Abstract
Once stabilized in permanent supportive housing (PSH) formerly homeless individuals with disabilities can benefit from increased access and utilization of employment and vocational rehabilitation services. By establishing links with programs and integrating employment into the service delivery model, individuals seeking work will have greater access to resources to meet vocational goals. Additionally, local and state resources could be used more effectively for PSH tenants with disabilities. This integrated approach to housing and employment services leads to improvements to employment outcomes for persons with disabilities. This approach can be replicated effectively with existing resources in Sacramento. Source of Data: Data for this Project was collected using professional journals, library resources, EBSCO host, ERIC Data bases, internet resources, and interviews. The data was extracted from all of the following resources: peer-reviewed journal articles; textbooks; and materials from relevant agency websites, manuals, workbooks and toolkits provided by agencies that provide housing, employment and vocational rehabilitation services to low- income persons with disabilities. Conclusions Reached: A grant was prepared to fund a full-time program coordinator and a part-time job developer to staff the Vocational Opportunities Housing Collaborative (VOHC) - a program for vocational service integration - to establish a long-term, sustainable supportive housing and employment services model. Additionally, a Memorandum of Understanding was drafted with the California Department of Rehabilitation to establish a collaborative service-delivery approach that creates links to services and integrates case-management and vocational rehabilitation within current permanent supportive housing services models. Lastly, a pre-vocational curriculum to be used by non-vocational professionals for tenants of supportive housing was developed to provide job readiness training for improved employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities entering or reentering the workforce.