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Just the Facts


There are many misconceptions about
homelessness. Know the facts.
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The Tarrant County Homeless Coalition is dedicated to providing leadership in the prevention and eradication of homelessness in Tarrant County.
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Glossary of Terms

Activities of daily living skills (ADLS): Basic skills required to take care of one's personal needs, such as grooming, housekeeping, budgeting, and using transportation.

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome): The advanced stage of HIV disease is characterized by a severely compromised immune system that increases vulnerability to life-threatening opportunistic infections. The criteria established for diagnosis includes HIV infection with a CD4 count below 200, a CD4 lymphocyte percentage of total lymphocytes of less than 14, or a clinical condition listed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as AIDS defining.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Federal legislation that defines the rights of access to and use of public accommodations, commercial facilities, and the workplace for people with disabilities. Also provides mechanisms for enforcement of rights of disabled persons against private persons, other entities (such as employers), and state and local governments.

Assertive community treatment (ACT) teams: Multidisciplinary teams that provide case management, crisis intervention, medication monitoring, social support, assistance with everyday living needs, access to medical care, and employment assistance for people with mental illness. The programs are based on an assertive outreach approach with hands-on assistance provided to individuals in their homes and neighborhoods.

Benchmarking: The process of identifying, sharing, and using knowledge and best practices. It focuses on how to improve any given business process by exploiting top-notch approaches rather than merely measuring the best performance. Finding, studying and implementing best practices provides the greatest opportunity for gaining a strategic, operational, and financial advantage.

Benefits planners: A person who interprets complex policy, rules, and procedures, administrative code, and legislative language into practical and understandable information. Under the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act, Congress created a formal program, known as the Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach (BPAO) program, as a core employment support for people with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Income. All 50 states participate in the BPAO program.

Benefits planning: The person-centered analysis of the effect that work and other life situation changes have on public and private programs, including income support programs. Benefits planning helps people with disabilities steer through the maze of public and private benefits programs while minimizing disincentives and barriers that exist for them to prepare for, obtain, advance in, retain, leave, and regain employment.

Blended Funding: Funding which pools dollars from multiple sources and makes them in some ways indistinguishable.

Braided Funding: Similar to Blended Funding, however, the funding sources remain visible while they are used in common to produce greater strength, efficiency, and/or effectiveness. Business Leadership Networks (BLN): Chaired by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the BLN is a national program led by employers in concert with state Governor's Committees and/or community agencies that engages the leadership and participation of companies throughout the United States to hire qualified job candidates with disabilities.

Buy-in: The level to which an individual or member of a community is involved with and supports the ideas, concepts, processes, and projects that are advanced by the leadership.

Career Preparation: Core activities that help youth become prepared for a successful future in careers or post secondary education institutions including career awareness activities that expose young people to information about the job market, job related skills, the wide variety of jobs that exist and the education and training they require, as well as the work environment where they are performed. Core activities also include: career assessments (formal and informal); opportunity awareness including guest speaker informational interviews, research-based activities such as wage comparisons and Web searches, community mapping, and exposures to post secondary education such as campus visits and college fairs, and work-readiness skills such as soft-skills development, computer competency, and job search skills.

Case management: The overall coordination of an individual's use of services, which may include medical and mental health services, substance use services, and vocational training and employment. Although the definition of case management varies with local requirements and staff roles, a case manager often assumes responsibilities for outreach, advocacy, and referral on behalf of individual clients.

Chronically Homeless: A person who is "chronically homeless" is an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more OR has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years. In order to be considered chronically homeless, a person must have been sleeping:

  1. in a place not meant for human habitation (e.g., living on the streets) and/or
  2. in an emergency homeless shelter.

