case management | Tedford Housing

Giving Voice: Housing people during COVID-19

May 14, 2020 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 5/8/20 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

A week into our second monthlong stay-at-home order, and it’s hard to get away from the news stories about COVID-19. It has affected our everyday life, personally and professionally, in a way that I’m not sure any of us were ever prepared. The articles from our Giving Voice column have illustrated how Tedford Housing, The Gathering Place, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and Oasis Free Clinics have reacted to and adjusted services to meet the needs of our community’s most vulnerable neighbors.

While we have all had to make changes in the way in which we work with our clients, we continue to offer much-needed programs and services. Even while practicing extreme social distancing, Tedford Housing’s overarching goal continues to be to find our clients safe, permanent housing. This feat can be challenging enough without a global pandemic, as our clients have many barriers to break through in the process of finding that pathway from homelessness to home.

We have shared that Tedford Housing’s buildings are closed to the public and staff are working from home as much as possible. Case managers are meeting with clients mostly via phone, email or text. Zoom is used from time to time, but only if the client has the capability of using such an application.

So how does this new, different way of working affect finding housing? For one thing, it slows the already slow process down. Tedford Housing staff aren’t the only ones working remotely. Landlords and property managers may not be in their offices and only checking their email or messages once/day or even once/week. Same thing with the offices that manage housing vouchers. In-person tours of a potential apartment are no longer happening during COVID-19, so everything is done via a camera, including inspections that are required by specific housing vouchers once an apartment is found. Vetting is much more difficult for both landlord and tenant when you lose the ability to be in the same room with a person.

As far as the case managers at our adult and family shelters go, it’s business as usual. They may not be in the office every day during the week, but they continue to work with clients to find apartments, fill out applications and guide our shelter guests through the many steps it takes to get to the point of signing a lease. One of our families moved into an apartment without seeing it first. Though it made the mom a bit uncomfortable, she talked with her case manager about how she could always look at other options in a year if she wasn’t happy with the apartment. The main goal was to move out of the shelter into permanent housing.

Two of what we call long term stayers in our adult shelter and one family in our family shelter have found housing during this difficult time. Being in the shelter for over 300 days, these individuals overcame some big obstacles to sign their leases with the help of their case manager. Moving has become particularly difficult because most of our clients rely on help from friends. With social distancing and restrictions on travel with people other than your household become a challenge. Our partners at Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity’s Restore are temporarily closed, which limits our ability to help clients access the household items they need to furnish their new apartment. We have to take extra precautions with volunteers who help sort and gather donations to fulfill clients’ moving checklists. Once in an apartment, our case managers then “follow” clients for up to 12 months to help ensure a smooth transition. Losing the personal touch of on-site meetings can be tough because you lose the cues that body language can give you if a person is having a hard time. Many of our clients are struggling with isolation, financial stresses and addiction, making it harder to keep people stable and supported via the telephone.

Tedford Housing is making it work during this pandemic, especially our case managers. We are happy to report that people are still being housed even if it takes a bit more time.

Giving Voice: Thinking Long-term with Supportive Housing

May 20, 2019 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 5/3/19 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

Between 2005 and 2011, Tedford Housing embarked on a campaign to develop six supportive housing facilities for previously homeless individuals and families. These buildings, located in Brunswick, Bath, Lewiston, Auburn and Augusta, offered permanent housing with key case management services attached to them. Tenants have regular leases and no predetermined or expected length of stay.

Supportive housing provides a vital platform for people to move forward in other areas of their lives like employment, education and improved health. Using a Housing First approach, Tedford Housing’s 37 supportive units provide safe, clean and affordable apartments with on-site case management for previously homeless individuals and families. Many are occupied by adults and families who have experienced disabling conditions like mental illness and/or substance abuse and/or catastrophic events like domestic violence that have resulted in homelessness. Many have had multiple shelter stays.

According to HUD, taking a Housing First approach means that individuals and families experiencing homelessness are quickly connected to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. While still a relatively new approach, it has seen some promising results in keeping tenants in housing and off the streets and/or out of shelters. Tedford’s supportive housing case management services include assistance with applying to available benefits such as MaineCare and SSI, referrals to job training and employment services, coordination of services with health care providers, crisis prevention, referrals to substance abuse counseling and treatment, assistance with basic living skills and mitigating landlord-tenant issues.

The services and resources that supportive housing provides are essential for people like Brian. Brian, 44, has lived in our Everett Street supportive housing unit since 2013. He had been in and out of homelessness, with several stays at Tedford’s adult shelter, since 2009. At one point, he had sold two cars and quit a job in Maine with the hope and promise of a job from a friend who was living in South Carolina, only to find out that the job fell through when he arrived. When he came back home to Maine, without a car or a job, his mom drove him to Tedford Housing.

The two biggest barriers to finding housing for Brian were high rents and location. His mother and daughter live in Woolwich so it was important for him to be somewhat close to them. His advice for people who find themselves in and out of homelessness as he did is to be patient. Finding housing can take time when you factor in the paperwork, searching and waiting for vouchers and available units. He was lucky to get the call from Tedford’s shelter alerting him of an open unit becoming available at Everett Street.

