Housing First - What is it? How does it work in practice?

Service providers and allies who work with families, individuals and youth will benefit from this training, which will provide guidance from people who have been running successful Housing First programs for years. The training s $20, which will cover the cost of morning coffee and breakfast pastries, and a mid-day lunch.

Agenda

9:00 - 9:15 Importance of Housing First in State and Federal Policy:

Liz Rogers, MA Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness

9:15 - 9:45 Overview of Housing First:

Joe Finn, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance

9:45 - 10:45 Panel: Housing First in Practice

Moderator: Dave Modzelewski

Serious Mentally Ill and Dual-Diagnosed, Jerry Ray, MHA

Families, Lizzy Ortiz, City of Springfield

A Landlord's Perspective, Gretchen Helger, First Resource Companies

VASH, Sue White, VA

11:00 - 12:00 Panel: Best Practices and Tools for Success

Moderator: Alvina Brevard, DHCD

Promoting Safety & Harm Reduction, Jay Levy, Eliot

The Role of the Housing Court, Judge Rob Fields

Tenancy Preservation Program, David Eng, MassHousing

12:15 1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 2:45 Change Model and Best Practices

Wayne Centrone, Center for Social Innovation

2:45 - 3:00 Break

3:00 - 4:00 Putting it All Together: Housing First, Coordinated Assessment, Prioritization

Lisa Bahadosingh, Team Leader, Bridgeport Housing First Collaborative

The following resource, written by one of the presenters, will be for sale at the event:

Jay Levy, Pretreatment Guide for Homeless Outreach & Housing First: Helping Couples, Youth and Unaccompanied Adults (2013).