Shelter Plus Care

Program
Critical Analysis
William Palmer
Linda Payne
AHS 8100

Shelter Plus Care (S+C)

Since 1992, HUD has awarded Shelter Plus Care (S+C) funds to state and local governments and
public housing agencies (PHAs) to serve a population that has been traditionally hard to reach - homeless
persons with disabilities such as serious mental illness, chronic substance abuse, and/or AIDS and related
diseases. The S+C program was built on the premise that housing and services need to be connected in
order to ensure the stability of housing for this population. Consequently, S+C provides rental assistance
that local grantees must match with an equal value of supportive services appropriate to the target
population (U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development , 2002).
Local S+C projects are typically implemented through partnerships that include:

A grantee;

One or more nonprofit housing sponsors that own or coordinate leasing of housing for program
participants; and

A network of supportive services providers.

Program Purpose
The purpose of the program is to provide permanent housing in connection with supportive
services to homeless people with disabilities and their families.
The primary target populations are homeless people who have:
Serious mental illness; and/or
Chronic problems with alcohol, drugs or both; and/or
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or related diseases.

The program provides rental assistance for a variety of housing choices, accompanied by a range of
supportive services funded by other sources.
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Program Goals
The goals of the Shelter Plus Care Program are to assist homeless individuals and their families to:

Increase their housing stability;

Increase their skills and/or income; and
Obtain greater self-sufficiency.

Funding Process
Funding for new S+C projects is awarded competitively through department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD's) Continuum of Care process to eligible applicants: States, units of local
government and public housing authorities (PHAs). Successful applicants become "grantees" once the
S+C grant agreement is fully executed.
HUD publishes an annual Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) in the Federal Register
announcing the combined competition for three homeless assistance programs: Shelter plus Care, the
Supportive Housing Program and the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy (SRO)
Program for Homeless Individuals. The total amount allocated to any one of these programs is not
determined in advance but depends upon the type of applications received and the competitive ranking of
the projects (U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development , 2002).
Following review of the Continuum of Care applications, HUD selects projects for funding based
upon the criteria found in the NOFA. Successful applicants will receive a Letter of Conditional Award.
The letter outlines any conditions the S+C applicant must meet before the grant can be executed and
program activities can begin. The grant agreement must be signed by both the applicant and HUD. The
term of the grant begins as of the date that HUD signs the agreement (U.S Department of Housing and
Urban Development , 2002).
Office of Supportive Housing (OSH)
OSH acts as a grantee in the process of applying for the shelter plus care funding program
through HUD. The department of Long-Term Housing within OSH is responsible for the shelter plus care
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program and funding. This department is managed by Dr. Joe Savage, who has a wealth of knowledge
and experience with the homeless population. For this particular program (S+C), the department of long
term housing have two social service program analysts/ compliance officers, who focus strictly on rental
assistance programs within the city of Philadelphia. Rental assistance programs help make housing
affordable for program participants by using S+C grant funds to pay the difference between the actual
rent for a unit and 30 percent of the participant's income. The social service analyst/ compliance officer
role is to make sure the programs have proper documentation on clients that meet HUDs requirements in
order to receive funding.
In order for a program to receive funding they must serve individuals who are homeless and
disabled. Specific targeted disabilities for the S+C program are people with serious mental illnesses,
those with chronic substance abuse problems, and those with AIDS and related diseases. Documentation
that is required by HUD for clients include proof of homelessness, citizenship, income, disability, rental
agreement (between program and client), rental calculations (for rental unit), and updated inspection of
rental unit. Social service analyst/ Compliance officers monitor the collection of these documents and
report back to Dr. Joe on their findings. If a program has not received proper documentation for a client,
they have 30 business days to correct the issue. If a program fails to meet the 30 day deadline, they may
lose out on a specific amount of funds.
Management
Dr. Joe has a mixture of leadership styles when managing this particular program. In my
experiences with Dr. Joe, I would say he has a mixture of two leadership styles, Transformational and
Laissez Faire. Transformational leadership is a style of leadership where one person takes control of a
situation and motivates the group to follow. A transformational leader is generally energetic, enthusiastic
and possesses a passion for the task at hand. They are not only focused on completing the task but also
helping every member of the group to succeed by enhancing their morale. Through their personality,
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strength of vision and enthusiasm, transformational leaders can make ideal role models. This leadership
style requires managers to use their ethics, character, personal integrity, and morality to bring about
change in individuals and social systems, optimizing a group's overall performance (Questia, 2015).
Laissez faire leadership style is looked at as a very destructive style of leadership. There are some
pros to this style of leadership even though it has such a horrible reputation. The one advantage that I will
focus on is the hands off approach. This style of leadership is not focus on micromanagement, it gives
employees the space, opportunity, and trust needed to complete their assignments in a timely manner
without being micromanaged.
Dr. Joe embodies the characteristics of a transformational leader with a hands-off-approach,
which is used by a laissez fair leader. Dr. Joe is very knowledgeable, energetic, enthusiastic, and teamoriented, which creates a very positive morale around the office. He entrust his employees to make
decisions that they see fit and ensures his support of that decision. He looks for everyone on the team to
grow individually in their professional and personal life. If there is a project that needs to be complete, he
will assign task as he see fit and give a deadline. While working on that task, employees do not have to
worry about him micromanaging them through the process. If an employee seeks Dr. Joes advice, he set
time aside to attend to their needs, even if it means putting a meeting on hold. Dr. Joe has an open door
policy and looks to improve as a manager. Dr. Joe allows his employees to run their monitoring visits as
they see fit, as long as they stay within the guidelines that HUD put in place.
Ways of Management
I had the opportunity to accompany both social service analyst/compliance officers on a
monitoring visit in recent weeks. I learned a great deal from both individuals on these monitoring visits,
however, the different systems that were implemented confused me a great deal. The order in which
things were done was totally different, the way rental calculations were computed, and detail that was put

