Key to Home expands early intervention efforts after helping hundreds exit homelessness

For someone experiencing homelessness, the difference between finding stable housing and remaining without a place to live can sometimes come down to a security deposit, a bus ticket or help reconnecting with family. 

Oklahoma City's Key to Home Partnership, a collaboration of nearly 50 organizations committed to preventing and ending homelessness, is working to address those barriers through its Early Intervention and Rapid Exit program, which helped 303 people exit homelessness during its first-year pilot. 

The initiative provides short-term assistance at an average cost of approximately $1,500 per person. Following the pilot's results, reported through June 30, Key to Home is expanding the program with a goal of serving 400 additional people by the end of the fiscal year. The partnership is on track to exceed that target. 

Finding solutions before housing crises escalate 

Jamie Caves, strategy implementation manager at Key to Home, said the program emerged from the partnership's examination of how people enter and move through Oklahoma City's homeless response system. 

Drawing on diversion strategies developed in other communities, including Dallas, Key to Home created an approach that combines housing problem-solving with flexible financial assistance. The goal is to help people who may not need intensive, long-term services overcome immediate barriers to housing. 

At Catholic Charities, one of the organizations implementing the program, that work begins with understanding what is preventing someone from returning to housing. 

Jennifer Kill, director of Key to Home programs at Catholic Charities, said some participants have enough income to maintain an apartment but cannot afford the upfront costs of moving in. Others have relatives willing to provide housing but need help covering transportation or other expenses to make that arrangement possible. 

Case managers can arrange assistance for security deposits, transportation, groceries, cellphones and other immediate needs. Family reunification is also a significant part of the program, helping participants reconnect with relatives who can provide stable housing, including those living outside Oklahoma. 

Catholic Charities had served 344 clients through the program by the time of Kill's interview, including participants assisted after the June 30 reporting cutoff. Of those clients, 51% had achieved a positive exit to housing or another stable living arrangement. 

The program is designed to resolve housing barriers in approximately 30 days, although Kill said participants have received assistance for an average of about 40 days. Those requiring longer-term support can be connected with other services. 

Participants can be referred through local service providers and resources such as 211. Kill said establishing consistent referral processes was an important part of the pilot's first year, helping providers identify who could benefit from early intervention. 

Expanding the program's reach 

Beyond helping individual participants, the program also supports Oklahoma City's broader homelessness response system. 

Caves said resolving housing crises earlier helps preserve shelter beds and more intensive housing resources for people with greater needs. The partnership is also tracking outcomes after participants leave the program, with approximately 5% of those who achieved positive exits returning to the homeless response system over the past year. 

The program is supported through a combination of public funding and private contributions. City funding covers staffing, while donations from businesses, foundations and community members provide flexible financial assistance of up to $1,200 per participant. 

Key to Home is adding three early-intervention enrollment specialists at shelters and other access points across Oklahoma City, increasing the total from three to six and doubling enrollment capacity. 

Organizations participating in the Early Intervention and Rapid Exit initiative include Catholic Charities, City Care, City Rescue Mission, Heartline, Homeless Alliance, Pivot, the Salvation Army and Sisu Youth Services. Caves credited the collaboration among emergency shelters, day shelters and other providers with helping develop creative, individualized approaches to addressing homelessness. 

As the program expands, the partnership is working toward making early intervention available wherever people first seek assistance. 

“In five years, I would like to see the early intervention strategy fully functional and with enough capacity to meet the demand at every access point across the city,” Caves said. 

More information about the program and opportunities to support the partnership is available at keytohomeokc.org.