Homeless Outreach & Housing First

From the author of Homeless Narratives & Pretreatment Pathways

Jay S. Levy brings us a new educational resource entitled Homeless Outreach & Housing First: Lessons Learned. This monograph features three written works on homelessness inclusive of an article on moral, fiscal, and quality of life considerations, a new story entitled "Ronald's Narrative: The Original Housing First", and an interview that was originally featured in Recovering The Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing. These three documents provide a rich and fertile resource for learning, reflecting, and informing needed action that promotes high-quality outreach services and housing stabilization for the most vulnerable among us. The Reader will...

• Learn about the positive measurable impact of a Housing First approach and its moral, fiscal, and quality of life implications.
• Explore the relationship between Homeless Outreach and Housing First, as well as understand the five basic pretreatment principles that can be applied to both.
• Learn how to utilize a Pretreatment Approach with individuals experiencing major mental illness and addiction.
• Understand how to better integrate Housing First and Homeless Outreach initiatives with homelessness policy.

Praise for Jay S. Levy

"This is one of the best guides I have read about working with the underserved and homeless. I wonder why all cities don't put it into place? How we approach our homeless can definitely make a difference. Sometimes it's not in the techniques, but in the attitude of the case manager." --Carol S. Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views

"This is an excellent book for aldermen, social workers, counselors, taxpayers, nurses, street helpers, and many others to read. It is excellent because how it gets the reader into the topic and provides clear definitions and examples. This is a brief and very clear book about not only providing outreach to get people ready to be housed but also moving ahead with the well-known strategy of using "housing first." Housing first is the successful-but underused-process of getting persons indoors right away in the move to solve homelessness. Rather than making people jump through a dozen hoops, plus halfway houses and shelters, plus counseling ad infinitum, housing first gets the person stable housing so that all of the other pieces can fall into place. Why is this book so excellent? Among other reasons-such as its clarity-its brevity is wonderful. It can be read easily in one setting and so it is perfect for weekend retreats with board members and others who need to come to a quick understanding of how housing first works as the key element to successful placement of persons into the indoors." -- Dr. Thomas Hansen

Learn more at www.JaySLevy.com From Loving Healing Press www.LHPress.com