Benton County has helped 54 households find housing in the past year through a collaboration with a flexible housing program. The program has now helped find stable housing for 122 people, including 69 adults and 53 children.
The Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool Program works with other organizations such as the Corvallis School District, Corvallis Housing First, and Vina Moses Center to help with services surrounding finding housing. These services could look like referral to other programs, maintaining housing, and case management.
Rebecca Taylor, Program Manager for Benton County’s Coordinated Homeless Response Office which leads this program, said its strength lies in being able to provide additional support to already existing efforts.
“We try to really emphasize that our program is a low barrier," said Taylor. "We're housing first, but the housing units that we have available to us have their own screening criteria that can screen people out."
According to Taylor, the program works as a wraparound, helping other programs in areas they might not cover, while also making sure that people who have found stable housing stay housed. The program worked with a Coordinated Care Organization to start a grant program that outreaches and engages with property owners and property managers.
Here, FHSP works as a point of contact between the tenant and the property owners and managers. On the landlord’s end, they help negotiate and educate them, becoming the first contact when issues arise. For the new tenants, they help them adjust to their new housing by assisting in things like explaining the rules in a lease, advocating for their housing needs, and laying out the rules and regulations of a housing complex.
For Taylor, the success of the program has relied largely on collaborations like these.
“[We have] a large network of referring agencies who play a key role as that front door and the ability to have such a strong network that you essentially have people on speed dial when issues arise on an individual household level,” said Taylor. “We're able to wrap around the worker who's working with that family and give them the support and coaching they need to have to be successful.”
