Status Report
August 19, 2004
South Carolina Council on Homelessness
Convened by the Department of Mental Health
In March 2003, Governor Sanford appointed George Gintoli, State Director of the Department of Mental Health, as the official contact for South Carolina to the US Interagency Council on Homelessness. Toward improving the service delivery system for homeless individuals and families in South Carolina, the first South Carolina Council on Homelessness was convened in November 2003.
The Council is comprised of key leadership of agencies that provide services and funds to homeless individuals, programs or organizations. The purpose of this council is to provide the leadership and cooperation necessary for an integrated approach to addressing the comprehensive needs of homeless individuals and families. Attached is a current list of Council members, including the agencies or organizations each member represents, and the adopted Work Plan. Also attached is a draft Governor's Executive Order establishing the Council, formalizing its membership, and authorizing the Council to coordinate, monitor and evaluate state policies and programs to ensure an effective homeless delivery system that will prevent and end homelessness in ten years.
Thus far, the Council has updated state agency and other statewide organization leaders on recent efforts of the State Policy Academy on Chronic Homelessness and other homeless initiatives and best practices at the state and local levels. The Council has also drafted and begun implementation of the Work Plan. Initial strategies include the assessment of the number and types of homeless individuals and the establishment of a Data Work Group comprised of representatives of Budget and Control Board, USC, and HUD. This Work Group has begun coordinating with local homeless data efforts and is planning data sampling in at least one shelter.
In addition, recent collaborations have resulted in applications for federal funding to expand services and housing for homeless individuals and families. These applications are either in process or have been submitted and are awaiting responses from the funders. Examples include the State Housing Authority application for additional HOME funding targeting housing for homeless individuals and families; Mental Illness Recovery Center/Columbia Area Mental Health Center/Lexington-Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council application for HHS federal funding for new services for the dually diagnosed homeless population in Columbia; and the Upstate Homeless Coalition application to the Social Security Administration for funding to assist homeless individuals access benefits. The 2003 HUD Continuum of Care funding round was the most successful ever for South Carolina. HUD announced in January 2004 a total of $9,834,677 for homeless programs across the state. The $1,156,577 HUD award to the "Balance of State" Continuum of Care coalition was especially noteworthy because this was the first year counties in this coalition received significant federal funding for homeless programs. Counties included in this coalition are Aiken, Barnwell, Orangeburg, Calhoun, Bamberg, Allendale, Hampton, Colleton, Beaufort, and Jasper.
More recently, the Council established a Discharge/Release Policy Work Group comprised of representatives from SC Department of Corrections, SC Department of Mental Health, SC Department of Social Services, SC Department of Juvenile Justice, SC Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, and the State Homeless Coalition. The purpose of this work group is to review and evaluate existing state-wide discharge/release policies of publicly funded institutions and systems and to identify strategies to ensure continuity of care to prevent homelessness. The work group will utilize existing data to determine the systems that are discharging inappropriately into homelessness and then will work with State Council member agencies to inform and educate key staff on discharge/release planning strategies and protocols to prevent discharges/releases to homelessness. These State Council member agencies will then make appropriate revisions to their discharge/release policies to reflect these new strategies and protocols to prevent discharges/releases to homelessness. Several of these Council member agencies are also members of the SC Re-Entry Interagency Collaborative Team, a state-wide initiative chaired by the SC Department of Corrections and charged to develop a comprehensive service system to enable offenders leaving prison to reintegrate into communities as productive citizens. Since housing and homelessness are key priority areas for the Re-entry initiative, there will be a significant overlap of issues with the State Council and will give the Council the opportunity to work in partnership with the Re-Entry Collaborative as discharge/release planning strategies are reviewed.
The Council plans to solicit feedback from the regional Continua of Care on priorities and barriers to providing effective service delivery to persons and families who are homeless. Through this participation with the State Council, regional Continua of Care will be involved in the review, evaluation and development of state-wide discharge/release policies for persons leaving publicly funded institutions or systems of care. Regional Continua of Care can then use the state-wide discharge/release plans as models to work with local agencies, such as local jails and hospitals, to inform and educate key staff on discharge/release planning strategies and protocols to prevent discharges/releases to homelessness that can be adopted at the local level.
The Council has planned an extended work session for September 9 and 10 to draft the framework of the State Plan to End Homelessness. This work session will include Council members and invited stakeholders from the regional homeless coalitions. This one and one-half day session will be facilitated to produce a comprehensive state plan to end homelessness in South Carolina.
South Carolina Council on Homelessness Membership
George Gintoli, State Director
Department of Mental Health
Mike Easterday, Program Manager
Department of Health and Human Services
Pete Bailey and Diana Tester
Office of Research and Statistics
Health and Demographics
Anita Floyd
United Way of the Midlands
Policy Academy on Chronic Homelessness
Gail J. Smith
Executive Director
Crisis Ministries
President, State Homeless Coalition
Bertie McKie, Interim Director
Office of the Governor
Office of Economic Opportunity
Caroline Carman
SC Department of Health and Environmental Control
Wilbert Lewis
SC Department of Social Services
Dr. Joseph Ray
SC Commission for the Blind
Kerry Mandeville
SC Vocational Rehabilitation Department
W. Lee Catoe, Director
SC Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services
Sammie Brown
South Carolina Department of Corrections
Rhonda Grant
SC Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services
Brenda Myers
SC Department of Education
Sam Pike
SC Employment Security Commission
Patricia Bradford
VA Medical Center
Kirk Van Laan
Community Planning and Development
US Department of HUD
Lathran Woodard
SC Primary Health Care Association
Don Hinson, Executive Director
State Housing Finance and Development Authority