CLPHA Press Room

From Affordable Housing Finance:

Forty-three people who were homeless have moved into The Beacon, a new supportive housing community in downtown San Diego.

The new development is the latest project from nonprofit Wakeland Housing and Development Corp.

“The Beacon is really about bringing a sense of hope to residents,” said Wakeland president and CEO Ken Sauder. “Those of us who have a home may not understand the factors that lead people to become homeless or how long the road is to get back to that feeling of safety and comfort that we take for granted. The Beacon is the place where they can start again.”

“To solve the homelessness crisis, homeless people need a home,” Sauder continued. “The Beacon does that.”

Residents are supported by case managers from one of three providers—Father Joe’s Villages, MHS CityStar, or Pathways Catalyst—who connect them to services tailored to their unique needs, including behavioral health support and care; care coordination; educational, health and wellness, and skill-building classes; and peer support.

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Financing for the $19.9 million development came from several sources, including more than $10.6 million in low-income housing tax credit equity from Wells Fargo Bank. The San Diego Housing Commission is providing 43 project-based Section 8 vouchers.

Read Affordable Housing Finance's article "Wakeland Opens Supportive Housing Development in San Diego," featuring the San Diego Housing Commission. 

From NBC 24 News:

The Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority (LMHA) has partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to bring computers to students of Toledo Public Schools (TPS).

The HUD ConnectHomeUSA initiative provides computers to children in low-income families. TPS announced Thursday morning at Jones Leadership academy that 150 of these computers would come to Toledo students, specifically those attending Ella P. Stewart Academy for Girls, Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy for Boys and Jones Leadership Academy of Business.

Read NBC 24 News' article "ConnectHomeUSA brings 150 free computers to Toledo students' homes," featuring the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority. 

From HACLA's website:

On September 26, 2019, the Executive Team of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles gathered with the Board of Commissioners, HACLA staff and the Nickerson Gardens Community to tribute Commissioner Lucelia Hooper with a special presentation and dedication ceremony. A commemorative plaque was unveiled, and the community garden named in her honor.

Read "HACLA Commissioner Lucelia Hooper Honored with Garden Dedication Ceremony."

From DCHA's newsletter:

District of Columbia Housing Authority Executive Director Tyrone Garrett unveiled a working draft of phase one of the agency’s 20-year comprehensive plan to begin addressing tackle the up to $2.5 billion in deferred maintenance and capital improvements at more than 6,600 units in DCHA’s traditional public housing portfolio. The plan would preserve affordable existing stock and create new affordable housing.

In 2018, following guidance from DCHA’s Board of Commissioners, Garrett undertook a comprehensive review of the agency’s traditional public housing portfolio. That review showed significant portions of the portfolio had deteriorated to such a condition as to be potentially uninhabitable, or threatening to the health and safety of DCHA’s residents without urgent action.

“My priority has always been our customers and the health and safety of their homes. Due to the crisis of these conditions and challenge to DCHA’s mission, we are launching ‘Our People, Our Portfolio, Our Plan — DCHA’s 20-Year Transformation Plan,’” Garrett said. “This plan charts a roadmap for the transformation of DCHA’s public housing stock, and for DCHA as an agency itself. Our overarching goals are to move all of our residents living in unsafe and unhealthy conditions to quality housing as quickly as possible; to be steadfastly transparent; to revitalize our communities so that they are stable, healthy, and offer educational, employment, and economic opportunity; and to establish DCHA as a capable mission-driven entity that can implement our objectives.”

Read "DCHA Executive Director Announces Proposed 20-Year Transformation Plan for Traditional Public Housing Portfolio." 

From Kaiser Health News:

One patient at Denver Health, the city’s largest safety net hospital, occupied a bed for more than four years — a hospital record of 1,558 days.

Another admitted for a hard-to-treat bacterial infection needed eight weeks of at-home IV antibiotics, but had no home.

A third, with dementia, came to the hospital after being released from the Denver County Jail. His family refused to take him back.

In the first half of this year alone, the hospital treated more than 100 long-term patients. All had a medical issue that led to their initial hospitalization. But none of the patients had a medical reason for remaining in the hospital for most of their stay.

Legally and morally, hospitals cannot discharge patients if they have no safe place to go. So patients who are homeless, frail or live alone, or have unstable housing, can occupy hospital beds for weeks or months — long after their acute medical problem is resolved. For hospitals, it means losing money because a patient lingering in a bed without medical problems doesn’t generate much, if any, income. Meanwhile, acutely ill patients may wait days in the ER to be moved to a floor because a hospital’s beds are full.

“Those people are, for lack of a better term, stranded in our hospital,” said Dr. Sarah Stella, a Denver Health physician.

To address the problem, hospitals from Baltimore to St. Louis to Sacramento, Calif., are exploring ways to help patients find a home. With recent federal policy changes that encourage hospitals to allocate charity dollars for housing, many hospitals realize it’s cheaper to provide a month of housing than to keep patients for a single night.

Hospital executives find the calculus works even if they have to build affordable housing units themselves. It’s why Denver Health is partnering with the Denver Housing Authority to repurpose a mothballed building on the hospital campus into affordable senior housing, including about 15 apartments designated to help homeless patients transition out of the hospital.

Read Kaiser Health News' article "Why Denver Hospitals Are Getting Into The Housing Business," featuring the Denver Housing Authority.