-A-

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Adverse childhood experience - a traumatic or disruptive life event occurring in childhood that causes significant stress, with potentially lifelong effects on mental health. Examples include parental divorce; interparental violence; substance abuse in the household; physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; and an incarcerated parent (Cutuli et al., 2015).

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Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) - A regulation under HUD that requires communities to evaluate their housing patterns and look for racial bias, as outlined under the Fair Housing Act.

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Affordable Housing - Is housing where the tenant can maintain their monthly rent either

independently or through program assistance or subsidies.

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ARCH - The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH) serves as the first point of entry into the homeless social service system for many of Austin's adults experiencing homelessness.

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At-Risk of Homelessness – people who are not homeless, but whose current economic and/or housing situation is precarious or does not meet public health and safety standards.

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Autonomy (see also, Self-Determination Theory) - a sense of choice in one’s behavior and decision-making (Ryan et al., 2008).

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-B-

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Busking – a subsistence strategy that refers providing entertainment for money. The activity is considered to be part of informal economy and is commonly associated with homelessness.

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-C-

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Case Management – a collaborative and client centered approach to service provision for persons experiencing homelessness. In this approach, a case worker assesses the needs of the client (and potentially their families) and when appropriate, arranges coordinates and advocates for delivery and access to a range of programs and services to address the individual’s needs.

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Chronic homelessness - HUD defines a chronically homeless individual as “an individual with a disability who has been continuously homeless for 1 year or more or has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last 3 years with a combined length of time homeless of at least 12 months,” (Solari, 2017, p. iv). People who are chronically homeless account for a relatively small proportion of all homeless people, but they consume more of the resources (such as shelter beds) than other groups (Culhane, 2008). This pattern aligns with the Deteriorating Pathway.

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CodeNEXT - Is the City of Austin initiative to revise the Land Development Code, which determines how land can be used throughout the city, including what can be built, where it can be built, and how much can be built.

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Competence (see also, Self-Determination Theory) - a feeling of self-efficacy and confidence in one’s ability to accomplish goals (Ryan et al., 2008).

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Cost-burdened household - a household paying more than 30% of its monthly income towards rent, utility, mortgage payments, and other debts related to housing (City of Austin, 2018).

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Continuum of Care (CoC) - HUD’s local planning bodies that are responsible for addressing the full range of homelessness services in a community - for example, shelters, transitional housing, Permanent Supportive Housing, and Rapid Re-Housing (Solari, 2017, p. v). Austin’s CoC is administered by ECHO (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition).

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Coordinated Assessment (CA) - according to ECHO, the CA is “an evaluation process used to determine which type of housing intervention best matches the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness, whether that be connecting them to community resources or referring them to different housing programs.” The CA is designed to prioritize the most vulnerable individuals for housing programs, although it is not a housing application, and it does not place people on housing waitlists (ECHO, 2014).

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Coordinated intake - a standardized approach to assessing a person’s current situation, the acuity of their needs and the services they currently receive and may require in the future, and takes into account the background factors that contribute to risk and resilience, changes in acuity, and the role friends, family, caregivers, community and environmental factors.

 

-D-

 

Discrimination - refers to intentional or unintentional actions that negatively affect people, based on biases and prejudices.

Diversion - Family re-unification strategies that keep people from entering emergency shelters by helping them identify and access alternate, safe housing arrangements outside of the homeless service system. For example, providing a bus or air ticket to reunify with family outside of Austin.

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Drop-in Center - Facilities that provides resources for persons experiencing homelessness during the day. Resources can include computers and Internet available for public use and staff who can direct persons to various services throughout the community.

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Dual diagnosis - the combination of a mental health and a substance use disorder diagnosis.

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-E-

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Early intervention strategies – refers to strategies designed to work quickly to support individuals and families to either retain their housing, or to use rapid rehousing strategies.

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Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) - Austin’s local CoC provider. ECHO is a non-profit agency that coordinates homelessness services across Austin and manages Austin’s HMIS. As Austin’s CoC, ECHO maintains a list of locations where people can complete their coordinated assessments, and it also plans, develops, prioritizes, and implements systemic, community-wide strategies to end homelessness in Austin and Travis County, Texas.

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Emergency Response – providing emergency supports like shelter, food and day programs while someone is homeless.

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Emergency Shelter - Facilities that provide temporary or transitional shelter for the homeless in general or for specific populations of the homeless. Most serve specific sub-populations including single adults and families with children. 

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Emergency Sheltered – staying in overnight emergency shelters designed for people who are homeless.

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Episodic homelessness - when people cycle in and out of homelessness. This pattern is typical for people who have frequent contact with the justice system, or people who are housed through programs where relapsing is grounds for losing their housing. This pattern aligns with the Relapsing Pathway.

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-F-

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Family reconnection (and reunification) - client-driven case-management approach that seeks to identify and nurture opportunities to strengthen relationships and resolve conflicts between young people who leave home and their caregivers.

