When a person or family fall into homelessness, time is of the essence. The damage accumulates with every day and night they have no place to call home.

Their mental, physical and emotional health inevitably deteriorates, their prospects for securing employment or long-term accommodation diminish, while a lack of security raises the risk of physical harm. Children can suffer educational setbacks — indeed, research has found that infants in families experiencing periods of homelessness of more than six months are likely to suffer developmental delays.

Speed of response is critical. This urgency is encapsulated by “rapid rehousing”, the approach which is at the core of Bermuda’s collaboratively developed Plan to End Homelessness.

Rapid rehousing is an internationally recognised model, which ensures that anyone experiencing homelessness can move into long-term accommodation as quickly as possible, minimising the use of temporary shelters.

There are no preconditions; for example, relating to employment, income, absence of a criminal record, therapy or sobriety. This is a key benefit: it is much easier to apply for a job when you have a permanent address, and likewise therapy sessions are more likely to be beneficial when you have a settled home, as opposed to living outside.

Typically, rapid rehousing comprises three elements: housing identification, move-in and rental support, and case management support and services. It is a means of temporary assistance with the goal of quickly moving individuals and families into a settled home with access to the support system required to help them stabilise and progress to independent living.

In the plan to end homelessness, rapid rehousing is the default model for assisting people experiencing homelessness. Evidence from around the world vindicates rapid rehousing, as it:

• Reduces rough sleeping and repeat homelessness

• Decreases spending on expensive temporary accommodation

• Reduces the marginalising effects of prolonged homelessness or lengthy stays in temporary shelters

• Improves quality of life and health outcomes, leading to savings for public services

Research cited by the Urban Institute, a US public policy think-tank, found that a rapid rehousing project in American enabled families to spend an average of 3.2 months less in a temporary shelter than those who used traditional homeless services. There were significant cost benefits, as the study found it was five times more expensive to house a family in a temporary shelter than in a settled home.

The temporary shelters we have in Bermuda serve a social purpose — some as an emergency response to homelessness — but are not designed to provide a pathway to stable living. Rapid rehousing will ease the burden on shelters and shorten the duration of stays, freeing beds and resources to help others.

Perth and Kinross Council in Scotland reaped such benefits from a rapid rehousing initiative that reduced the average length of time spent in temporary accommodation from 258 days to 81 days, while the number of households in temporary accommodation fell from 213 to 101 in the space of two years. The district’s backlog of homelessness cases fell by four fifths over the same time period.

Behind the statistics are human stories. For example, Home assisted a senior we found sleeping on the ground floor of the Bull’s Head car park after a Royal Gazette reporter alerted us to his presence. When we approached him, we found him to be an absolute gentleman, and he asked for one more night to gather his belongings and clean up behind himself.

The weather the next night was windy and rainy, and we found him sitting on the wet concrete of the car park. We’ve learnt over the past two years that persons who have been rough sleeping for long periods often have a very private transition ceremony symbolising their respect for the space occupied when they exited mainstream society. It is during such pivotal moments of reflection someone decides whether to stay outside or try again. Staying outside may sound like the worse option, but our research shows sometimes it may be the only choice that keeps them safe. We were eventually able to meet him and discuss housing options.

The Plan to End Homelessness, written by Home and developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors and multiple helping agencies, spells out the vision of a rapid rehousing framework for Bermuda to ensure that homelessness occurrences are rare, brief and non-repeated. Among its recommendations are:

• Statutorily adopting rapid rehousing as the default model for people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and place a legal duty on public entities to provide suitable long-term housing

• Establishing a time limit for people staying in inadequate temporary accommodation, ensuring sufficient emphasis on transition into long-term housing

• Requiring a personal housing plan to be developed by public entities — or agencies operating on their behalf — for every person experiencing or at risk of homelessness, with the aim of providing somewhere safe to live for at least the next six months

To make rapid rehousing a reality will require bold policy choices, multiple agencies working collaboratively and cross-community support. Availability of affordable and social housing — in the public and private sectors — will need to increase, while potential concerns of tenants and landlords alike are addressed.

Resources to ensure that persons in rapid rehousing are able to maintain their tenancy will be necessary. Some may need no additional support, others short-term support, and a small proportion may require higher-intensity, multi-agency support.

It is worth reiterating the point made in previous articles: making the investments necessary to end homelessness will be less expensive for Bermuda than continuing to tolerate homelessness, using repetitive crisis management as the default response, and imposing unnecessary costs on the system, particularly for health and criminal justice services.

Also important is a thorough understanding of the needs of the population that rapid rehousing is intended to help so the necessary wraparound services can be in place. By interviewing more than 400 people experiencing or at risk of homelessness on the island during the drafting of the plan, Home has garnered valuable input. But tracking homelessness and its many aspects must continue to ensure policymakers and service providers make decisions informed by data and evidence.

All residents are invited to offer their thoughts on the Plan to End Homelessness, which is undergoing a public consultation through February 29. The document is posted on the Bermuda Government’s forum.gov.bm website, where suggestions on how to strengthen the plan are welcome.

• Denise Carey is chief executive and executive director of Home, a charity with the purpose of ensuring that everyone in Bermuda has a safe, stable and sustainable place to live and that new cases of homelessness are prevented. Contact her at denise@home.bm. For more information, or to donate, visit the Home website at www.home.bm

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Plan to End Homelessness in Bermuda.pdf

• For the consultative Plan to End Homelessness in Bermuda, see Related Media