A disabling condition is defined as "a diagnosable substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability, including the co-occurrence of two or more of these conditions." A disabling condition limits an individual's ability to work or perform one or more activities of daily living. An episode of homelessness is a separate, distinct, and sustained stay on the streets and/or in an emergency homeless shelter. A chronically homeless person must be unaccompanied and disabled during each episode. (In order to receive housing assistance through the HUD grants, program participants must meet the McKinney-Vento Act definition of disability for SHP and persons with disabilities for S+C.)

Clinical: Pertaining to standardized evaluation (through direct observation and assessment) and conducted with the intent to offer intervention/treatment.

Collateral providers: The various organizations involved in the provision of services to an individual.

Community Rehabilitation Program: In the vocational rehabilitation system, a "community rehabilitation program" is a program that provides directly, or facilitates the provision of, vocational rehabilitation services to people with disabilities to enable them to maximize opportunities for employment. Some of the services provided by a community rehabilitation program may include, but are not limited to:

  1. Medical, psychiatric, psychological, social, and vocational services that are provided under one management;
  2. Recreational therapy, physical and occupational therapy, speech, language, and hearing therapy;
  3. Psychiatric, psychological, and social services including positive behavior management;
  4. Disability evaluations and orientation and mobility services; and,
  5. Job development, placement, and retention services.

A community rehabilitation program often has in-depth knowledge about disability supports, services and providers in their communities.

Community building: Efforts intended to accomplish any of the following: develop and sustain strong relationships among individuals, develop and sustain involvement in neighborhood and community-based organizations and institutions, and develop group capacity to collaboratively identify and accomplish common goals.

Community organizing: The process of bringing people together to identify common interests and work collaboratively to accomplish common goals.

Competitive employment means employment for which an employer - employee relationship exists and in which the employee receives minimum wage or better; the work is performed in integrated work settings; includes OJT placements in which the employer has agreed (or there is substantial likelihood) to retain the person in their workforce. Competitive employment may be full-time (35 hrs/week or more) - or part-time (less than 35 hrs/wk). It may include transitional employment placements (TEP) that meet the features of competitive employment.

  • competitive employment features:
  • employer - employee relationship
  • minimum wage or better
  • integrated work setting
  • work is an hour or more per week

Consolidated Plan: A long-term housing and community development plan developed by State and local governments and approved by HUD. The Consolidated Plan contains information on homeless populations. The plan also contains both narratives and maps, the latter developed by localities using software provided by HUD.

Consolidated Plan Certification: The form, required by law, in which a state or local official certifies that the proposed activities or projects are consistent with the jurisdiction's Consolidated Plan and, if the applicant is a State or unit of local government, that the jurisdiction is following its Consolidated Plan.

Consumers: Recipients of health, mental health, and/or social services.

Continuum of Care: The Continuum of Care is a community plan to organize and deliver housing and services to meet the specific needs of people who are homeless as they move to stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. It includes action steps to end homelessness and prevent a return to homelessness.

Customized Employment: Customized employment means individualizing the employment relationship between employees and employers in ways that meet the needs of both. It is based on an individualized determination of strengths, needs, and interests of the person with a disability and simultaneously employing strategies designed to meet the specific needs of the employer. It may include approaches such as supported employment; supported entrepreneurship; individualized job development; job carving and restructuring; use of personal agents (including individuals with disabilities and family members); development of micro-boards, micro-enterprises, cooperatives and small businesses; and use of personal budgets and other forms of individualized funding that provide choice and control to the person and promote self- determination. These and other job development or restructuring strategies result in job responsibilities being customized and individually negotiated to fit the needs of individuals with disabilities. Customized employment assumes the provision of reasonable accommodations and supports necessary for the individual to perform the functions of a job that is individually negotiated and developed.

Damp supportive housing: Housing that discourages but does not prohibit alcohol use on premises.

Day treatment: Provides therapeutic, recreational, and social services to individuals who have chemical dependencies or emotional, psychological, developmental, physical, or behavioral needs.

Decompensation: Movement away from functioning at baseline level toward a reduced level of functioning and stability; psychological imbalance.

