Housing Solutions in Action: Insights from HealthSpark’s Community Gathering

Last week, government officials, practitioners, community leaders, and advocates from all over Montgomery County and beyond convened at the HealthSpark Foundation offices in Colmar for “Building The Public Will for Housing Solutions.” The event, a mini version of Health Spark’s regular Community of Practice events, comes as a response to partners who were in attendance for HealthSpark’s COP held in February, “Meeting The Moment: Taking Action On Homelessness and Affordable Housing In Montgomery County.” 

Aside from community-building around the very specific issue of homelessness and housing in Montgomery County, the objective of last Tuesday’s event was “to bring people together and really dive deeper into some new concepts,” HealthSpark’s Program Officer Akshara Vivekananthan explained.

“We heard back in February at our other Community of Practice event that folks wanted skill-building. They wanted to learn different concepts around building the public will for housing solutions, and that really inspired us to create this past Tuesday’s event.”

Generocity was onsite, operating a pop-up newsroom with an activation station to capture insights, challenges and learnings from attendees. Visitors to the newsroom were invited to share their experiences in four different areas: harmful narratives around homelessness that have challenged their work, positive narratives around homelessness that they felt have bolstered their work, engagement of those directly impacted to help shape the narrative, and the storytelling vehicles that they’ve used or are using to drive the narrative around homelessness.

The mood was both hopeful and energized as the crowd gathered for the opening remarks by Emma Hertz, President and CEO of HealthSpark, who affirmed the complex challenges around building the public will for housing solutions and emphasized the need for driven strategy in support of the core ideal that drives the work of every person in attendance – namely that everyone has the right to a safe place to live and thrive. 

After opening remarks, attendees participated in “Education, Engagement, and Evidence-Based Research: Building An Effective Communications Strategy For Housing Solutions”, a fireside chat with a panel of experts, moderated by Hertz. The panelists were Marisol Bello, Executive Director of the Housing Narrative Lab, a national policy firm based in DC that researches effective strategies for communicating and actively shifting the narrative on homelessness; Daria Devlin, the Social Impact Director of Hamot Health Foundation and the Executive Director of BUILD CDC, an Erie- based nonprofit community development corporation that works to support equity in health outcomes by addressing the many factors that impact individual and community health – education, employment, housing security, neighborhood conditions, and access to transportation and nutritious food – through cross-sector partnerships; and Michael Gaudini, a consultant and policy professional whose expertise includes land use, public policy, community engagement and communications, as well as a member of the Narberth Borough Council.

During the conversation, panelists delved deeply into their own expertise and experiences in exploring how to shape and deliver an effective narrative around housing and homelessness, including sharing with attendees tips for how to apply communications research in their own work, and how to engage cross-sector partnerships, i.e. with local business owners, downtown associations, elected officials, and community members to address homelessness in Montgomery County. 

After the Fireside Chat, two concurrent breakout sessions were held to explore the ideas introduced in the panel more deeply. In one session, “Unpacking Erie’s Housing First Approach”, Daria Devlin presented the Housing First model that Erie County is using to address homelessness. She shared insights into how the county leveraged a CDC to push investments in housing, the challenges and successes of public-private partnerships, and the steps and processes to building such an approach.

Generocity played a leading role in the other session, “Deep Dive: Narrative Change Opportunities in Montgomery County.” Dionicia Roberson, Managing Editor at Generocity, advocate for narrative empowerment, and holder of lived experience of homelessness, co-facilitated the roundtable discussion with Bello. Attendees were invited to the stage to share and collaboratively workshop their narrative challenges in real time. For the second half of the session, attendees were split into four small groups and given roughly 10 minutes to discuss four major topics: engaging people with lived experience, changing NIMBY attitudes, increasing public investment in solutions, and creating coalition building and collaboration across different organizations to scale efforts together. Each group ultimately made their way to every section of the room that represented one of those topics, and collectively jotted down responses to the questions, “What goals would we like to achieve to create and/or change the narrative on this topic? What are the resources needed to do so?”

When the groups reconvened for closing remarks, there was a palpable energy of hope in the room. Many people seemed galvanized to make connections and to continue the conversations that arose in that space. 

Organizers were particularly excited about attendees’ responsiveness to the solutions presented. In the case of Erie County’s Housing First approach, Vivekananthan says people in attendance were energized and eager to learn more.

“It excites us because we don’t have anything like that currently ongoing in Montgomery county, so it’s something new that people feel really thrilled about,” she says. In the Deep Dive session, she “felt like a lot of light bulbs went off for a lot of people. It was a very meaningful session where folks could take the strategy around unpacking challenges back to their organizations and really figure out meaningful solutions.” 

Hertz summed up the organizers’ takeaways post-event, “Building the Public Will for Housing Solutions” provided an opportunity to learn from policy and program development experts in the field as we continue to navigate the challenges of the homelessness and lack of affordable housing crises in Montgomery County. We are inspired by the energy of our attendees for embracing new, bold ideas that have demonstrated success.” 

One thing this convening made clear to the organizers is that people are hungry for ongoing partnership and collaboration around the issue of housing in Montgomery County. 

“We learned that people want to stay connected,” says Vivekananthan. “That was one of our biggest takeaways – how do we support that momentum?”

Hertz shared the sentiment, explaining, “Many expressed a desire to continue the conversation, and HealthSpark Foundation plans to create opportunities to facilitate this. We believe in the transformative power of collaboration. Together, we will advance solutions for a more just and healthier Montgomery County.” 

WHY THIS MATTERS

Why this matters for nonprofit leaders:

Collaboration is key: The event highlighted the importance of cross-sector partnerships to address complex issues like homelessness. Nonprofit leaders should seek collaboration with government agencies, foundations, corporations and community organizations to find a more comprehensive and effective solution.

Changing narratives is essential: The event emphasized the need to change harmful narratives about homelessness. Nonprofit organizations can play a critical role in changing public perception by telling positive stories and advocating for evidence-based solutions.

Evidence-based approaches are important: The event highlighted the effectiveness of evidence-based approaches such as Housing First. Nonprofit leaders should strive to implement strategies that are proven to work and can be replicated in different contexts.

Why this matters for foundation leaders:

Invest in collaborative initiatives: Foundations can support collaborative efforts that bring together diverse stakeholders to address homelessness. This can include funding cross-sector partnerships, research projects, and capacity-building initiatives.

Prioritize changing narratives: Foundations can support efforts to change harmful narratives about homelessness by funding public education campaigns, media training, and research on effective communication strategies.

Support evidence-based approaches: Foundations can invest in research and evaluation to identify effective strategies to address homelessness. They can also support the implementation of evidence-based approaches in communities across the country.

Why this matters for government leaders:

Partner with nonprofit organizations and communities: Government agencies should work closely with nonprofit organizations and other stakeholders to develop and implement effective solutions to homelessness.

Invest in affordable housing: Government should prioritize investments in affordable housing to reduce homelessness and improve housing stability for low-income individuals and families.

Support evidence-based approaches: Agencies should adopt evidence-based approaches to homelessness, such as Housing First, and provide the necessary resources and support to implement them.