Transparencies November 2021

November 2021: Action Steps Toward Preventing and Ending Homelessness

A Message From Our CEO

Recognizing the need to solve our community’s homeless crisis, the Integral Care Board has created an Ad Hoc Committee on Housing and Homelessness to develop an Integral Care housing plan. The vision is to integrate a housing lens across all services in order to prevent and end homelessness. About 20% of Integral Care clients are either marginally or literally homeless. Many more clients live on the edge of homelessness – one crisis away. To begin to solve homelessness, we must prevent it from happening. So stabilizing housing for clients who are one crisis away from homelessness is key.

We are taking a systems approach that monitors and addresses gaps and racial inequities in services and housing for the people we serve. We have begun the first step of this process. We are screening all clients to determine their housing stability. Our vision is to deploy prevention efforts to stabilize their existing housing by creating or finding flexible in-kind resources and funding and/or connecting to external referrals to stabilize their existing housing. This work is in addition to our 28 housing and homelessness programs that support people in our community who experience homelessness.

Press Conference in front of Terrace Oak Springs

Press conference outside Terrace at Oak Springs

Having a home is the basic foundation for maintaining both physical and mental health. We are proud to collaborate with the city, county and other housing and homelessness experts across the city to reach a goal of housing 3,000 members of our community over the next 3 years. As outlined by the Summit to Address Unsheltered Homelessness in Austin, over a third of those people will be provided permanent supportive housing (PSH) like that offered at our 50-unit Terrace at Oak Springs (TAOS).

Not only does PSH save lives, the evidence-based housing approach saves the community significant dollars in the overutilization of public resources. A recent return on investment study for TAOS revealed that in one year, we saw $725,000 in community savings. That’s almost $14,500 per resident. These savings are a result of a

60% reduction in arrests,
100% reduction in psychiatric inpatient hospital stays,
79% reduction in medical hospital stays and
51% reduction in ER visits.

City and County leaders recently outlined a $515M investment plan for housing and services across the spectrum of needs for individuals experiencing homelessness. More than 75% of funding is in place, a large chunk of it from the American Rescue Plan stimulus package.

Right now, Integral Care is working with the City of Austin to convert a hotel into 60 PSH units, set to open in 2022. In 2023, thanks to a significant investment from Travis County, the Travis County Supportive Housing Collaborative, which includes LifeWorks, SAFE Alliance, Caritas of Austin, Family Eldercare, A New Reentry, Austin Area Urban League, and Integral Care, will start work toward developing 1,000 new affordable and PSH units. And those are just two examples of exciting initiatives to ensure healthy living for everyone in Austin-Travis County. When we work together to provide everyone a home, the entire community grows stronger.

David Evans
Chief Executive Officer

HIGHLIGHTS

Community Collaborations That Support Our Neighbors Experiencing Homelessness

Shirley and Tony seated on the couch This week, KVUE highlighted the Mobile Medical and Mental Health Care Team (M3), a collaboration between Integral Care, CommUnityCare, and Dell Medical School. This team removes the walls of the clinic, bringing health care to campsites, bridge underpasses, and homes – anywhere someone needs care. M3 serves people experiencing chronic homelessness, that have a chronic health condition, a substance use disorder, and serious mental illness. See how the team impacted one woman who formerly experienced homelessness.

Yesterday, Integral Care and Caritas of Austin co-presented a community forum focused on Evidence-Based Solutions to Homelessness. Our panelists talked about what contributes to homelessness, the process for getting affordable housing, the permanent supportive housing model and ways to get involved in the fight against homelessness. Watch the forum replay video here.

Join Our Passionate and Committed Team

Integral Care is growing! We’re hiring for positions across the agency – Child and Family, Housing and Homelessness, Crisis, Adult Behavioral Health, Substance Use Disorder, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and more. Clinical, administrative and other positions are open. Apply today and take advantage of the current $2,000 sign-on incentive.

Psychiatrists
APNs, RNs
Helpline Operators
Licensed Therapists
Administrative Assistants
Directors and Managers
Case Managers
Peer Support Specialists

Integral Care Careers

What’s New at Integral Care

We invite you to join us for any of our monthly meetings. Meetings are open to the public and held in-person at 1430 Collier Street, 78704, with limited capacity to support safety measures. Agendas are posted the week of the meeting and available via the below links.
Board Meetings – last Thursdays of each month at 5pm, next meeting Nov 18th
Finance Committee Meetings – 3rd Thursday of each month at 5pm, next meeting Nov 18th
Planning and Operations Meetings – 3rd Tuesday of each month at 5:30pm, next meeting Nov 30th
With your help, Integral Care raised $101,500 during our October Bridging the Gap fundraising event. We appreciate your support. These funds will be used to purchase therapeutic supplies for youth and student clients, tablets for telehealth appointments, and move-in kits for newly housed clients. Special shout out to our matching funds donors Nickie and Eric Froiland, Joan and Kurt Wade, and Mary and Howard Yancy, and Mr. GD.
Austin Public Health awarded Integral Care $170,783 over a period of 18 months to implement a COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach project that will focus on individuals experiencing homelessness. Funding will support outreach efforts to promote the COVID-19 vaccine with populations at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is working on its Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) for the 88th Legislature, which starts in 2023. The LAR outlines the agency’s funding needs for the next two years. Let HHSC know what you believe should be in the request by submitting your ideas and recommendations to CFOStakeholderFeedback@hhs.texas.gov. Please include the following in your email: your name or the name of your organization and a contact person, a clear, concise description of the recommendation, what need would be addressed by this recommendation and the expected impact or benefit to the state or the people HHSC serves. Deadline for comment is November 19th.

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