ABOUT AMANDA CARLISLE:
Amanda Carlisle has been the Executive Director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance (WHA) since 2014. In her role as Executive Director, she works to create greater efficiencies in the homeless response system, advocates for resources and effective policymaking from local, state, and federal entities, and works to expand affordable housing options and services.
Prior to joining the WHA, Amanda served as Program Coordinator for the Homeless Action Network of Detroit (Detroit, MI) and as Director of Projects for the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness – which is now called All Chicago (Chicago, IL). She holds a master’s degree in urban planning & policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.A. in Political Science from Clemson University.
RESOURCES:
Washtenaw Housing Alliance (WHA)
WHA 100-Day Challenge Information
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU. And welcome to the first Washtenaw United segment of 2025. I'm David Fair, and we certainly hope you're having a good start to the New Year. Each week, we explore issues of equity and opportunity in our community, and we highlight the people and organizations working toward that end. Today, we're going to explore the mission of ending homelessness among veterans. The end of January will bring to conclusion a 100-day challenge. The national challenge is called "Built for Zero," and the local effort is headed up by the Washtenaw Housing Alliance. We are glad to welcome the WHA's executive director, Amanda Carlisle. Thank you so much for starting the New Year with us, Amanda!
Amanda Carlisle: Thank you for having me!
David Fair: How significant an issue is veteran homelessness in Washtenaw County?
Amanda Carlisle: Yeah, veteran homelessness is a significant issue. I think people don't know that we do have veterans who are literally homeless on the streets or in shelter. But we have done an incredible job over the last decade to really invest resources that, as a nation and locally, in veteran homelessness. And so, we've seen a decline in the number of people experiencing veteran homelessness on any given night. In 2015, we had anywhere from 40 to 45 veterans a night. And nowm our most recent data is showing that we have about 16 veterans. Som we've seen a great decline as investments have been made in ending veteran homelessness.
David Fair: So, obviously, it also points out there is still more work to be done. Where did the Built for Zero initiative come from?
Amanda Carlisle: Yeah, that's a great question. Built for Zero is a national movement that was started back in 2015. And Community Solutions is the national nonprofit that does this work, where it brought together, initially, a handful of communities to be part of that effort to end veteran and chronic homelessness in the country. And it's grown over time. And I think there's now over 70 communities nationwide that are part of the Built for Zero movement. And it is also international: Canada, Australia, parts of Europe that also participate in the Build for Zero initiative. And it was really started by Community Solutions because they said we need to be doing something differently when it comes to our work. We need to have a binding list of all of the people experiencing homelessness. We need to assess them in a common way, so that we understand their vulnerabilities and acuity. And we need to have a collaborative, coordinated effort to house those most vulnerable folks and really work through all of the different systemic issues and challenges within the system of care, but also outside of the system of care that causes people to become homeless and work on those policy and resource barriers and all of the different things that are required to take systemic change.
David Fair: Well, when the Washtenaw Housing Alliance decided to embark on its 100-day challenge, it set the end of January to end veterans' homelessness in the community. Is that actually possible?
Amanda Carlisle: Yeah, I think so. So, we are a collaborative effort from a continuum of care of different agencies, government partners like the Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development and the Washtenaw County V.A. and federal partners like the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, a host of other partners that are doing homelessness prevention, shelter and housing. And when we say we're ending veteran homelessness, that means that we reach what's called "functional zero," where we essentially have enough resources each month to house the folks that are coming in our inflow into the system of care. And so, for our community in Washtenaw County, our goal is to reduce the number of veterans experiencing literal homelessness to six people by the end of January. And like I said, we currently have 16 homeless veterans on our list. It's definitely a big goal. And we are just working kind of week-by-week over the last hundred days to really get to that number--that six number--and then be able to sustain that moving forward. So, the work doesn't stop at the end of January. Even if we reached our goal, we have to maintain and sustain that. And so, the work is really about getting our landlords involved and willing to provide safe and affordable housing for our veterans and getting our community to do everything that they can to prevent homelessness whenever possible. And so, the effort continues after this 100 days. But what's really cool about the 100-day challenge is that all of our focus has been on this work in a transformational way.
