WWHT Team Brings Advocacy to Statehouse: Housing, Conservation, and SASH For All

Valentines day was full of love for Housing and Conservation as organizations across the state gathered at the statehouse to share their stories of impact. Our outreach coordinator went up to participate in the day, advocating for funding for our perpetually affordable housing resources through Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and to also give testimony on the SASH For All Pilot program. Read the full testimony text below or watch along starting at minute 38.

For the record my name is Marion Major, with the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust. I’m here with Molly Dugan, Cathedral Square with a budget request of $300,000 for year 3 of the pilot SASH For All. I’m also here today as a member organization of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Coalition to highlight the importance of both housing and conservation work across the state.

Here in the southern corner of the state, we’re partnering with Brattleboro Housing Partnership, supported by the expertise of Cathedral Square to pilot the SASH For All program based off the well-established, statewide, and successful Traditional SASH Program that this committee is familiar with. The SASH For All model follows the SASH model by having a community health approach to homelessness prevention that serves the broader community- including families and individuals – in this comprehensive and data-driven program. Where we have a Wellness Nurse, a SASH Coordinator, and a mental health clinician as a team to help individuals and families define their own wellness goals or navigate crisis to avoid homelessness with the support of a core group of local service agencies (Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, HCRS, Winton Prouty Child and Family development, Turning Point, Cathedral Square, Brattleboro Retreat, and SEVCA), the team focuses too on the community health needs.

As we all experienced during covid, isolation is a harrowing condition. It has very real health and community safety repercussions: anxiety, chronic physical stress, SUD. For any community to thrive- connection is the keystone and the SASH For All Program addresses this with it’s “All In” population approach. The SASH For All program is rigorous in defining what success looks like; defining “what’s the difference we’re trying to make” . This evaluation framework was setup from the inception of the pilot program and continues with data informing how we can better serve and support the population as a whole.

You can see the three main strategies for the individual in preventing homelessness: housing stability, better health, and community connection. As you move left to right, you can see the measures and indicators we collect. These strategies are also broken out by neighborhood and by organization. This is a data-rich program.

In the next two slides, you can see how the level of data that’s collected through the program shares key information.

Here’s what we find profound:

• 73 kids are supported through this program because their parents or guardians are participating- that’s an investment in the future.
• The top reported chronic health conditions are mental health conditions.
• The majority of the population is facing food insecurity while feeling financially burdened by meeting basic needs.

These observations I think many of us have either experienced or have been anecdotally aware of in a general sense but without access to finite numbers around.  Here’s where SASH For All shines- this is real data and it drives the program.

I’ll also note, though our goal is the engage pro-actively with residents, bringing folks into the program before crisis presents itself, that’s not always the case. People do enter the program as they are facing crisis. Through these services we’ve diverted 10 evictions from taking place. That number is a conservative data point as others who’ve engaged in the program in a more pro-active stance have prevented homelessness by connecting with resources before they receive a formal eviction notice. 

We’ve also already seen a reduction in the emergency room visits from 30 to 25.  Early indication that we’re supporting residents to be more proactive in addressing health concerns.

• One for the SASH participants is a mother of 5, has a job, and is enrolled in classes. Our SASH Coordinator just shared the exciting scholarship made possible through Evernorth.
  
• Another example, one of our participants was very ill for 2 weeks with what she thought was the flu.  We were able to assist her in accessing care for what was later diagnosed as pneumonia, while also helping her refill her lapsed psychiatric medications as well as helping her organize her bills and paperwork.  She is now healthy, is no longer behind on her rent, connected with a new health care provider, and caught up on her recertification paperwork. 
  
• Finally, One of our WWHT tenants was very concerned about the well-being of her grandson, who was homeless and living in his car until she took him in.  He enrolled in the SASH for All program.  He is now on the lease, as well as on the housing voucher, so he will be able to continue to be housed if something were to happen to his grandmother.  We assisted him in applying for SSI, as he is disabled and unable to work. We also assisted him applying for 3 Squares benefits. They are both feeling more stable and secure about their future. 

The long-term goal of this pilot program is to expand as SASH has, to the full statewide network of mission driven organizations, and even ripple into the broader community. This community health model works with the individuals while also creating that community connection that builds resilience into our neighborhoods. we are here to make a 2025 budget request for continued support for these two panels as we work to learn from this model to become state-wide ready.