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Homeless Family Services

Tennessee’s Homeless Family Services in Supportive Housing Program

The purpose of Tennessee’s Homeless Family Services in Supportive Housing program is to support the development and/or expansion of local implementation of, and community infrastructures for, the integration of treatment and services for substance use, co-occurring substance use and mental disorders, permanent housing, and other critical services for families who experience homelessness or chronic homelessness. Participants will be homeless families from Knoxville, Tennessee, Knox County, and the surrounding East Tennessee Counties. The University of Tennessee College of Social Work, in conjunction with the Helen Ross McNabb Center Incorporated, a regional mental health system, seeks to increase the number of program-enrolled families placed in permanent housing that supports recovery through comprehensive treatment and recovery-oriented services for behavioral health. The project will support three primary types of activities: 1) behavioral health treatment and other recovery-oriented services; 2) coordination of housing and services which support the implementation and/or enhance the long-term sustainability of integrated community systems that provide permanent housing and supportive services; and 3) efforts to engage and connect families who experience substance use or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders to enrollment resources for health insurance, Medicaid, and other benefit programs (e.g., SSI/SSDI, TANF, SNAP, etc.). The project will serve 90 homeless families over a three year period and will serve 30 families per year. Our evidence-based practice will employ the Behavioral Health Recovery model and includes the domains of health, home, purpose and community to ensure receipt of services and care requisites to enhance quality of life. These services include housing, mental health and substance abuse services, education and employment services, and peer support.