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Adopted by the Board of County Commissioners <br />February 3, 2009 <br /> 10 <br />need support but are not attached to any specific agency program will help prevent <br />homelessness. <br /> <br />Discharge planning from correctional facilities, healthcare and mental health facilities, <br />rehabilitation programs, and foster care must be linked to a housing outcome. <br />Residents exiting homeless programs to permanent housing must have a post-discharge <br />plan and prevention assistance in place through case management. <br /> <br />By the end of 2011 we will have: <br />i. Increased the amount of funding available for rental assistance. <br />ii. Required agencies who seek rental assistance funding to have proactive <br />processes in place to provide early identification of at risk households. <br />iii. Implemented a brief case management program for persons who are not <br />receiving services from any community agency. <br />iv. Coordinated with the Continuum of Care Committee to develop and <br />implement discharge planning protocols for correctional facilities, <br />rehabilitation programs, individuals aging out of foster care and <br />healthcare/mental health programs in our county so that persons in these <br />program will be linked to housing upon their discharge. <br />v. Provided case management to all persons exiting (emergency) homeless <br />programs to transitional and/or permanent housing. <br /> <br /> <br />The cost of homelessness on a community: <br /> <br />Homeless providers have learned that 10% of the entire homeless population will <br />ultimately consume over 50% of the resources (Burt, Laudan & Less, 2001). Chronically <br />homeless individuals are heavy users of expensive public resources, including <br />emergency medical services, psychiatric treatment, detox facilities, shelter and law <br />enforcement. Other research has found that providing housing actually saves money – <br />a mentally ill homeless person uses $41,000 annually in publicly funded services; putting <br />that person into supportive housing can decrease those costs by $16,000 (Riley, 2004). <br />This was confirmed by a recent study by Portland State University showing that <br />homeless people spend 65% less time in hospitals and visited the emergency room 51% <br />less once they moved into permanent supportive housing. <br /> <br />