[Slide 1]{.underline}

**Creating and Implementing State-Level Polices**

Blake Chard

Deputy Secretary

Washington State Department of Social and Health Services; DSHS

[Slide 2]{.underline}

**Overview**

Homeless Housing and Assistance Act

Interagency Council on Homelessness

Collaboration in Action

Examples of Collaboration

[Slide 3]{.underline}

**Homeless Housing and Assistance Act; HB 2163**

Mandated State 10 Year Plan

Annually conduct a Washington homeless census or count

Homeless housing account

Funding by local document fee

Interagency Council on Homelessness

Section creating required Cabinet level

Governor vetoed that section

[Slide 4]{.underline}

**Interagency Council on Homelessness; ICH**

Governor directed ICH be created and Departments to participate with
senior staff

Community, Trade, and Economic Development

Corrections

Social and Health Services

Health

Veterans Affairs

Employment Security

Governor's Office of Financial Management

[Slide 5]{.underline}

**Collaboration in Action**

Formal agreements and-or Memorandums of Agreement versus Contract

Valuable tool to establish initial and ongoing relationships and
expectations

Complex systems

Public, private, or faith-based

Local, State, or national

Little or no contractual or leverage over partners

Opportunity to meet others from different industries

Medical

Housing

Transportation

Education

Employment

Criminal justice

[Slide 6]{.underline}

**Examples of Collaborations: Public-private partnerships**

Corporation for Supportive Housing

> Integrated housing and services for persons with disabilities,
> particularly targeting mental illness and substance abuse

Sound Families

> Goal to create network of 1,500 units of housing with services for
> families in transition out of homelessness in Pierce, King and
> Snohomish counties

http://www.soundfamilies.org/

Washington Families Fund; WFF

> Expand service-enriched affordable housing for homeless families
> throughout Washington State

Established by the Washington Legislature in 2004

> Fund leveraged initial 2 million-dollar appropriation to attract
> private investments and is expected to reach 5 million dollars by
> year's end

[Slide 7]{.underline}

**Examples of Collaborations**

State Agencies MOU

Housing

Corrections

Health

Social Services

Maximize opportunities to coordinate and integrate housing and social
services

Low-income people

People with disabilities

Individuals slash families experiencing chronic homelessness

[Slide 8]{.underline}

**Examples of Collaborations**

SSI Slash SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery; Soar

Homeless Outreach, Stabilization, and Transition; Host

Expedited Medical Determinations

Housing High-risk Offenders

[Slide 9]{.underline}

**SSI Slash SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery; Soar**

Technical assistance grant awarded

SSI Slash SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery; Soar

DHHS, HUD, DOL, and VA

Train case managers to expedite access to Social Security disability and
other benefits to:

Homeless individuals

Including individuals discharging from state and local institutional
settings

Includes an evaluation component with the Social Security Administration
to measure success

[Slide 10]{.underline}

**Homeless Outreach, Stabilization, and Transition; Host**

Downtown Emergency Services Center of Seattle County

Goal of providing services and housing for the chronically homeless with
serious mental illness or co-occurring serious mental illness and
substance abuse/chemical dependency; asterisk

Policies and procedures between DSHS Bell-town Office in Seattle and the
Seattle County Host were developed

Asterisk: http://www.metrokc.gov/dchs/mhd/host.htm

[Slide 11]{.underline}

**Expedited Medical Determinations**

Part of HB 1290; passed 2005

Washington RCW 74.09.555

Key Reentry Requirements

> DSHS required to expedite eligibility determinations and timely access
> to medical assistance by persons with mental disorders being released
> from confinement
>
> Collaboration to develop procedures and processes for coordination
> with:
>
> Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
>
> Department of Corrections
>
> Regional Support Networks
>
> Social Security Administration

Requires Regional Support Networks

Develop inter-local agreements

Accept referrals prior to release

[Slide 12]{.underline}

**Expedited Medical Determinations**

Expedited Services are for persons with a mental disorder who:

