We're working with communities to solve homelessness together.
Homelessness
In cities across the country, HR&A works with clients inside and outside of government to end the homelessness crisis. A significant part of our practice focuses on supporting local government leaders to make bold changes to how homelessness is governed, helping to launch and design significant new prevention and re-housing programs, and building robust new performance oversight systems that allow local government leaders to better understand needs and more effectively direct public investment to programs that are working. We also directly support community organizations to design programs, policies, and financing approaches that will help to end homelessness for specific populations.
HR&A is proud to support the Center for Fair Futures’ new report, Housing Justice for Young People Aging out of Foster Care in New York City, which lays out a five-year plan to provide 800 new homes for youth exiting foster care. The findings in this report present an opportunity for policymakers, service providers, and mission-driven investors to come together to prevent homelessness for a uniquely at-risk population.
HR&A developed an Affordable Housing Plan for the City of Charlottesville that centers racial equity and regional collaboration to guide the city’s investments in affordable housing programs and policies. Charlottesville has made significant progress on the Plan’s three major initiatives including: dedicating $10M a year to affordable housing, building inclusive governance throughout the City’s housing ecosystem, and adopting progressive, inclusionary zoning reforms — all of which are shaping a denser, more economically diverse Charlottesville.
HR&A provides intensive support to the City of Los Angeles, for which we created the first-ever performance oversight system that helps the City track and improve the impact of its investments in homelessness response. In the city with the most people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the county, the goal of our work is to provide clarity for LA City leaders and the public on the effectiveness of funded strategies and identify opportunities to better align investments with impact.
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Disrupting the cycle between homelessness and criminal legal system involvement starts with improving access to housing. HR&A conducted research for Enterprise Community Partners Southeast's Housing as a Pathway to Justice effort in Atlanta, mapping seven critical inflection points and recommending strategies for Enterprise to leverage its position as developer, convener, and policy expert.
The City of Austin and LifeWorks engaged HR&A and Good River Partners to support development of Dismantling the Foster Care to Homelessness Pipeline in Austin, Texas, a landmark 10-point plan to create 2,000 new housing opportunities for young people. Our work responded to a significant increase in youth homelessness in Austin over the past five years.
HR&A helped the Hilton Foundation refine its Los Angeles strategy to maximize the impact of over $300 million in regional investments across early childhood development, foster youth, opportunity youth, and homelessness initiatives. Our comprehensive socioeconomic analysis, peer foundation research, and strategic facilitation positioned the Foundation to adopt a more coordinated place-based approach that enhances local impact.
HR&A collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to design and implement the County’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Housing Program. Within 12 months, the original MHSA funds were committed to 30 projects, and together with $131 million of supplemental funding added during subsequent years, the County deployed a total of $243 million to fund 92 developments with 5,400 units, 1,700 of which were targeted to vulnerable populations.
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