Building Tulsa, Building Lives is a Housing First initiative that is helping to end chronic homelessness in this mid-sized city, the second largest in Oklahoma, by creating sustainable permanent supportive housing opportunities using a debt free, mixed income, mixed population model. With strong support from the philanthropic sector led by the Zarrow Family foundations, and in collaboration with the Tulsa Housing Authority and the Mayor's Task Force to End Chronic Homelessness, the initiative builds on the leadership demonstrated over more than a decade by the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, Inc. (MHAT) in acquiring and managing affordable rental housing to provide community integrated housing opportunities for persons with mental health disabilities.

A $30 million campaign, which has obtained commitments of more than $21 million to date, is being used to acquire, rehab, and construct 511 units of affordable rental housing at scattered sites throughout the community. Up to 50% of the units in every building are used to provide Housing First opportunities, including supportive services, for homeless persons with disabilities living on the street or in shelter. This mixed-income community integration effort models the best practices recommended by the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.

Long term sustainability of the permanent supportive housing units is a key goal, and Building Tulsa, Building Lives eschews financing models that utilize long term debt obligations in favor of "paying cash" to acquire and develop the properties. This substantially reduces future fundraising burdens and helps insure resources will be available for supportive services. BTBL leaders also note that having site control has made their applications for state and federal grants more successful.

Those individuals living on the streets in the downtown area and those who will be displaced when the YMCA closes its structurally deteriorating residential facility by 2010 are the focus of the Tulsa initiative. Many of the 140 men currently living at the Y, including 25 on a floor leased as a Safe Haven by the MHAT, have cycled through homelessness. The Building Tulsa, Building Lives team is focused on ensuring that no one falls into homelessness when the building closes. For more than two years, the Zarrow Family foundations have been funding a full time caseworker at the Y to help residents locate permanent housing which in turn has allowed more people to move off the street into these available Y units.

As the Y moves toward closing its residency program permanently, Building Tulsa, Building Lives has developed an innovative "coupon" program that will work similarly to HUD housing vouchers and will be particularly useful for assisting those with criminal histories or other factors that make them ineligible for the HUD voucher program. A joint YMCA-MHAT Task Force is being formed to provide continuing focus on the goal of not losing anyone to homelessness. An individual needs assessment will be done of every Y resident to determine eligibility for mainstream program assistance. Where no such assistance is available, Building Tulsa, Building Lives has budgeted $250,000 for the "coupon" program and the Y has indicated it expects to be able to contribute approximately $600,000 when the building is eventually sold. Coupon recipients will be guaranteed up to five years of rental assistance.

Recognizing the importance of transportation for access to the employment, benefits, and health services that create a trajectory out of homelessness, a $400,000 capital and operating grant from the Zarrow Family foundations spearheaded a partnership with the Morton Comprehensive Health Center that has created a two bus free transportation network among the housing and service providers scattered throughout the city including the outpatient VA clinic and the Social Security office. Staff at this Federally Qualified Health Center had experience in providing appointment transportation for clients and with input from the various human services agencies regarding the needs of their homeless clientele, developed the fixed route systems which provide access and predictability. Frequent user surveys ensure that the routes and stops continue to meet the needs of riders. This effort is the first of its kind in Oklahoma.

The primary focus of the Building Tulsa, Building Lives initiative has been the men and women living long term on the streets of downtown Tulsa and in the shelters and those living in the YMCA residential facility. Adopting the debt-free, mixed income, mixed population business model for its housing acquisition and construction projects also has expanded the housing opportunities for others in the community who need small and truly affordable market rate rental apartments.

Building Tulsa, Building Lives resources are also being used to break the cycle of homelessness that can begin when young people age out of the foster care system. With support from BTBL, Youth Services of Tulsa will soon close on the purchase of 2 buildings, with a total of 33 units, to provide housing for this population. Oklahoma was one of five states recently invited by SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) to a Policy Academy on Developing Systems of Care for Youth and Young Adults with Mental Health Needs Who Are Transitioning to Adulthood, and Their Families, where the Building Tulsa, Building Lives initiative was cited as leading the state.

As many as 2600 passengers ride the Morton Comprehensive Health Services' two buses each month. Service providers who routinely had to allocate resources from their limited program budgets to buy bus tokens for homeless clients report significant savings which are being invested in their programs. Cooperating on the development of the bus routes has enhanced collaboration among service agencies. The free access and predictability of the bus transportation network has improved client self reliance and stability.

BTBL leaders report that Tulsa's latest Point in Time count identified 75 persons experiencing chronic homelessness, a 22% decrease from the previous year.