Detoxification: The process of ridding the body substances via a gradual or complete decrease of substances, intended to result in the cessation of use.

Disability: HUD: The definition of disabled [24 CFR 582.5] that is used as the basis for determining eligibility in the S+C program is the same as that used in the Section 811

(Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities) program. Persons with disabilities are defined as: "Persons with disabilities" - a household composed of one or more persons at least one of whom is an adult who has a disability.

  1. A person shall be considered to have a disability if such person has a physical, mental, or emotional impairment which is expected to be of long-continued and indefinite duration; substantially impedes his or her ability to live independently; and is of such nature that such ability could be improved by more suitable housing conditions.
  2. A person will also be considered to have a disability if he or she has a developmental disability, which is a severe, chronic disability that -
    1. Is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of mental andphysical impairments;
    2. Is manifested before the person attains age 22;
    3. Is likely to continue indefinitely;
    4. Results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity;
      1. Self-care
      2. Receptive and expressive language;
      3. Learning;
      4. Mobility;
      5. Self-direction;
      6. Capacity for independent living; and
      7. Economic self-sufficiency; and
    5. Reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated.

Key to the definition is determining that the impairment is of long-continued and indefinite duration AND substantially impedes the person's ability to live independently. For example, drug or alcohol abuse or an HIV/AIDS condition that does not substantially impede a person's ability to live independently does not qualify as a disability in the S+C Program. Written documentation that a person's disability meets the program definition must come from a credentialed psychiatric or medical professional trained to make such a determination. The possession of a title such as case manager or substance abuse counselor does not by itself qualify a person to make that determination. "Self-certification" is also unacceptable.

Disability - SSA: For both SSDI and SSI programs, SSA defines disability as [an] inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. Social Security disability has three distinct components which must all be present before SSA will consider an individual disabled. These components are:

  • an inability to do substantial work;
  • a severe physical or mental impairment or impairments;
  • duration of 12 months or result in death.

SSA evaluates the work activity of individuals claiming or receiving disability benefits under SSDI. For the SSI program we evaluate only those individuals claiming benefits because of a disability. Under both programs, they use earnings guidelines to evaluate whether the work activity is SGA (Substantial Gainful Activity), and whether we may consider you disabled under the law. While this is only one of the tests used to decide if a person meets SSA's definition of disability, it is the critical first step in the disability evaluation.

Disability Program Navigators or DPNs: These positions exist in a growing number of One Stop Centers to build staff capacity and work with people with disabilities and service providers to access, facilitate, and navigate the complex statutory and regulatory provisions and application processes for public and private programs.

DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders): A publication of the American Psychiatric Association that describes mental disorders and the criteria for diagnosis.

Dually-diagnosed: Term used to describe individuals who are diagnosed with two different disorders, typically a combination of mental health and substance use diagnoses.

Earned Income Disregard: Or EID, refers to a US HUD rule requiring housing providers to disregard incremental income from earnings for a 24 month period when calculating rent for qualified people with disabilities living in public housing, Section 8, Supportive Housing Program (SHP), Housing Opportunities for People Living with Aids (HOPWA), and HOME Investment Partnership housing.

Engagement: Refers to efforts to develop a relationship between a staff person and a client of the service system in which that staff person works. Such efforts are characterized by purposeful strategies, intentional interventions, designed to connect the client with needed services and to maintain that connection.

Entitlements: Publicly funded financial and medical benefits available to individuals who meet criteria usually based upon income or disability measures.

Fair housing: Refers to federal laws designed to protect access to housing regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability.

Group development: The stages through which groups naturally progress: orientation and exploration, power and control, growth and working, maturation and performance, and termination. Groups may move back and forth between developmental stages depending upon changes in the group membership, conflicts that emerge, and shifts in the group focus.

