Since its inception, the Housing Crisis Center has been using scattered-site housing. Homeless shelters are a vital part of the effort to combat homelessness; however, living in a shelter just teaches a person how to survive in a shelter.
As part of our efforts to address the problem of the culture of poverty, HCC houses its clients in ordinary apartment complexes in mixed-income areas. There is nothing to identify these units as social service residences.
Case managers have offices on site, at a unit in the same apartment complex that houses the clients. They are accessible to clients, and their neighbors function as passive role models. Clients see on a daily basis how their neighbors go to work, feed their children, and manage a household budget. This is also called Observational Learning, an important tool for social workers.
HCC offers three permanent programs that serve veterans:
- Veterans Housing Partnership serves homeless or disabled veterans and their families exclusively.
- Permanent Housing Services is exclusively for homeless individuals (not families), and includes both veterans and non-veterans.
- All Citizens Empowered serves homeless families and individuals, when the head of household has both mental illness and substance abuse issues. It inclues both veterans and non-veterans.