Three apartment buildings have been acquired in 2008 under the initiative. This includes the 20- unit one and two bedroom Charan Apartments, with up to 10 units targeted to housing for homeless individuals; the 16 one-bedroom Indianapolis Apartments with up to 8 targeted units; and the 26 unit studio/efficiencies/1 bedroom Ritz Apartments with up to 10 of the units specifically dedicated to providing replacement housing for those at the Y.

Construction will begin soon on Yale Avenue Apartments, the first new construction project being undertaken under the Building Tulsa, Building Lives Initiative. The 76 unit living and service center, which like the acquired apartment buildings will house both market rate and permanent supportive apartments, includes units to replace the 25 Safe Haven units that will be lost when the Y closes its residential facility. Special allocations of $2 million in state funding in both 2007 and 2008 helped make this project possible.

Housing for homeless and disabled veterans is also being funded through a per diem contract of $264,000 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Tulsa leaders understand the importance of cost analysis as a strategic tool in generating the political and civic will to make investments in permanent supportive housing. An initial effort to examine costs resulted in estimates consistent with research findings: an estimated $32,000 per person per year for a sample of unhoused chronically homeless persons in Tulsa and estimated costs incurred by 59 formerly homeless individuals now in supportive housing in Tulsa, at $24,000 per person per year.

Going a step further, BTBL leaders have worked with the Chamber of Commerce to identify and predict local community economic benefit from the amount of tax revenue that would be generated from the employment and increased wages associated with the BTBL campaign. A Chamber analysis based on the total of 511 acquired/rehab and new construction units by 2011, each valued at $44,000, estimates employment income through 2012 at $12.6 million, local sales and property tax revenues of $463,000 and state tax and fee revenue of over half a million dollars.

One formerly homeless and now housed and gainfully employed consumer summed up his evaluation of the efforts underway: "Tulsa really has it going on."

Building Tulsa, Building Lives began as a partnership of the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, the Maxine and Jack Zarrow Foundation, the Ruth K. Nelson Revocable Trust, the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, Inc, the Tulsa Housing Authority through its non profit arm, Housing Partners of Tulsa, and the Mayor's Task Force to End Chronic Homelessness, and now includes a broad coalition of service agencies and foundations.

The initiative builds on the success of both an earlier smaller capital campaign begun in 2001 by the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, Inc. that raised $5.25 million to create 160 housing units for persons with serious mental illness, and the 2005-2006 community effort that developed Tulsa Strategic Plan to End Chronic Homelessness by 2012.

Members of the Zarrow family have a history of community involvement in homeless and mental health issues, an interest that arose from experience with a family member diagnosed with schizophrenia. The 2004 3-day National Zarrow Mental Health Symposium: A Place to Call Home drew 400 experts and participants to Tulsa from 33 states and Canada. In 2006, Zarrow Family foundations provided the seed money to the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, Inc. and the Tulsa Housing Authority to develop the Building Tulsa, Building Lives housing plan for homeless people living on downtown streets and shelters and those living at the Y.

The Mental Health Association in Tulsa, Inc. acquired its first housing units in 1990 and including the apartment buildings acquired to date through BTBL, owns and manages 287 rental apartment units. Following best practice to help persons with mental health disabilities successfully integrate into the fabric of the community, only about half of the units are targeted as homeless and/or disabled units. The apartments are managed and maintained by a Property Management enterprise started by the MHAT which provides employment opportunities for many of the homeless and disabled. With the acquisition of a 10,000 sq ft facility, the enterprise is being expanded to offer property management and maintenance services to other non profits and private homes. MHAT is an active member of the Tulsa Apartment Association and will be doing extensive outreach to landlords in the community for the coupon program. As part of the effort to help Y residents move to permanent housing, one landlord is volunteering his time to teach a class at the Y helping residents understand documentation requirements for signing leases on apartments.

Learn more about Building Tulsa, Building Lives at their web site: www.buildingtulsabuildinglives.com - the site includes a recently posted video.

08 in 08, continues with a Special Issue focused on . . . IDignity, an Orlando faith-based partnership convening a monthly one-stop of federal, state, and local government agencies to secure ID and vital documents to support a trajectory to housing, jobs, and stability for people who are homeless . . .

Don't miss a single episode during this 08 in 08 Innovation series . . . but, if you do, you can always access the Council's "on demand" service and catch up. Just visit our web site at www.usich.gov/innovations. You can also see the Council's previous Innovations series - 20 in 20 and 5 in 5, all profiles of what's working to end homelessness.

email: usich@usich.gov

web: http://www.usich.gov