GPRA: The acronym for Government Performance and Results Act which requires federal agencies to set certain goals by which their performance will be measured. A federal agency's GPRA often extends to its grantees.

Halfway house: Transitional residential program focusing on reintegration of participants into the community, such as substance users or ex-offenders.

Harm reduction: Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies that reduce the negative consequences associated with drug use, including safer use, managed use, and non-punitive abstinence. These strategies meet drug users "where they're at," addressing conditions and motivations of drug use along with the use itself. Harm reduction acknowledges an individual's ability to take responsibility for his or her own behavior. This approach fosters an environment where individuals can openly discuss substance use without fear of judgment or reprisal, and does not condone or condemn drug use. Staff working in a harm reduction setting work in partnership with tenants, and are expected to respond directly to unacceptable behaviors, whether or not the behaviors are related to substance use. The harm reduction model has also been successfully broadened to reducing harms related to health and wellness as well as many other issues.

HIV disease: The entire continuum of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), from the point of infection through AIDS.

Homeless Definition: the term "homeless" or "homeless individual or homeless person" includes-

  1. an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and
  2. an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is-
    1. a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);
    2. an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or
    3. a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

Hospice care: End of life assistance focused on caregiving and emotionally supportive services rather than aggressive treatment.

Housing First: The goal of "housing first" is to immediately house people who are homeless. Housing comes first no matter what is going on in one's life, and the housing is flexible and independent so that people get housed easily and stay housed. Housing first can be contrasted with a continuum of housing "readiness," which typically subordinates access to permanent housing to other requirements. While not every community has what it needs to deliver housing first, such as an adequate housing stock, every community has what it takes to move toward this approach.

HVRP or Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program: A program of the U.S. Department of Labor, Veterans Employment and Training Service targeting homeless veterans to help them access and succeed in meaningful employment within the labor force and to stimulate the development of effective service delivery systems that will address the complex problems facing homeless veterans.

Indigenous leadership: Members of any community who, without any outside intervention, are guiding or directing a group towards the accomplishment of common goals or who have the skills and capacity to do so.

Informed Choice: A concept that was developed in the vocational rehabilitation system to empower people with disabilities. Informed choice refers to a person's ability to understand and use programs successfully, because the programs and services are designed to enable consumers to navigate them competently and without fear of reprisal. Individuals with disabilities need to know how to find, evaluate and use information, which will better inform their decision making process. Service delivery systems should facilitate---not stifle or direct---this decision-making process.

In-house employment: Job opportunities within an organization those are available to the users of its services.

Inreach: Efforts to engage people living in shelters for the purposes of connecting them to services and in particular, housing.

Intake: The process for determining or assessing eligibility of applicants for services.

Intervention: The action taken to address a situation or problem.

Job development: Creating or connecting to job opportunities.

Late-stage chronic inebriate: Long-term chronic alcohol user usually suffering from related medical conditions.

Life skills: See Activities of daily living skills (ADLS).

Living wage: Income provided through employment that is at an adequate level to afford necessities such as housing, food, and medical services.

Long-Term Homelessness: This term includes all people who have been homeless for long periods of time, as evidenced by repeated (three or more times) or extended (a year or more) stays in the streets, emergency shelters, or other temporary settings, sometimes cycling between homelessness and hospitals, jails, or prisons. This definition intentionally includes a larger group of people than the federal government's definition, such as families and youth. The federal government (and as a result, many states, cities, and service providers) frequently uses the term "chronically homeless," defined as "an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more, or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years" (Notice of Funding Availability for the Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness/Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 17/Monday, January 27, 2003, 4019). This definition excludes homeless families and partnered homeless people as well as those who do not have a documented disability. We believe that anyone who has been homeless for the long-term may be well served by the services and housing offered by permanent supportive housing providers.

Low-demand Housing: Housing provided in a low-demand environment emphasizes ease of entry and ongoing access to services with minimal requirements. The focus is on helping tenants retain their housing, rather than layering the housing within various program participation requirements. The application and admission processes, admission criteria, and conditions of tenancy are limited in their demands of tenants and potential tenants. This term is usually closely related to "voluntary services" and "harm reduction."

