Older man looking at camera

Strategies to End Homelessness leads the Homeless to Homes Plan which is the community’s coordinated response to homelessness among single adults. The Hamilton County Indigent Care Levy funds the Plan.

In 2008, more than 90 key stakeholders representing the top leadership of City and County government, service providers, funders, the faith community, and the business community convened. Their goal was to collaborate on designing an improved system of care for the homeless. The result was the Homeless to Homes plan, adopted by the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners and Cincinnati City Council in 2009.

The plan provides a comprehensive framework focusing on: client’s dignity and quality of life; providing a high level of service; achieving better outcomes for each individual; services that meet the unique needs of individuals; and a higher level of systemic coordination.

The Homeless to Homes Plan Shelter Collaborative

The Homeless to Homes Shelter Collaborative includes City Gospel Mission, Lighthouse Youth & Family Services, Shelterhouse, and Talbert House, and led by Strategies to End Homelessness. The first phase of the plan, accomplished in 2015, was to build five new shelter facilities. Ongoing each of the five new facilities provide day-time services and healthcare for individuals staying in shelter.

Shelter Facilities

City Gospel Mission Shelter: this 70-bed faith-based emergency shelter is for men. Additionally it includes an onsite agency partner, Modern Psychiatry and Wellness providing services for men struggling with addiction and mental health issues. Services include detox, IOP, individual and group counseling, access to a nurse and a nurse practitioner.

Sheakley Center for Youth: operated by Lighthouse, this 36-bed shelter is for young men and women aged 18-24. The Center has health care professionals on site to help residents with medication management, health education, first aid, connection to resources, and therapeutic one-on-one support during times of stress.

David and Rebecca Barron Center for Men: operated by Shelterhouse, this 150-bed facility for men (which also offers expanded winter capacity for both men and women) includes a state-of-the-art medical facility within the shelter. The clinic is fully staffed five days a week with a nurse practitioner and medical doctor. Also, Shelterhouse also offers recovery services and mental health services.

Exterior picture of the Hatton Center for Women

Hatton Center for Women

Esther Marie Hatton Center for Women: operated by Shelterhouse, this 72-bed facility for women offers a fully functioning medical clinic, meeting the specific needs of women. Special attention given to women who present in the clinic and are pregnant. In addition, Shelterhouse also offers recovery services and mental health services.

Parkway Center: operated by Talbert House, this 51-bed facility provides transitional housing for homeless men and women. And it offers substance use treatment and case management. Also mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers and a nurse practitioner are on site regularly.

Integral Community Partners

McMicken Integrated Care Clinic: a community-based partnership providing services to homeless individuals from a single building located at in Over-the-Rhine. Services available at this site include primary medical, dental, and behavioral health.

Cincy Smiles, Inc.: operates the McMicken Dental Clinic, a freestanding and fully-operational state-of-the-art dental clinic. The patients at the clinic can have all their dental needs met, leading to better overall health.

Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services: on-site in shelters as well as at the McMicken Integrated Care Clinic, provides diagnostic assessments and on-going counseling and mental health care.

2022 Data

In 2022, the Homeless to Homes Shelters served 3,449 people. Of those people, 74% identify as male, 25% identify as female, and 1% identify as transgender or no single gender. We know that African Americans are disproportionally represented in our local shelter resident population (read our Racial Justice Statement), with 58% identifying as African American/Black, 37% identifying as white, and the remaining 5% identifying as multi-racial or another race.

Additionally, the Homeless to Homes plan tracks three key outcomes:

  1. In 2022, 21% of shelter residents increased their household income. People are in emergency shelter for a short period of time. This is because the priority is to find stable housing.
  2. 63% of shelter residents exited to positive housing outcomes – either stable housing in the community or a housing program designed to stabilize people who experienced homelessness.
  3. And in 2022, 90% of people maintained housing stability for at least one year. Meaning that they did not return to homelessness a year after exiting.

 

Thank you

Finally, thank you to the Commissioners and residents of Hamilton County for renewing the Indigent Care Levy in November 2022. Thereby sustaining the Homeless to Homes Plan for another five years. And giving housing stability to thousands of Hamilton County residents.