A controversial approach to getting chronically homeless individuals off the street is catching on slowly in Madison, though most efforts here are directed at helping families.

"Housing First" is a philosophy that's been around since the early 1990s. Several U.S. cities claim success with the approach, which aims to get chronic, problem street people in permanent housing to reduce their costly drain on police, jail and other public resources.

In New York, Seattle and other cities, Housing First programs move homeless individuals and families directly into housing scattered around the community, rather than the traditional practice of first putting them in transitional housing while insisting that they seek work and treatment for mental health and addiction problems.

In Dane County, there are several programs that employ parts of the Housing First approach, but none in its pure form. Here, efforts concentrate on needy families and those with the best chance of success, not those who are causing the most problems.

"The issue of homelessness is very complex," said Madison Ald. Brenda Konkel, 2nd District. "In order to solve it, it's going to take a serious investment of money and some serious programs. Housing First can be a big piece of that model, but we have to be willing to put the resources into it, and I don't see the community doing that."

"My understanding is that Housing First programs are not for the best clients out there, but for the clients who have the most hurdles."

In 2005, a United Way of Dane County task force decided to concentrate housing resources on homeless families, said vice president Nan Cnare, "because it affects not only the current circumstances of homelessness, but also homeless children."

Providing housing to those who don't have it is crucial to getting them back on their feet.

"It's hard to concentrate on the job or treatment when you don't know where you're going to be in bed at night," Cnare said

Hard to police

In Madison during the last year, police and some business owners have pushed for a solution to the problem of homeless individuals who gather in and around the State Street commercial district.

Madison police recently identified a Downtown population of about 100 individuals who cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in the jail, detox center and hospitals, not to mention their effect on property values and businesses. Though not all homeless, they are considered the most difficult population to police and may require a new strategy to get them off the street.

The Bush administration has encouraged a Housing First approach for the most severe cases of chronic homelessness -- predominantly single men with mental health problems, criminal records, bad credit and alcohol and drug addiction who become homeless multiple times a year or for prolonged periods of time.

The theory is that segment of the homeless population, roughly estimated at 20 percent, uses 80 percent of the resources, including police time, jail, detox and hospital beds, and shelter services, said Steven Schooler, executive director of Porchlight Inc., which began Madison's first Housing First program last August.

By targeting the toughest population, the community can save money in those other areas, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The United Way of Dane County housing task force has called on local agencies to develop Housing First programs. The Community Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in Dane County, developed in early 2006 by the city, county and a coalition of homeless advocates, also called for the creation of Housing First programs.

Studies have shown Housing First programs have been successful in keeping chronically homeless people off the street, but it is hasn't been studied how much a community could save with Housing First programs, which can be expensive.

Nonetheless, HUD has shifted its funding in recent years from providing services in shelters and projects to subsidizing housing.

New programs

As a result, several new programs are emerging in Madison to provide housing first for homeless people.

The YWCA, Salvation Army and The Road Home received a $366,000 grant from HUD last year for the House-ability program, which began putting 23 homeless families in apartments in August.

Gayle Ihlenfeld, resident support services manager for the YWCA, said the program was developed because "the shelters for families are overwhelmed."

"It's time to look at some new models for working with families," Ihlenfeld said. "We knew the Housing First model was successful in other communities, and it was time to implement the model here."

Porchlight has a Housing First program for families and a separate program for six individuals. However, it isn't considered a pure Housing First program in the model of New York's Pathways to Housing, which began in 1992, Schooler said. That program has on staff drug counselors and psychiatric nurses who offer 24-hour services to clients. The program estimates it costs $2 million a year to serve 90 people.

With a two-year, $120,000 HUD grant, Porchlight provides case management -- a social worker who keeps the six individuals on track with treatment, employment and other efforts -- in subsidized apartments, but doesn't have the resources to provide a full array of services. Instead, Schooler is trying to leverage services from other agencies, which have their own waiting lists and funding issues.

"We're doing it on a shoestring," Schooler said. "I think we're still trying to work out a model that can effectively work in this community."

Kristen Petroshius, who helped found a small, private program called Operation Welcome Home last year after the city cracked down on homeless people living in the shelter at Brittingham Park, shared Konkel's concern that Madison and Dane County have yet to target the most severe cases of chronic homelessness with a Housing First approach.

Operation Welcome Home draws on the Housing First model by providing a house on Madison's South Side for seven residents. Volunteers provide some case management and the rent is subsidized by donations. The residents have regular group meetings to establish rules, most recently agreeing to ban alcohol in the house, Petroshius said.

City, county focus

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said the city has made housing assistance a long-term strategy.

"We didn't call it housing first,' but that has been our approach," Cieslewicz said.

Cieslewicz was referring to the city's and county's focus on rental assistance and housing grants, many of which assist families at risk of becoming homeless, as well as the shelter programs for those who fall through the cracks. He said it falls on the county to provide social services to the chronically homeless.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said that the county spent more than $1.5 million on housing and homeless programs and distributed another $2 million from the state and federal level this year.

The city distributed $2.5 million in 2008, including $448,000 from HUD for Housing Initiatives of Madison, a program operating since 1995.

So far there is no local funding geared toward the new Housing First programs, which Cnare said is because the programs still need to prove that they work. "We're very much in the capacity-building mode both for individuals and for families," Cnare said. "There are some exciting things happening now so we can build some capacity and go to the mainstream funding sources."