Improve Housing First Outcomes With Safety-Based Harm Reduction

Eviction causes trauma. Returning to homelessness causes trauma. If we can reduce the number of clients who are evicted from subsidized housing units, we can reduce the harm caused by homeless recidivism.

While it is true that implementing Housing First programs offer clients opportunities to live with dignity and flourish, if they attempt to live in an apartment like they do on the street they will likely be targeted for eviction. Because of this it is imperative that skills relating to living peacefully in a community are effectively communicated to clients so that they are better prepared for housing.

Living in a manner that makes the people living around you feel safe can keep you housed for a long period of time. But this life skill is lost on a significant number of clients, who revert to basic survival mode when they encounter everyday conflicts and challenges.

Because so much of the case management time prior to housing is devoted to missed appointments, locating clients, and signing countless forms, this topic is not always prioritized. This gap in services leaves a significant segment of those entering subsidized housing ill-prepared for the challenges they will face as tenants.

Housing Survival is a pre-emptive harm reduction class that lasts 45 minutes, and operates like preventative medicine. It does this by engaging with clients directly about the types of incidents that typically lead to eviction before they happen.

As with all forms of Harm Reduction, Housing Survival begins by creating safe space. This empowers clients to make safety a priority in their living space and in their community. As a tool for case management, Housing Survival helps frontline social workers to set the stage for clinical therapists, medical providers, and all other professionals that provide vital services for clients.