Montgomery County, MD and Housing First

Montgomery County, MD Hosts H.O.M.E. Conference to Educate Members, Launches New Housing First Plan

On October 3, the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless hosted the Helping Our Members through Education (H.O.M.E.) Conference, a day of education, knowledge-sharing, and coalition-building for homeless service providers and other community stakeholders in Montgomery County, Maryland. The conference featured seven workshop tracks, including Housing First, working with special populations, and behavioral health. Speakers included national leaders such as Tom Albanese from Abt Associates, Ruth White from the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, Sharon McDonald and Jamey Burden from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Christy Respress from Pathways to Housing in DC. The conference also featured opening remarks from County Executive Ike Leggett and a keynote address from Uma Ahluwalia, Director of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition, Fall 2008 marks the beginning of Montgomery County, Maryland's implementation of its Housing First plan. The new Housing First initiative includes the conversion of two emergency shelters into assessment shelters and the redesign of their intake and assessment processes to more quickly place homeless families and individuals into housing with supportive services. Additionally, the plan includes efforts to strengthen the county's prevention services. More than 1,100 people are homeless in Montgomery County everyday, and 56 percent of Montgomery County's homeless are in families. With the start of its housing first plan, the county continues to be a frontrunner in developing innovative programs to serve homeless families. Through a grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation, the county is working with the Center for Capacity Building at the National Alliance to End Homelessness to achieve its housing first goals.