Strategies for Success:
Ending Chronic Homelessness through Low Threshold Housing
More than 200 case managers, executive directors and other service providers attended “Strategies for Success: Ending Chronic Homelessness through Low Threshold Housing,” a special one-day conference discussing low threshold Housing First models for people with chronic substance abuse issues on September 17, 2008 in Springfield at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The conference was a partnership among the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, Homes for Families, One Family, Inc, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.
Executive Director Bill Hobson of the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle, Washington (pictured, right) delivered the keynote. The morning session included comments by Michael Botticelli, Director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, Massachusetts Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness Executive Director Bob Pulster and Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance Executive Director Joe Finn.
After the keynote and audience discussion, participants were able to participate in an additional, informal Q & A session with Bill Hobson during the lunch hour and then proceeded to break-out sessions. The workshops were:
AIDS Housing and Harm Reduction presented by Jonathan Sherwood, Deputy Director, AIDS Housing Corporation; Jim Pettinelli, Vice President & COO, Victory Programs, Inc.; Allen Spivack, Director of Residential Support Services, HIV/AIDS Bureau, MA Department of Public Health; Sarah Oppenheimer, Housing Services Program Manager, Cambridge Cares About AIDS; Jack Augustus, Worcester, MA
Post-Detox, Pre-Recovery Program (PDPR) presented by Karen McCay, Program Coordinator, Housing and Homeless Services Unit, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, MA Department of Public Health; Allison Maynard, Case Manager, SMOC / Crossroads II; Randy Dupell, Case Manager, Henry Lee Willis Center/TIDES Program; Kaye Wild, Vice President, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance
Project RISE: Recovery through Information, Support and Engagement presented by Susan Dargon-Hart, LICSW, Director of HIV & Homelessness Prevention Programs, Institute for Health and Recovery
Regional Engagement and Assessment Center and Housing (REACH) presented by Jerry Ray, Director of Homeless Services, Mental Health Association, Inc.; Jay S. Levy, LICSW, Western Massachusetts Regional Manager, Homeless and Outreach Services, Eliot Community Human Services, Inc.; Andrea Miller, M.S., Associate Director of Shelter & Housing, ServiceNet, Inc.
To view the resources and presentations, click below (please note the PDF's will open in the same window as this web site unless you right click the links and choose "Open in new window" or just click the Back button on your browser once you are done with the PDF to return to the MHSA web site):