Located in the heart of Brunswick, Everett Street offers easy access to the essentials. The location is a quick walk to Hannaford, RiteAid, Curtis Memorial Library and to Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, where Brian also volunteers. Without transportation, it’s important for Brian and other tenants to be able to walk or take the bus. They can hop on the Brunswick Explorer from Hannaford and get to places like Walmart and Sweetser. Brian is thankful for the support he gets from Tedford and says they are “good people to work with.”

Brian says that the best part about living at Everett Street is the community. There are eight single studio units. People tend to keep to themselves, he says, but they are there for each other if someone needs help. He is appreciative of the support from case management and from the community, especially during the holidays.

The average length of stay for tenants at Everett Street is 4.2 years, and the average length of stay across all of our supportive housing units is 2.7. While evictions still do occur in supportive housing, some tenants also end up moving on to other permanent housing option and pay market rental rates. Many, like Brian, thrive in the supportive housing setting and have no immediate plans to move from their found community.

A Day in the Life at Tedford Housing

July 18, 2018 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 7/13/18

If you ask people in the Brunswick community about what Tedford does, many respond that we provide a shelter for people that are homeless. In fact, many people still call our organization Tedford Shelter, referring to our adult shelter on Cumberland Street. (We changed our name to Tedford Housing in 2006 in recognition of the organization’s evolution to include permanent supportive housing and homeless prevention services. Of course, we also have a family shelter in Brunswick as well.)

On a given day in June, we took a count of how many lives Tedford touched in a single day. This exercise provides a more comprehensive view of the role that Tedford plays as being the organization that delivers comprehensive services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless in southern Midcoast Maine.

We first looked at our emergency shelters for adults and families which serves those who meet the definition of being literally homeless (living in cars, on the streets or in places unfit for human habitation). The adult shelter provided beds for 16 individuals, including 12 men and 4 women. Our family shelter provided safe and temporary housing for 6 families which included 23 family members. In addition, Tedford Housing case managers assisted 13 families and 1 individual (a total of 35 family members) who were homeless and unsheltered in our community through homeless prevention outreach services.

That’s a total of 74 people Tedford served in the Brunswick community who were literally homeless. (And, yes, that’s a technical term in housing.)

Next, we counted those individuals and families receiving what we call follow-up stability case management services. These “stability” clients have been housed by our case managers after a period of being homeless. Our case managers “follow” these clients for up to a year to help make sure they are able to maintain housing. On this day in June, stability services were provided to 13 individuals and another 6 families, which included 15 family members. On the same day, our homeless prevention program provided security deposits and other assistance to 12 households, with 27 family members, who were at risk of becoming homeless.

Still counting? Those numbers get us up to 129 people served by Tedford Housing on this day in June with homeless prevention and emergency shelter services.

Our Merrymeeting Project for homeless youth provided case management and direct services to 32 homeless and unaccompanied youth in the Brunswick, RSU1 and SAD75 school districts. Though school is now over, these services are provided year round to help ensure continuity of education and stability for these youth.

Adding our youngest clients brings us up to 161 individuals being served by Tedford on any one given day.

Next, we look at our most stable clients in our supportive housing units in Bath, Brunswick, Lewiston, Auburn and Augusta. These apartments for individuals and families provide a home, complete with on-site case management support, to 64 individuals and family members. As an extension of our supportive housing in the Lewiston / Auburn area, we also counted 9 literally homeless persons being served through our outreach case management. An additional 8 household members received stability services in the area.

While the impact of providing overnight emergency shelter to 39 individuals and family members can’t be over stated, the numbers above reveal the full range of services Tedford Housing delivers every day through its case managers, shelter staff, administrative support and dedicated volunteers.

On this day in June, collectively, 242 persons who were either experiencing homelessness, at risk, or striving to maintain stability after having emerged from homelessness, were connected to Tedford Housing’s programs. All of our programs work together towards a common goal, to provide pathways to stable homes and futures for our neighbors who have experienced homelessness in the Southern Midcoast.

Tedford Housing Awarded $42,500 in Foundation Grant Money

September 3, 2015 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Iacovelli, jennifer@tedfordhousing.org, 207-729-1161, #101

BRUNSWICK, Maine (September 3, 2015) – Tedford Housing, a nonprofit agency working to find lasting solutions to end homelessness, was recently awarded grants from the Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation and the John T. Gorman Foundation. The total amount of funding awarded was $42,500.

The Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation awarded Tedford Housing $20,000 as the result of a grant application. The funds will be used over the course of a year to help to insure the availability of case management services throughout all of the Tedford’s programs, particularly for those individuals without a payor source for services.

The John T. Gorman Foundation awarded $22,500 to Tedford Housing in grant money. The funds will be used to provide support for mental health services to guests of Tedford’s emergency adult shelter.

“Foundation support is critical for Tedford Housing in order to fulfill its mission,” says executive director Craig Phillips. “These funds will allow our case managers to provide much-needed services to Tedford’s guests so that they may be able to find and maintain permanent housing.”

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Tedford Housing works together with people in their communities to find lasting solutions to the challenges of homelessness. We provide shelter, housing, and services that empower adults, children and families in need. For more information, call 207-729-1161 or visit www.tedfordhousing.org.