFA Annual Plan - Ohio Housing Finance Agency

Examples: A national model for successful collaborative planning is the Columbus/Franklin County Rebuilding Lives Funder Collaborative which brings together multiplecommunity leaders and funders to create production goals and outcomes and collectivelyfund supportive housing initiatives. This collaborative makes working together a normalpractice of business and keeps supportive housing a community funding priority.Likewise, Cleveland’s Housing First initiative is establishing a Funding Collaborative andLeadership Board to leverage public and private sources, streamline costs, centralizedata collection, and effectively measure outcomes. Specifically, the Collaborative bringstogether foundation, corporate, nonprofit, city and county leadership and financialsupport, creating an effective “match” to the 55 percent of public funding raised byHousing First The Collaborative is a key element in meeting Housing First’s goal ofcreating 1,000 units of supportive housing by 2014.Financial LeverageIn order to address the need for additional permanent, supportive housing, formerlyuntapped resources and funding must be brought to the table. Where possible, savingsin the reduction of emergency housing, medical and crime costs should be reinvestedinto the creation of permanent, supportive housing. New revenue streams should also becreated and used to leverage additional input from funders at the local, state and nationallevels.Examples: A successful example of financial leverage is the Ohio Department ofRehabilitation and Corrections “Returning Home-Ohio” Program which provides fundingfor permanent, supportive housing for persons with disabilities exiting state prisons. Thecost of housing this population in the community is much cheaper than a return to a stateprison bed.In 2007, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Director Terry Collinsallocated state funding to develop and implement Permanent Supportive Housing foroffenders with disabling conditions such as mental illness, development disabilities,medical conditions, severe addictions or who are aged or have custody of minorchildren. ODRC partnered with the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) to plan andimplement the program. In addition to ODRC and CSH, the Ohio Department of MentalHealth joined the collaboration with Transformation State Incentive Grant (TSIG) funds.ODRC also allocated federal VOITIS funding to the project. The Urban Institute is undercontract with CSH to evaluate the impact of the project.Many states have found that the creation of rental subsidies lead to greater permanenthousing production and more successful programs. These programs also give tenantsthe power to make their own choices about where they choose to live. Examples includeIllinois and North Carolina who are using an assessment on gross revenue at hospitalsand state funding respectively to create new rental assistance opportunities.Provider InfrastructureIn order to serve the income levels necessary to address the needs of disabled homelesspersons, a strong infrastructure of permanent, supportive housing developers andmanagers is imperative. These agencies must have on-going, sustainable funding andtraining on new resources in order to maintain their strength and continue to prioritizepermanent, supportive housing.Example: The Corporation for Supportive Housing has been a leader in Ohio in creatingdeveloper capacity and interest through their Supportive Housing Institute, “OpeningNew Doors.” This eleven session training has prepared nineteen new community teamsto successfully develop new permanent, supportive housing and led to an increase incommunity projects to serve disabled homeless persons statewide.115