into the process was also totally different. One compliance officer made the process very simple and
understanding, which was not the case for the other.
Changes & Keeps
Having two different systems in place would not be ideal if a new employee were to shadow
during their training period. Having one general process in place makes the world of difference, so
creating a general process for the way compliance officers monitor programs will be implemented. The
process will be simple and smooth, which helps when communicating with agencies about their level of
compliance. As a director implementing one system helps with supervision and evaluation period. This
system will hold everyone to the same standard without trying to figure out how each individual
compliance office system works.
Keeping the way compliance officers communicate internally and externally is valued within the
department. Communication must flow in both directions when dealing with compliance. Going out on
monitoring visits communicating the finds in person, then communicating the same information
electronically is a process that works. Having an environment where staff members are allowed to work
on projects without being micromanaged is a key factor in the moral of the office. This helps with
employee relations and developing trust within the team.
Funding
OSH receives funding from HUD, which is federal funding allocated to end homelessness or to
prevent homelessness. OSH also receives funding from the state of Pennsylvania department of Housing
and Urban Development. To sustain these funding sources, the program has to continue to provide data
that shows there is a need for rental assistance. I believe as long as poverty exists the need will always be
there. To develop new funding sources, I believe we have to move funding efforts into the private sector.
Having government funding is not enough to help end poverty or homelessness, so we as a society must
come together (private and public sectors) with resources to combat these contemporary issues. The
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challenge with that would exist because this is a government funded program, but Im sure there are
ways around that.
Qualities
Employees, interns, volunteers are all essential to the success of an organization and its mission.
Having the right mixture of individuals on a team is important and can determine just how successful the
organization or department is in the long run. When analyzing the qualities of employee, intern, or
volunteer as a director, I look for someone who has qualities such as self-motivation, great work-ethic,
team player, knowledgeable, willingness to learn, leadership, goal-oriented, and passion for the work we
are involved. When someone have these types of qualities, they tend to be selfless individuals and are
willing to do what it takes for the team to succeed. I would look for someone who can demonstrate
professionalism in all areas of their professional life.
Conclusion
As a program/organization, it is imperative to have individuals with the right skill set, knowledge,
and experience in positions that not only benefit the program/organization, but the individual. Dr. Joe
Savage demonstrates day-in-and-day-out that he has the abilities to lead his department. He has a
reputation like know other and continues to build on that. He has confidence in himself and his team
member to complete any task or obstacle they face. Having a leader who is charismatic, genuine, selfless,
dynamic, knowledgeable, and willing to do what it takes to help others, is all that one could ask for.

Bibliography
Questia. (2015). Transformational Leadership. Retrieved March 26, 2015, from Questia:
https://www.questia.com/library/psychology/groups-andorganizations/leadership/transformational-leadership
U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development . (2002). Shelter Plus Care Resource
Manual. U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development .