Two hundred homeless seniors in Texas will shortly have a roof over their heads thanks to this nonprofit raising over $2 million in donations.
The Housing First Community Coalition (HFCC) announced it had successfully raised the funds for its new 17-acre Towne Twin Village community, which will provide housing and support services for seniors in San Antonio experiencing long-term homelessness.
The community will house 200 seniors who are 50 years old or older and be the first-ever single-site Housing First – Permanent Supportive Housing property in the city.
The Towne Twin Village community is going to feature apartments, 350-400 square foot tiny houses, picnic areas, art studio, community garden, pet park, pet rescue facility, RV park, chapel, and an outdoor amphitheater for musical performances, movies, and theatrical events.
The American Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Point-In-Time and Housing Inventory Count reportedly supported that Housing First is a proven model that's helped reduce homelessness nationwide by 13 percent between 2010 and 2017.
As the Interagency Council on Homelessness reports, providing supportive housing opportunities to individuals with the most intense needs, communities spent much less on preventable costs for public programmes as well as on jails, ambulances, shelters, and emergency rooms. Other benefits will include the redevelopment of a 17-acre vacant property into a wonderful community asset, employing dozens of construction workers for several months, and creating many jobs long-term.
The Housing First model employs evidence-based practices in order to streamline connections to housing opportunities and to offer people the appropriate level of services to support their long-term housing stability.
Apart from housing, the community and its partners will provide concentrated support services, such as case management, legal advocacy, job training, professional counseling, and health care, to help residents pursue personal goals and improve their quality of life. The community will include about 200 units (mostly efficiencies) and 25 units for peer volunteers. Also, a low-barrier Housing First model will be used in choosing housing applicants and supporting residents. Applicants will be prioritized depending on their vulnerability index (age, duration of homelessness, disabilities, additional risk factors, and high utilization of city services).
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