> Received Medicaid, SSI, or General Assistance benefits immediately
> before being confined, or
>
> Received these benefits at any time during the 5 years prior to
> confinement; expected to be disabled for at least 12 months after
> release

"Best Practice" Approach

Prerelease planning, including effective screening and assessments

Formal agreements in place

Dedicated eligibility staff for applications, may be outstationed

> Time for all parties to build relationships and learn each other's
> service populations and service delivery processes

[Slide 13]{.underline}

**Expedited Medical Determinations**

Cross-Agency Planning Process

Steering Committee: 15 members representing

> Department of Social and Health Services
>
> Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
>
> Department of Corrections
>
> Regional Support Networks
>
> Institutes for mental diseases
>
> Social Security Administration

Interagency agreements to formalize cooperative efforts

Information for jails, prisons and IMDS

> Medical, cash, and food assistance programs
>
> What is needed to determine eligibility

[Slide 14]{.underline}

**Expedited Medical Determinations**

MOU to prevent homelessness by rapidly processing applications for
eligibility and benefits for individuals transitioning out of
corrections to the community

DSHS local community services office

Local county jails

[Slide 15]{.underline}

**Expedited Medical Determinations**

14 sites across the State

Local jails

Prisons

Institutions

> Regional Support Networks and mental health providers

Includes correctional facilities with large inmate populations in
Spokane, Yakima, Snohomish, Pierce, Thurston, Clark, and King Counties

[Slide 16]{.underline}

**Expedited Medical Determinations**

What is Department of Corrections, DOC, doing

Training

Staff in major facilities have been trained on the Implementation of HB
1290

A standardized application process has been developed

Allows for application packets to be submitted within 45 days of release

DSHS and DOC application process consistent

Partnerships

Working relationships developed between agencies and community

Barriers

Work release: if working, denied services

> DOC does not document offender's inability to function in their daily
> living hindering DSHS ability to make an eligibility determination

[Slide 17]{.underline}

**E2SHB 1290 Expedited Medical Determinations: Implementation Target
Sites, September 2006**

The slide shows a map of Washington State showing [freeways]{.mark},
city and county jails, correctional facilities, State psychiatric
hospitals, IMD's, implementation CSO's, ESA regions, and RSN regions.
The six ESA regions, in numerical order, are in the northeast, the
south, the northwest, the upper central west, the lower central west,
and the southwest. Each one has a box listing its CSO's. The RSN regions
are labeled North Sound, Chelan-Douglas, North Central, Spokane, Greater
Columbia, King, Pierce, Clark, Southwest, Timberlands, Grays Harbor,
Thurston-Mason, and Peninsula. Outside of the map, each ESA region has
its city and county jails, DOC facilities, IMD facilities, and local
partners identified by name.

[Slide 18]{.underline}

**Housing High Risk Offenders**

All offenders are assessed at intake to determine risk level.

If an offender is assessed as high risk and has a requirement for
supervision, a housing plan must be approved prior to release.

A Re-entry Specialist is assigned to each high risk offenders at least 9
months prior to release.

A Risk Management Intensive Transition (RMIT) Team is convened to
develop an appropriate release plan.

RMIT includes the offender, staff, providers, landlords, potential
employers, et cetera; anyone necessary to plan for the success of the
individual high-risk offender.

[Slide 19]{.underline}

**Future Direction**

Historically:

Release planning for high-risk offenders begins 9 months prior to
release

New Direction:

> Ultimate outcome and most essential statewide responsibility is still
> to increase public safety
>
> To do that, major goal in the Department's 2007 to 2013 Strategic Plan
> is to increase successful re-entry of offenders to communities

Release planning begins at intake or even as early as sentencing

Engage community and family in all phases of release planning

All staff are responsible for successful re-entry

[Slide 20]{.underline}

**National Governors Association**

Center for Best Practices Offender Reentry Policy Academy

Five States: Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Maine, Indiana, and Washington

Cabinet-level members

Corrections

Social and Health Services

Employment Security

Community and Trade

County Elected Official