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU's Washtenaw United, and we're talking about the effort to end veteran homelessness in our community with Washtenaw Housing Alliance executive director Amanda Carlisle. So, again, the more expansive definition of the goal is to transform systems to reach the functional end to veteran homelessness. You've mentioned quite a few of the barriers, but what systems require change not only in this 100-day challenge, but, as you mentioned, the work that lay ahead in the months and years to come?
Amanda Carlisle: Yeah, that's a great question. You know, there's a lot of different systems of care. And I think one of the things that's so important to know about homelessness is that it's not an individual failure. Homelessness is ultimately the result of failures of other systems of care and safety net services that are supposed to be there to help people who are in need or are in crisis. And there are holes in those systems and places where we can't catch everyone because of resource barriers or policy barriers. And so, I think when we look at kind of our veterans, we see particularly a lot of aging adults. And so, we're looking at the health care system, not just the VA health care, but other health care systems. We're looking at the mental health care system and the challenges that some of our veterans face in mental health challenges and how we can make sure that we have assistance available. And then, we're also looking at just the housing stock. You know, we have a lack of affordable housing in Washtenaw county and across the nation. And then, particularly, when we think about our veterans who are aging, we have assisted care facilities and assisted living that are very expensive. Dementia care is very expensive. And for low-income, homeless veterans trying to navigate those systems of care and get someone into the appropriate level of housing and housing services has been challenging, where we're working with our local VA to identify options, like adult foster care for folks who really need it, but also permanent supportive housing that basically provides affordable housing and couples that with long-term supportive services to help somebody age in place and gain some self-sufficiency and be able to kind of live a better life. So, there's lots of different systems that kind of feed into what can cause someone to become homeless. And those are all the things that we are working to identify. What are the barriers? What are the slowdowns? Helping somebody access Social Security and disability can take a long time-- a lot of labor and work hours associated with Social security applications. Identification is a huge issue when you're don't have a permanent residence or a nighttime residence. That can be really challenging to keep all of your documents on hand. So, we're working at ways to reduce those barriers, both kind of at the individual level, as well as the systems level.
David Fair: Once again, we're talking with Amanda Carlisle from the Washtenaw Housing Alliance on 89 one WEMU's Washtenaw United. You know, Amanda, for as long as I've been alive, the services and programs for veterans have, for the most part, been underfunded. So, obviously, money as a resource is part of that issue. But it seems to me the amount of money dedicated to veterans is reflective of societal attitude towards veterans. Are we seeing positive movement on that front?
Amanda Carlisle: We are. Yeah. Actually, since the past about-decade, a little bit more with beginning with the Obama administration, there was a real focus on ending veteran homelessness. And with that, it's become a bipartisan issue that both the Democratic Party, Republican Party, all of us can get behind people who have served our country in various different ways should never become homeless and never be on the streets. And so, we have seen an increase in resources, and we've seen about a 50% decline in veteran homelessness as a result. So, what we're really excited about here in Washtenaw County is that veteran homelessness and our reductions that we've seen locally over time that we can really use this as a proof point, that if there are resources available, that we do have the answers to this and with the solutions to homelessness, which is, by and far, housing assistance and services, wraparound services, that we have that we can really use--our veterans' work--as a proof point that we can end all types of homelessness. So, we have seen just recently our community get a youth homelessness grant from the federal government, from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. And they are investing in that work. And I think they've taken lessons learned from the veterans' work that when you do invest in housing and services for different populations, you do get results. And so, that's what we've seen here. We're just using all of that good work that's been done over the last decade, all of the resources that are available and making sure that we're effective and efficient in what we're doing and then that we can have a real impact on veterans' homelessness here and then all types of homelessness.
David Fair: I'd like to thank you for taking time to talk with me today and sharing the information about progress being made in addressing veteran homelessness in our community and around the country, Amanda! We appreciate it!
Amanda Carlisle: Thank you so much!
David Fair: That was Amanda Carlisle, executive director of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance. For more information on homelessness among veterans and the 100-day Built for Zero Challenge, stop by our web site at wemu.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with United Way for Southeastern Michigan and presented each Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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