Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego

Funders Together to End Homelessness San Diego invests in an evidence-based Housing First model, aligned with national best practices to end homelessness. Increasingly, FTEHSD works at the systems-change level across:

• Permanent supportive housing, which combines affordable housing with supportive services that target the specific needs of an individual or family.
• Rapid re-housing and stabilization services focus on quickly moving people experiencing homelessness out of temporary emergency shelter and into permanent rental housing and providing supports to help them remain housed.
• Prevention strategies, which keep at-risk people from becoming homeless, and diversion, which helps those about to enter emergency shelter identify better options, are also important. These strategies include: military and institutional discharge planning, rental subsidies, emergency cash assistance for rent and utilities, help with locating housing and negotiating with landlords, short-term case management, and connections to mainstream social services.

Advocacy

FTEHSD advocates in support of projects and policies that support a Housing First strategy, increase access to housing, and address the racial inequities of our housing and homelessness systems.

Data-driven Funding

FTEHSD embraces evidence-based, data-driven decision making for coordinated funding and has directly funded systems to build ways for information to flow more effectively across service providers for those experiencing homelessness. We leverage data through our support of:

• Improvements to systems dashboards that make knowing what works easier
• Sitting on the Regional Task Force for the Homeless rankings and review committee, helping steward millions of dollars in funding for the region
• Educating private funders on proven methodology
• Tracking progress to the City’s Homeless Action Plan

Addressing the housing and homelessness crises in our region demands solutions driven with an equity lens. According to the Regional Task Force on Homeless San Diego’s 2020 Point in Time Count Results:

• In San Diego, Black and African American individuals experience homelessness at a disproportionate rate
• Individuals with disabilities are overrepresented in San Diego’s homelessness population, with 58 percent reporting having a disability.
• 17 percent of people living in shelters at night are veterans.