Profiles in Success: The Martins

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Last year, the DowntownDC BID ran the first in a series of short profiles about homeless adults who transitioned from the streets to independent housing. Thanks to the Downtown Homeless Services Team, managed and funded by the BID, more homeless persons in Downtown are getting a new lease on life. The Team, a group of on-the-street professionals headquartered at Pathways to Housing DC, does remarkable work engaging patiently with homeless individuals every day where they are in the community, to build rapport and trust. Using a pragmatic, street-to-independence outreach program called Housing First, the BID partners with the DC government and non-profit homeless services providers to bring outreach services, housing, and dignity to homeless adults while improving comfort and security for Downtown workers, residents, and visitors. The following success story is a result of this special partnership:

The Martins, an elderly African American couple, were spotted camping out inside the Metro bus shelter on the corner of 13th and H Streets with no belongings save for blankets last spring. Chet Grey, the BID’s homeless services director, and later Richard H. Bradley, the BID’s executive director, brought them to the attention of the Downtown Homeless Services Team.

Shortly thereafter, the twosome were taken to the Pathways to Housing DC office, where they took a shower, were seen by a doctor, and administered to by Jonathan Ward, the team’s clinical director, who completed a vulnerability survey on their behalf. (The chronically homeless are prioritized for housing based on a vulnerability index that measures their length of homelessness and mortality risk. The index is a practical application—a person-to-person survey—which has revolutionized the speed at which DC’s chronically homeless population is placed into permanent housing.)

At first, the Martins were a little guarded but slowly shared information about their homelessness, including being evicted from an apartment four months earlier because of delinquent rental payments. Mrs. Martin, 66, suffers from incontinence and has limited mobility. As a result, Ward, with help from a Unity Health Care (425 2nd Street) nurse, purchased her a walker.

In addition, the team sought assistance from the DC Department of Mental Health’s (DMH) Homeless Outreach Team (HOP) and the DC Department of Human Services (DHS). HOP was contacted to verify any history of mental illness or to identify a potential case worker. (The Martins mentioned they were receiving services from Washington Hospital Center, but didn’t provide a case worker or treating physician name.) HOP discovered that Mr. Martin, 67, was receiving mental health services from the hospital’s Behavioral Health Services division and both Martins had open cases with DHS’s Adult Protective Services. The case worker noted the couple had lived in an apartment with their mentally retarded daughter but moved because of concern about objectionable activity occurring in the apartment complex.

Ward contacted DHS, which received the vulnerability survey, to discuss the Martins’s case. The agency said it needed their birth certificates, income verification, and a social security printout before providing a housing voucher. Mr. Martin is a native Washingtonian, but Mrs. Martin was born and raised in Virginia.

The Downtown Homeless Services Team took them to the DC Division of Vital Records and the Social Security Office to obtain the necessary documents. Afterwards, they scheduled a time to take the Martins to DHS to deliver the documents and view apartments. The couple selected an apartment, which initially failed inspection but passed the second time. The Martins signed a lease for an apartment in Northeast and moved in last May.