For agencies like Avalon operating under the Housing First principle, the first step in ending homelessness is to put people in homes. But we also know that it’s often far from the last step.
Beyond the lack of an affordable home, issues contributing to homelessness – mental illness, substance use disorders, or generational poverty – don’t suddenly disappear when people get a roof over their heads. In fact, they can persist, sometimes putting a person’s new housing situation at risk.
So Avalon provides a network of support for tenants and clients, including case managers that help them access the services they need. For tenants with higher needs, Avalon has assembled a team of intensive case managers – with help from a three-year grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Supportive Services Pilot.
Intensive case managers help clients overcome serious conditions, such as hoarding, that immediately jeopardize their health and well-being, and often their housing.
Sean Allen, leader of Avalon’s Intensive Case Management team, said a lower caseload – 10 households per case manager – allows Avalon staff to spend more time with each individual tenant. (According to research from 2019, typical caseloads in permanent supportive housing range from 15:1 to 25:1.)
“We’re serving our folks in the way they need to be served,” he said. “We’re able to break down barriers and work on root causes of persistent issues. Experiencing homelessness is traumatic, and it’s a very recent trauma for a lot of our tenants.”
Thanks to the state grant, the Intensive Case Management Team has seven case managers with 10 households assigned to each – which allows for more individual attention for each client, and also lessens the burden on the rest of Avalon’s staff, such as the services and property management teams.
Jamian Keyes, an intensive case manager, recalls a client who had been hoarding items in her apartment and was facing eviction. She was so paralyzed by the idea of losing her belongings that she couldn’t even start to address the problem. Jamian also did some training to better understand how to address the issue.
“When working with individuals with hoarding disorder, it is important to develop strong rapport and move at the client’s pace,” she said. “She began to trust me.”
Jamian was able to spend time with this client a couple times a week, and at a certain point, the client asked for help to clear out her home.
“We made the call to property management together, and had the clean out a week later. I was able to provide emotional support to her before and on the day of the cleanout. Her home is now organized and she sees it as a fresh start. Since we got her home in a place where she no longer has to fear losing it, she is able to focus on meeting her other goals and continuing work on root causes,” Jamian said.
Sean said the ability to meet with clients more frequently is a key to the team’s effectiveness.
“We’re really able to meet people where they’re at, and we have the time and capacity to motivate people,” he said.
(Picture: Members of Avalon Housing’s Services Team, which includes the Intensive Case Management Team, at the 2024 staff picnic.)