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Functional Zero - Refers to the concept of making homelessness becomes rare, brief, and nonrecurring. In technical terms, it means that at any point in time, the number of persons experiencing homelessness will be no greater than the community’s average monthly housing placement rate.

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-H-

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Hard skills – refers to the learning of marketable skills (such as carpentry, computer repair, restaurant work) that increase the employability of people wanting to get jobs.

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Harm Reduction – referrers to policies, programs and practices aimed at reducing the risks and negative effects associated with substance use and addictive behaviors for the individual, the community and society as a whole.

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Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) - the blanket term used to describe central data systems that collect, store, and report data related to individuals that receive services from Continuum of Care providers. Local Continuums of Care are responsible for maintaining their own Homeless Management Information Systems and tailoring it to meet unique programs and data needs. Continuums of Care are required by HUD to uniformly report universal data elements related to individuals who are receiving shelter. Universal data elements include a client’s name, social security number, date of birth, race, ethnicity, gender, veteran status, disabling condition, project start date, project exit date, destination, relationship to head of household, client location, housing move-in date, and living situation. Other information such as an individual’s income, health insurance, HIV/AIDS status, etc., may be required depending on the program’s funding specifications and requirements. Additional information like PIT count data can also be stored and maintained in a CoC’s HMIS.

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Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST) - a system-wide database that tracks the needs of households experiencing homelessness, services received across the community, and their outcomes.

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Homeless Preference Program - The Housing Authority developed a local preference program to annually assist up to 100 previously homeless individuals. Applicants need to be referred by a coalition of homeless service providers (ECHO). The homeless service providers are committed to providing referrals, case management, and housing search assistance.

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Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) - financial assistance offered through local housing authorities to very low-income families, the elderly, and those with disabilities that helps pay the balance of a rental payment that exceeds 30% of a renters’ monthly income.

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Housing Inventory Count (HIC) - Annual inventory of a CoC’s emergency shelter, transitional housing, safe havens, rapid re-housing, and permanent supportive housing resources for persons who are homeless in a CoC. The HIC includes both HUD and non-HUD funded shelter and housing resources.

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Housing First - a housing paradigm that prioritizes placing people into permanent housing as the first step in their recovery. The philosophy views housing as the critical foundation upon which individuals can engage with services and continue to pursue their personal goals, and it does not require them to graduate through initial services to address substance or behavioral issues.  Instead, participants must comply with a standard lease agreement and are provided with the services and supports that are necessary to help them do so successfully. As such, Housing First is a low-barrier option (NAEH, 2016). The paradigm has two main variants: Rapid re-housing and Permanent supportive housing.

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Housing Navigation - Services that bridge the gap between homelessness and stable housing by connecting people to permanent housing solutions.

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Housing Unit - A residence (e.g. a house, apartment, mobile home) that provides a space for household members to live.

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Housing and Urban Development, Department of (HUD) - created in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson, HUD is the US’s federal agency in charge of policy and programs related to housing and homelessness. It provides public housing, rental assistance in the form of Section 8 vouchers, and homeless assistance through community organizations (HUD, n.d.). HUD established the concept of the “Continuum of Care” (HUD, n.d.).

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-I-

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Individual Factor - a risk factor for homelessness that is related to a someone’s personality or individual vulnerabilities. Examples include substance use disorder, mental illness, and other disabilities or cognitive impairments.

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Institutional Factor - a risk factor for homelessness that is related to someone’s contact with a government or major societal institution, such as the military, foster care, prison, or the hospital system.  The uncoordinated discharge from such an institution presents just as much risk as does the traumatizing contact with the institution itself.

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-L-

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Landlord Outreach Specialist - Responsible for developing and maintaining working relationships with landlords and property managers to secure housing for persons experiencing homelessness.

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Low barrier - an adjective used to describe programs that are designed to be as accessible as possible, allowing the most vulnerable clients to engage with them. For housing programs, this can mean removing expectations of abstinence, enforcing minimal behavioral rules, not excluding participants with criminal histories, negative rental histories, or otherwise accepting and working with challenging behaviors that the client may present (Here to Help, 2007).

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-M-

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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - an extremely influential theory of human motivation which claims that human needs emerge in a consistent order. According to this theory, our most basic needs are physiological (hunger, thirst, shelter); once those are fulfilled, we feel the need for safety; then we feel the need for love and self-esteem; then, finally, we feel the need to self-actualize, or fulfill our sense of purpose (Maslow, 1943). Importantly, this theory holds that there is a linear order in which we feel these needs, and that the “higher” needs are not felt as strongly if the “lower” needs are not fulfilled.

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Mental illness - a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder ranging in impact from mild to severe. Types of mental illness include depression, anxiety, psychopathy, and schizophrenia (NIMH, 2017).

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-N-

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Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) – describes the phenomenon in which residents of a neighborhood designate a new development (e.g. shelter, affordable housing, group home) or change in occupancy of an existing development as inappropriate or unwanted for their local area.

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-P-

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Panhandling – a subsistence strategy that refers to begging for money, food and other items. The activity is considered to be part of informal economy and is commonly associated with homelessness.

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Pay for Success (PFS) - An approach to contracting that ties payment for service delivery to the achievement of measurable outcomes. The movement towards PFS contracting is a means of ensuring that high-quality, effective social services are working for individuals and communities.

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Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) - low-barrier subsidized housing that provides long-term services for its tenants. For federally-funded PSH, having a disability is a requirement for program eligibility, so most people in PSH have a disability (Solari, 2017, p. v).  It is one option to house chronically homeless individuals with high acuity.

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Point In Time (PIT) Count - conducted at the end of January each year, CoC’s count all visible people who are sleeping on the street or in shelters on a given night to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness in that community (Solari, 2017, p. v).

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Public Housing Authority (PHA) - A  governmental body that governs aspects of an area’s housing. The Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) is the PHA for Austin, and the Housing Authority of Travis County (HATC) is the PHA for Travis County.

Psychological well-being - a state of emotional and mental stability that requires certain conditions to be met: a sense of integration in a community, a sense of belongingness, and a sense of purpose are a few examples.

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-R-

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Rapid Re-Housing - short-term rental assistance delivered with a Housing First philosophy; goals are finding employment and remaining housed (NAEH, 2016). Quickly connects persons, with a mid-range level of needs, to permanent housing by addressing their immediate barriers to permanent housing.

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Recuperative care - an option for people experiencing homelessness once they are discharged from the hospital but require additional time to heal in a safe, hygienic environment.

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Relatedness (see also, Self-Determination Theory) - a feeling of connectedness with others; feeling cared for by others (Ryan et al., 2008).

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Relationship Factor - a risk factor for homelessness that is related to a person’s relationships with other people, which can potentially be a source of many kinds of support and/or abuse. People’s resources are often tied up in their relationships with other people, and so the loss of relationships can signify the loss of financial as well as emotional stability.

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-S-

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Scattered site - housing that is spread throughout the city over several buildings, rather than being concentrated in one building (Here to Help, 2007). Usually in the private rental market, as opposed to an affordable housing building or project.

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Self-Determination Theory - an influential theory put forward by psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci that identifies three innate psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. According to the authors, fulfilling these needs appears “to be essential for facilitating optimal functioning of the natural propensities for growth and integration, as well as for constructive social development and personal well-being,” (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

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Self-resolving - using one’s own means and/or social network to regain housing stability.

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Serious mental illness (SMI) - a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment; it substantially limits or interferes with major life activities to the level of being a disability (NIMH, 2017).

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Social Housing – any housing that is funded/subsidized by a level of government.

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Soft skills – refers the range of skills that help someone obtain and maintain employment such as resume preparation and job search. It also refers to “life skills” training such as shopping, cooking and managing money.

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Street outreach – an incredibly important work that involves moving outside the walls of the agency to engage people experiencing homelessness who may be disconnected and alienated not only from mainstream services and supports, but from the services targeting homeless persons as well.

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Structural Factor - a risk factor for homelessness that is related to societal conditions, such as the economy, racial inequality and discrimination, and unequal access to education.

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Structured Data - information that is highly organized, as in a spreadsheet. This information is easily searchable by a machine. This data has clear labels describing what kind of information each field holds - for example, numbers, text, and dates.

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Subjective well-being - a state of satisfaction with life evaluated through the meeting of core needs in several domains, such as: material resources, food, income, housing, health, social life, privacy, friendship, romantic relationships, family, intelligence, physical appearance, self, and morality (Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2006).

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Support Services - Include employment services, education support, parenting classes, connections to benefits, mental healthcare, substance use treatment, and basic needs, food, and clothing services.

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-T-

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Transitional homelessness - a short, single episode of homelessness. More likely to affect families and couples with a lifelong history of poverty. This pattern aligns with the Resilient Pathway.

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Transitional housing - a housing model that usually requires abstinence from its tenants and enforces strict rules regarding curfew and behavior. Normally, tenants all live in congregate housing (i.e., in the same location) and have access to 24-hour services. However, services are time-limited to around 2 years in most circumstances (Solari, 2017, p. v).

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-U-

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Unaccompanied Youth - Include any youth under age 25 who do not have an adult or guardian responsible for their care.

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Unsheltered Homeless - Persons sleeping in places not meant for human habitation; such as abandoned buildings, parks, cars, sidewalks, or the streets.

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Unstructured Data - information that is unorganized; it is easier for humans to interact with than machines. Emails and social media content are examples of unstructured data.

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-V-

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Veterans - Include any person who served one day of active duty in the U.S. military, regardless of his or her discharge status.

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-Y-

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Youth homelessness – Youth homelessness refers to young people between the ages of 13 and 24 who are living independently of parents and/or caregivers, and importantly, lack many of the social supports deemed necessary for the transition from childhood to adulthood.