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act:: Named after authors Representative Stewart B. McKinney of Connecticut and Bruce F. Vento of Minnesota, this 1987 federal legislation established programs and funding to serve homeless people.

Medicaid: The Medicaid Program provides medical benefits to low-income and disabled people who have no medical insurance. Although the Federal Government establishes general guidelines for the program, the Medicaid program requirements are actually established by each state. Eligibility for Medicaid and the actual services offered vary from state to state depending on the state's federally approved Medicaid Plan. The Medicaid program is funded through state and federal funds. States have different Federal matching rates which are based on a formula that takes into account the number of people in that state living at or below the Federal poverty level. States are required to provide eligibility to certain types of individuals and may include other groups. The mandatory eligible groups include: very low income families and children who are eligible for the state's welfare (TANF) benefits; Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients or in states using more restrictive criteria, individuals who are aged (65+), blind, or disabled.

Medicaid buy-in: Federally approved expansion of the Medicaid program giving states the option to permit employees with disabilities to purchase health-care coverage through the Medicaid program. Income requirements and sliding-scale premiums are determined by participating states.

Medicare: A federal program that provides health insurance to people age 65 and over, those who have permanent kidney failure, and certain people with disabilities.

MICA: Designates the coexistence of mental illness and chemical use/addiction.

Mood disorders: A cluster of mental disorders characterized by depression, anxiety, and/or mania.

Motivational Interviewing: Motivational interviewing is a directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence. Compared with nondirective counseling, it is more focused and goal-directed. The examination and resolution of ambivalence is its central purpose, and the counselor is intentionally directive in pursuing this goal. http://www.motivationalinterview.org/clinical/whatismi.html

Mutual aid: Peer support.

Non-competitive employment does not require an employer-employee relationship and includes work experiences or in-house paid training such as those positions working in a nonprofit agency or for-profit company (in which appropriate approvals exist) that are less than minimum wage or that are transitional paying less than minimum wage; stipend work at less than minimum wage (such as those provided for under HUD regulations in supportive housing); and time limited placements designed to provide experience for the purposes of self-discovery about a type of occupation rather than an ongoing source of earned income; volunteer jobs and internships linked to training that are designed as part of such training and are time limited. non-competitive employment may be full-time (35 hrs/week or more) - or part-time (less than 35 hrs/wk). The following are noncompetitive employment features:

  • temporary work designed for learning about vocational choices
  • may be paid less than minimum wage, stipend or volunteer (internship)
  • may be integrated or segregated settings
  • may or may not include an employer - employee relationship
  • work is an hour or more per week

Outreach: Refers to a process and set of activities aimed at identifying and engaging people to connect them with the services they need. It our context this means outreach to people living without permanent homes to connect them with a range of services and assistance to help them end their homelessness

Permanent Housing: In the world of supportive housing, the term "permanent" typically refers to affordable rental housing in which the tenants have the legal right to remain in the unit as long as they wish, as defined by the terms of a renewable lease agreement. Tenants enjoy all of the rights and responsibilities of typical rental housing, so long as they abide by the (reasonable) conditions of their lease.

Reasonable accommodations: A key provision of the ADA, which requires that alterations in the work environment (including scheduling and physical modifications) be made by employers (with more than 15 employees) who are aware of the limitations of a qualified individual with a disability, thus enabling the employee to perform his or her job functions.

Rehabilitation: A treatment approach that involves assessing a person's skills and needs, and teaching skills to reduce a person's disability and maximize a person's functioning in the community.

Relapse: A return to use drugs and/or alcohol after a period of abstinence. It may take the form of an isolated incident of use or repeated use. Also known as picking up.

Relapse prevention: A variety of supports and tools, including group and individual work intended to assist individuals who have made a commitment to abstinence.

Release of information forms: Documents signed by residents that allow staff to share confidential information (e.g., mental health and substance use treatment, HIV information) with other service providers as necessary.

Rent up: The process by which a newly developed property fills vacant units.

Representative payee: Refers to instances when a person's SSI, SSD, or public assistance check is payable to someone other than the recipient (e.g., a family member, an agency).

Safe Haven: SH are housing projects must meet the following criteria: (1) Have no limit on length of stay; (2) serve hard-to-reach homeless persons who have severe mental illness, are on the streets, and have been unable or unwilling to participate in supportive services; (3) provide 24-hour residence for an unspecified duration; (4) provide private or semiprivate accommodations; and (5) have overnight occupancy limited to 25 persons. Safe Havens can be considered permanent housing when tenants hold lease agreements with the owner/sponsor.

Scatter-site housing: Dwelling units in apartments or homes spread throughout a neighborhood or community that are designated for specific populations, usually accompanied by supportive services.

Self-disclosure: The sharing of personal information about oneself with others.

Self-help: An individual helps himself/herself or peers to acquire the skills needed to achieve personal goals.

Self-medicate: The use of unprescribed or misuse of prescribed substances to alleviate symptoms of mental illness, physical pain, and other discomforts.

Shelter Plus Care: A homeless assistance program under the McKinney - Vento Act for people with disabilities. To be eligible to participate in a Shelter Plus Care funded project, a person must be both homeless and disabled. Persons with disabilities are those who have a disability that:

  • Is expected to be of long-continued and indefinite duration;
  • Substantially impedes his or her ability to live independently; and
  • Is such a nature that the disability could be improved by more suitable housing conditions.

The disability may be a physical, mental, or emotional impairment, including impairment due solely to alcohol or drug abuse. The S+C Program specifically targets several disabilities. These targeted disabilities are: Serious mental illness; Chronic alcohol and/or other drug abuse; AIDS or related diseases; The disability may also be developmental. A severe, chronic developmental disability is characterized as: Being caused by mental or physical impairment; Manifested before the person is 22 years old; Likely to continue indefinitely; Reflecting a need for a combination and sequence of special, inter-disciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services that are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated; and Resulting in substantial functional limitations in at least three of the following areas: Self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and economic self-sufficiency.

Single room occupancy (SRO) Building: A type of building that offers residents a single, furnished room, usually with shared bathroom and kitchen facilities.

Single-site housing: A housing program in which all living units are located in a single building or complex.

Sober or Dry supportive housing: Housing that emphasizes abstinence and prohibits alcohol and the use of illegal psychoactive substances.

Social entrepreneurial venture: A for-profit business that benefits a nonprofit or other mission-driven organization.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): SSDI provides benefits to disabled or blind individuals who are "insured" by workers` contributions to the Social Security trust fund. These contributions are the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) social security tax paid on their earnings or those of their spouses or parents.

Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI): SSI is cash assistance payments to aged, blind and disabled people (including children under age 18) who have limited income and resources. The Federal government funds SSI from general tax revenues.

Sponsor: (1) An organization that pays for or plans and carries out a project or activity; (2) An individual in recovery from alcoholism who mentors another person in recovery, usually through the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program.(3) HUD Project Sponsor. The primary organization responsible for carrying out the proposed project activities. A project sponsor does not submit an HUD 424, unless it is also the applicant

Stages of change: A model of understanding change in human behavior, especially as it relates to substance use. Related interventions are based upon the individual's state of awareness and desire to change behavior at a given point in time. It includes five stages: Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and relapse.

Stakeholders: Individuals who have a vested interest in the outcomes or the process of a particular endeavor.

Stigma: Misperception that results in bias towards an individual or group.

SGA: Substantial Gainful Activity is a term SSA uses to determine the extent of a workers earning capacity. The SGA amount for 2005 for individuals with disabilities other than blindness is $830. These amounts are established by law and are adjusted each year based on the national average wage.

Supported employment (SE): SE is an employment intervention in which a person receives assistance to choose a job in an integrated setting that matches their skills/interests and where ongoing support, on or off the job-site, is provided by a job coach from an agency with expertise in providing vocational services to people with complex needs.

Supportive housing: Combines and links permanent, affordable housing with flexible, voluntary support services designed to help the tenants stay housed and build the necessary skills to live as independently as possible. The housing may be apartments scattered throughout a community; clustered in an apartment complex or apartments in a single building in which the tenancy is people with disabilities, or may be integrated with nondisabled people with mixed income.

Supportive Housing Program (SHP): A homeless assistance program under the McKinney - Vento Act.

Tenancy obligations: Minimum requirements to be a tenant in good standing, such as payment of rent, following house rules, maintaining a healthy and safe living unit, and meeting other lease requirements.

Tenant: Whenever possible, CSH uses the term "tenant" (rather than consumer, resident, client, or participant) to refer to the people who live in supportive housing projects. This emphasizes the importance of permanent housing in ending homelessness and recognizes that in many programs, tenants may or may not also be voluntary customers of support services provided. This is not meant to minimize the great amount of time and energy some programs spend with people before they are actually tenants. It is, however, intended to underscore that tenants of supportive housing should have the same rights and responsibilities of tenants of other lease-based, permanent housing.

Therapeutic communities: Highly structured, residential treatment programs for substance users.

Transitional employment: Temporary employment focused on helping individuals to develop the skills to achieve permanent, competitive employment.

Transitional housing: Housing meant to help homeless people access permanent housing, usually within two years.

Triggers: People, places, and things associated with precipitating an untoward event such as violence or drug use.

Triply-diagnosed: Term used to describe individuals who are diagnosed with three different disorders, typically a combination of mental health, substance use, and HIV/AIDS diagnoses.

Twelve-step model: An alcohol and substance use recovery model characterized by its peer-run approach, anonymous meetings, peer sponsorship, and a series of twelve steps that members must work through as part of the recovery process. Examples of such programs are Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Cocaine Anonymous (CA).

Vocational assessment: Evaluation to assist consumers to identify skills, goals/interests, areas of expertise, and needed skills development.

Voluntary Services: The term "supportive" in supportive housing refers to voluntary, flexible services designed primarily to help tenants maintain housing. Voluntary services are those that are available to but not demanded of tenants, such as service coordination/case management, physical and mental health, substance use management and recovery support, job training, literacy and education, youth and children's programs, and money management.

Wet Housing: A housing model that utilizes the harm reduction approach to service provision. See harm reduction.

Withdrawal: The period of time following cessation of the use of some drugs and alcohol, characterized by symptoms that may cause discomfort, severe pain, and in some instances death.

Workforce Investment Board: A WIB is an appointed body, certified by the Governor to set policy, guide implementation, and provide oversight to the local workforce development system, as authorized by Public Law 105-220, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. The WIB is also a forum for planning workforce development strategies. The Board attempts to anticipate economic and business trends, develop community linkages and partnerships, and provide a focus on system outcomes.

Work Incentives: Special rules make it possible for people with disabilities to work and continue to receive certain federal or state benefits. People receiving Social Security Disability Insurance payments or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can work and still receive monthly payments and Medicare or Medicaid. Social Security calls these rules "work incentives." There are different work incentive and different rules under the Social Security Administration. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development also encourages eligible tenants with disabilities living in HUD assisted housing to work by disallowing earned income in calculating monthly rents for certain programs (see Earned Income Disregard).

From the Corporation of Supportive Housing's Glossary of Affordable Housing Financing and Development Terms and Glossary of Terms for Employment and Supportive Housing Providers, Indianapolis, IN's Blueprint to End Homelessness, and New York, NY's Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter.