HW StratPlanFINAL 5_20

8/6/2019 HW StratPlanFINAL 5_20

1/38

Housing Works

Five-Year Strategic Plan


2/38

2

Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................3

Executive Summary.............................................................................................3Background and History ........................................................................3

Challenges, Direction and Results .........................................................6Housing Works Five-Year Strategic Plan..............................................8

Mission................................................................................................................9

20-Year Vision for Housing Works.....................................................................9

Funding Sources ......................................................................................... 10

Core Service Values .......................................................................................... .11

Core Organizational Values .......................................................................... ....12

Guiding Infrastructure Principles ................................................................ ....13Financial ................................................................................................13Information Technology .......................................................................14Human Capital.......................................................................................14Facilities.................................................................................................15

Customers ..........................................................................................................16

Supporting Customers .......................................................................................16Summary Of Most Important Points in the Environment ................... 19Points in the Environment .................................................................... 19

Strengths ................................................................................................20Weaknesses.............................................................................................21Opportunities..........................................................................................22Threats....................................................................................................24

Strategic Direction.............................................................................................26

Goals and Objectives..........................................................................................27

Strategic Action Plan Focus by Year..................................................................29Year One ................................................................................................29Year Two ................................................................................................35Year Three..............................................................................................36Years Four and Five................................................................................36

Adherence to Plan/Evaluation ..........................................................................37Conclusion .........................................................................................................(tk)Addendums ........................................................................................................(tk)(i.e. detailed view of activities by goal, financial, etc.)


3/38

3

Introduction

Housing Works Senior Staff developed this Strategic Plan with assistance from the Executive

Team and the Board of Directors. It provides Housing Works with a five-year roadmap toward

the fulfillment of its mission: to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless

advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our

efforts.

In the summer of 2010, Senior Staff identified three goals as a group, and then individual Senior

Staff members voluntarily joined one of three teams. Each teams work-shopped one of the three

goals, developing objectives and outcomes and forecasting financial and other possible

implications for the organization. Each team presented the results of its work at a series of staff

retreats where they received feedback from the entire Senior Staff. That feedback was

incorporated into a subsequent round dedicated to evaluating the three goals. The goals werealso presented to other stakeholders, including all clients, all staff and the members of Housing

Works various boards, all of whom were able to give feedback.

Toward the end of the process, during the spring of 2011, a Strategic Plan Writing Committee

compiled goals and created a comprehensive strategy document. This committee included four

members of Senior Staff and President and CEO Charles King. They met three times to hone the

goals and reflect on the organizations approach to its work.

During the execution of this five-year plan, Senior Staff will review progress every three months

and share its findings with all staff, Boards of Directors and key stakeholders. Senior Staff and

the Executive Team will update the plan annually to maintain infrastructure benchmarks,

including financial stability.

Executive Summary

Background and History

Housing Works, Inc. was born out of the Housing Committee of ACT UP New York (The

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) in 1990 to address the dual crises of homelessness and

HIV/AIDS. Housing Works was founded on the simple premise that housing was the

threshold step for improving the emotional and physical health of homeless people living


4/38

4

with HIV and AIDS, regardless of disease progression, mental health issues or addiction.

The goal of Housing Works founders was not simply the provision of housing but to

demonstrate and advocate for the replication of models of care that would offer healing

to New Yorks most marginalized persons living with AIDS and HIV as a means of

stemming the epidemic. In addition to this central founding goal, Housing Works was

established on three other premises: First, that in order to heal its constituency, Housing

Works had to be a membership driven community in which every stakeholder had

ownership and a voice; the community must explicitly acknowledge the contribution

each member made in giving and receiving healing. Second, Housing Works would

nourish its roots in aggressive grassroots advocacy, and every stakeholder would play a

role. And third, that Housing Works would be a self-sustaining organization whose

advocacy voice would never be silenced or tempered by funding sources.

Today, Housing Works is a membership-driven, community-based non-profit

organization dedicated to providing lifesaving services, including high quality housing,

health care, job training, and other vital support services to homeless New Yorkers living

with HIV and AIDS. Housing Works continues to serve the most vulnerable and

underserved people affected by the AIDS epidemic those struggling with homelessness,

chronic mental illness, chemical dependence, and incarceration. Our healing community

helps clients gain stability, independence, and dignity while improving their overall

health. Housing Works mission to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS isadvanced through relentless local, statewide, national, and, increasingly, international

advocacy for people living with HIV and AIDS and those who are most at risk of

infection. Notwithstanding the vagaries of funding, Housing Works has built a self-

sustaining organizational model that relies primarily on earned income, including, but

by no means limited to, its various entrepreneurial businesses that further HIV/AIDS

awareness, provide employment for people living with HIV/AIDS and provide vital

resources to sustain the organization.

Housing Works is the nations largest community-based AIDS service organization and

is the nations largest minority-controlled AIDS organization. When Housing Works

began in 1990, there were fewer than 350 units of supportive housing for the estimated

30,000 homeless people with HIV/AIDS living in New York City. Since that time,

Housing Works has housed and served over 20,000 New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS and


5/38

5

has won national recognition for developing innovative, client-centered models of

housing, healthcare and services for hard-to-reach populations. The organization is now

the nations leading advocate for the grassroots empowerment of people living with HIV

and AIDS, as well as at-risk marginalized communities. Housing Works is nationally

recognized for its fierce advocacy on behalf of its member communities through

groundbreaking organizing, policy and research, and litigation efforts. Housing Works

has created the nations most successful job training and placement program for

homeless people with HIV/AIDS and pioneered the use of socially conscious

entrepreneurial ventures to achieve economic stability.

As it has grown, Housing Works has assembled the building blocks of a comprehensive,

wrap-around, integrated system of care that is crucial as a means to serve homeless

individuals and families. This model establishes a unique and invaluable foundation onwhich to expand the delivery of effective primary care to these populations.

Housing Works serves over 2,500 clients annually in the five boroughs of New York City

through comprehensive prevention and care. We use a constellation of networks to

provide these services: outreach, HIV counseling and testing, intake services, a variety of

community-based case management programs, two transitional housing programs, six

permanent supportive housing programs, and four health centers that provide primary

health, dental, and behavioral health care, including AIDS adult day health care,psychotherapy, and traditional and harm reduction-based counseling and services. These

core services are supplemented by an extensive peer education program, a job training

and employment program, and client legal services that provide representation on a

continuum of legal issues faced by low-income people living with HIV and AIDS. In

addition to its lifesaving services in New York, Housing Works is growing an affiliated

organization serving homeless intravenous drug users in Fajardo, Puerto Rico and

sponsoring similar work in Haiti.

Housing Works maintains advocacy offices that provide support for grassroots

organizing as well as policy development in New York City, Albany, New York,

Washington, D.C., Jackson, Mississippi, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Housing Works advocacy team also pursues impact litigation on cases that often have

national implications. In addition to its own advocacy efforts, Housing Works supplies


6/38

6

the financial and technology platform for the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) and its

various programs, including the peer-led Youth Action Institute and Womens Institute.

Housing Works is also a principal sponsor of an HIV/AIDS Housing Research Summit

series that provides validated research to support sound public policy on AIDS housing.

The summit is intended to involve and influence all levels of government in developing

and promoting the sound policies that address the broad range of issues that impact the

HIV/AIDS pandemic. This summit series is developing an international reach.

Simultaneously, Housing Works has become an international voice, particularly on the

issue of housing as a structural HIV prevention and care intervention and on behalf of a

human rights approach to HIV prevention and care in marginalized communities.

Challenges, Direction and Results

Notwithstanding a strong commitment to a self-sustaining economic model, HousingWorks has not been immune to the vagaries of the economy and changes in government

funding to fight AIDS, as well as for health care, housing and social services. Coping with

rate cuts, a changing regulatory environment and decreasing profit margins in its

entrepreneurial activities contributed to financial instability for between 2009 and 2011.

Even while struggling financially, the organization has continued to grow and expand its

lifesaving services, advocacy and business enterprises, albeit at a slower pace than

before. In addition, the organization has struggled with the challenges of implementing

technology to improve care coordination, expand business opportunities and improveoverall management and communications. Finally, the organization has struggled with

stakeholder buy-in as it has attempted to address financial difficulties even while shifting

focus and expanding its reach.

In response to these challenges, Housing Works has set about retooling the organization

even before the development of a Strategic Plan. Specifically, it has begun processes to

inculcate four core values throughout the organization in an on-going process of

continuous quality improvement. The first of those values is teamwork, defined by

mutual trust, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability and attention to results. The

second value is open-book management, by which all stakeholders are fully cognizant of

the organizations financial health and the contribution they make to the organizations

sustainability. The third value is sterling internal and external customer service; going

the extra mile to ensure satisfaction should be the norm. The fourth value is active


7/38

7

stakeholder engagement in advocacy and direct action to further the organizations

vision of an end to the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS. These values are not

abstractions. Rather, Housing Works intends to establish measurements and ask its

customers, clients and other stakeholders to evaluate the organization in concrete and

specific ways that encourage continuous reflection and improved performance.

In addition to a focus on these values, Housing Works recognizes that it can only realize

its strategic vision if it develops and maintains an infrastructure that fully supports

mission-fulfilling work. For purposes of the Strategic Plan, the following facets of

infrastructure are most critical to achieving the organizations goals: First, the

organization must improve business practices to achieve and maintain financial stability

as measured by commonly accepted accounting indicators. Second, the organization

must improve its human resources with a focus on retaining and growing its bestemployees and volunteers. Third, the organization must develop and maintain

technology systems that meet its evolving needs for coordination, communication and

the collection, analysis and dissemination of data. Fourth, the organization must

maintain a physical plant that is conducive to productivity and wellness for its clients,

volunteers and employees. Housing Works will set specific benchmarks by which to

measure its success in each of these areas as a predicate to realization of its strategic

goals.

At Housing Works inception, its services were housing and case management. Its

clientele was homeless people living with HIV and AIDS and their families. Housing

remains a critical need for people living with HIV, and research has substantiated its

vital role as a structural intervention both for prevention and care. However, Housing

Works financial difficulties coupled with dwindling government resources have put

constraints on development of additional and more diverse models of housing, resulting

in slow growth in our housing inventory. Housing Works will reverse this trend, and

dramatically increase its stock through innovative strategies that leverage internal and

external resources.

Housing Works has grown into a multi-service organization that offers a comprehensive

array of live saving and life-enhancing services. Yet, they have often been offered in a

disjointed way that follows the dictates of funding streams and regulation rather than the


8/38

8

best guiding principle: addressing the needs of a whole person and his or her multiplicity

of needs and desires that comprise a meaningful life. With the evolution of treatment for

HIV and the growing role that other chronic conditions play in the lives of the people

served by Housing Works, the organization has made a deliberate shift to place primary

medical care at the core of its client services. Consistent with both Medicaid redesign in

New York State and with the recently enacted national health care reform legislation,

Housing Works has spent FY2010 developing its integrated model of care. This model

offers clients the full array of primary medical and behavioral health, as well as ancillary

and vocational services. Housing Works will continue to set up mechanisms to measure

both the integrated care processes and outcomes with the use of technology.

Finally, Housing Works has evaluated its advocacy efforts to examine what makes them

unique. Housing Works has developed cutting-edge policy around housing, humanrights-based prevention and care, harm reduction services, and the development of

innovative funding streams. In some instances, Housing Works has been the leader on

these issues and in others has partnered with or supported the work of other

organizations. What makes Housing Works unique, as a community-based organization

has been its willingness to set aside parochial interests for the sake of a larger national

and international advocacy vision. What makes Housing Works unique as an

organization with national breadth is our support for grassroots advocacy without regard

for control of the agenda. Over the course of the coming five-years, Housing Works willcapitalize on these unique attributes, growing and measuring our impact as a national

and international advocacy organization focused on guaranteeing a seat at the table and

a voice for marginalized people affected by HIV.

Housing Works Five-year Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan is an overarching management tool for Housing Works. The plan has

two purposes. First, it serves as a comprehensive explanation of the plan and its

component parts. Second, it serves as a record of the year long strategic planning process

and the decisions reached by the Board of Directors, staff and clients. Housing Works

has set out to achieve the following goals over the coming five-years, in keeping with our

mission:

Goal One: Housing Works will create an innovative integrated health care

model that transforms delivery of care for marginalized people who have co-


9/38

9

morbid conditions.

Goal Two: Housing Works will build and maintain a comprehensive continuum

of housing resources to meet the full gamut of our clients needs.

Goal Three: Housing Works will reenergize grassroots AIDS advocacy at the

local and national levels through an expanded network of advocates and

enhanced funding opportunities.

Mission

In anticipation of this strategic planning process, Housing Works Board approved a new

statement of Housing Works mission last year. This mission explicitly recognizes Housing

Works role as not just a non-profit corporation with a charitable purpose and businessenterprises, but, first and foremost, as a community. The mission then spells out the three

strategies we weave together to achieve our mission to end the dual crises of homelessness and

AIDS. That mission statement is as follows:

Housing Works is a healing community of persons living with and affected

by HIV/AIDS. Our mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and

AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of life saving services and

entrepreneurial businesses that sustain our efforts.

20-Year Vision for Housing Works

Housing Works began 20 years ago with a hunch about the relationship between homelessness

and the HIV epidemic and the corresponding relationship between stable, secure housing and

wellness. Ample research has borne out that hunch. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have

demonstrated the key role that stable housing plays in the lives of people who suffer from

chronic conditions such as HIV and other physical illnesses, mental illness, chronic chemical

dependence, as well as in the integration and wholeness of persons who have been marginalized

by society. It has also become well-established that poverty and social and economic injustices

based on gender, sexual orientation and identity, race and ethnicity, and prejudice against drug

users, are the key drivers of the AIDS pandemic. Advances in HIV research have made it clear

that development of an HIV vaccine is possible within the next decade. Even without the


10/38

10

development of a vaccine, advances in treatment and prevention have made it possible to reduce

HIV transmission to below epidemic levels around the world and ensure that persons who are

living with HIV can manage their disease and live productive and meaningful lives.

By the year 2031, Housing Works will have played a significant strategic role in the elimination

of HIV/AIDS and in the establishment of stable housing as a recognized basic human right, as

well as a key structural public health intervention for promoting the health and wholeness of

marginalized populations. Supported by its entrepreneurial efforts, Housing Works will have

collaborated with other actors in developing and widely promoting innovative models of

integrated care that allow people affected by the AIDS epidemic to live productive and

meaningful lives. Through its advocacy and support of grassroots efforts around the world,

Housing Works will have broken down barriers based on racism, sexism, homophobia, and

prejudice against drug users that impoverish and marginalize these populations and allowdiseases such as HIV to flourish.

Funding Sources

Like most AIDS service organizations, Housing Works has diverse funding sources, including

Medicaid reimbursement, government contracts, event revenue and foundation funding. What

distinguishes Housing Works from other Administrative Services Only (ASO) health care

organizations is that it is a leader in the social enterprise arena. The organization operates a

growing chain of social enterprise businesses thrift shops, a bookstore cafe, catering companyand property management firm that provide vital financial support to Housing Works and

invaluable employment opportunities for clients.

Over the coming five-years, Housing Works will rely on successful implementation of its

integrated health model to leverage increased revenue from third party health care insurance.

This strategy involves working with the New York State Department of Health and other

governmental entities as well as Special Needs Plan partners in Amida Care to develop capitated

rate structures that favor co-located services and integrated care and financially incentivize

positive health outcomes for persons with co-occurring chronic conditions and morbidities.

Housing Works will rely on surpluses generated by these activities, as well as additional

government and foundation support, to underwrite programs that facilitate entry into this

integrated care system and that enhance the system through ancillary non-reimbursable

services, including universal client access to vocational resources that facilitate individual goals


11/38

11

of autonomy and self-care.

Housing Works will continue to refine and expand its entrepreneurial activities both inside and

outside of New York City, with the goals of increasing profits and profit margins, expanding

employment opportunities for people living with HIV and AIDS, developing a national brand

and leveraging that brand to increase national philanthropic support as well as expanded

awareness of Housing Works advocacy agenda. Resources generated from these efforts will be

used to build Housing Works infrastructure, expand its advocacy efforts and stimulate and

support grassroots advocacy efforts around the United States and in other strategic locations.

Core Service Values

Housing Works believes that housing saves lives and is committed to improving healthoutcomes for our clients through a spectrum of services that efficiently and effectively stabilize

the lives of New York Citys most vulnerable residents affected by HIV/AIDS. We believe that

people living with HIV/AIDS must lead the fight to eradicate the disease, a struggle that

includes access to health care and supportive services and an end to AIDS stigma. Housing

Works strives to profoundly enhance the quality of life of our clients. Our philosophy embraces a

nonjudgmental, comprehensive approach that offers each person dignity and respect in a

welcoming environment. Housing Works believes that clients have rights, which we strive to

provide and protect. At Housing Works, clients have the right to: live a life of dignity, receive thehighest-quality medical care, live in dignified housing, achieve self-sufficiency through

programs such as job training, advocate for or against policies that affect their lives, and

participate in a nonjudgmental community where everyone is welcomed and accepted at every

stage of life, whatever the circumstances. Specifically, Housing Works pledges the following to

each individual enrolled in its integrated health care program:

We will work selflessly and relentlessly with each client as an integrated team to achieveeach clients aspirations.

We will meet each client where he or she is at physically, emotionally, culturally andspiritually.

We will strive to objectively assess each clients circumstances without moral judgments.


12/38

12

We will work with each client to help him or her identify goals that will improve his orher quality of life and then work with that client to set incremental, attainable and

measurable objectives.

We will always be loving, kind and honest with each client, holding him or her andourselves accountable to our mutual commitments.

We will always recognize and praise achievement and acknowledge failure andshortcomings with compassion and patience.

We will do everything ethically within our power, and with as much creativity as we canmuster, to support each client in the achievement of his or her goals and objectives.

WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON ANY CLIENT.

Core Organizational ValuesIn addition to these consumer-centered values, Housing Works has committed itself to the

following organizational values that will provide the foundation on which to achieve our

collective goals and aspirations:

Team work, defined by mutual trust, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability andattention to results.

Open-book management, through which all stakeholders are made fully cognizant of theorganizations financial health and the contribution they make to the organizations

sustainability.

Sterling internal and external customer service in which going the extra mile to ensuresatisfaction is the norm.

Active engagement of every stakeholder in advocacy and direct action that furthers theorganizations vision of an end to the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS.

These values are not intended to be abstractions. Rather, Housing Works intends to establish

measurements and ask its customers, clients and other stakeholders to evaluate the organization

in concrete and specific ways that encourage continuous reflection and improved performance.


13/38

13

Guiding Infrastructure Principles

Housing Works is committed to maintaining an effective infrastructure throughout the

execution of the five-year plan. All stakeholders in the Strategic Plan process understand the

critical role of a solid infrastructure and recognize that the existing infrastructure, while strong

in many ways, will not provide the necessary support to reach the plans programmatic goals.

With that in mind, Housing Works has set benchmark goals for infrastructure development

independent from the Plans programmatic goals. Large portions of the programmatic objectives

are already in process, and progress toward the intended outcomes will happen alongside

infrastructure gains. However, meeting the infrastructure benchmarks is so important that these

benchmarks are pre-requisites for continued progress toward the programmatic objectives.

The Infrastructure benchmarks are divided into four categories: Financial, Information

Technology, Human Capital, and Facilities.

Financial

The Financial Benchmarks are of two types: process and cash. Housing Works is

deepening its commitment to Open Book Management, beginning in Year 1 of the Plan.

The first step of this shift was the fiscal year 2012 Budget Process. Senior Managers took

complete responsibility for their own budgets, down to the actual data entry. Many items

that had historically been handled by Finance staff were in the hands of operational

managers. This shift results in a budget that staff understands better, is more committedto, and that has a higher chance of succeeding. Beyond budgeting, Housing Works

Finance team and BTQ Financial are committed to a range of new systems designed to

empower employees as financial leaders. These include: more timely financial reports

and custom dashboards, budget work plans, more transparent A/P processes,

expanded feedback opportunities in which managers see numbers before they are

published, and a purchase order system.

On the cash front, strategic planners identified poor cash flow as a major obstacle in

reaching programmatic goals. The organization set cash flow benchmarks in the areas of

timely accounts payable, adherence to payroll schedules, and elimination of late fees. In

addition to short-term cash flow, the Plan proposes that Housing Works slowly build

short-term operating cash reserves equivalent to 30 days of payroll and benefits. This

will require a substantial reorganization of priorities, beginning with the accumulation of

over $500,000 in cash in Year Two.


14/38


15/38

15

the Strategic Plan. Again, in the same way that Housing Works requires Teamwork and

successful Open Book Management in order to succeed, it also requires a full

commitment to treating each interaction as a valuable customer service moment.

Finally, the organization is moving into new territory by extending its culture ofvolunteerism in the Bookstore Cafe and Thrift Shops into a full-fledged Human Resource

program based on internship and volunteers. This initiative is designed to enhance and

broaden Housing Works services to clients, in keeping with our commitment to high-

quality, lifesaving services and Integrated Care. It is also an effort to push the

organization toward its financial stability benchmarks. An internship and volunteer

program leverages Housing Works tremendous brand recognition and enables it to

provide certain services at a much-reduced cost, and thus strengthening the overall

business plan.

Facilities

For the most part, Housing Works has maintained suitable workspace and program

space. New employees have suitable workspaces, safety is a priority, and facilities are

clean and pest-free. Climate control capabilities have been lacking at certain sites, and

the Year One budget proposes major improvements in this area.

Strategic planners recognize the short-term tension between fiscal responsibility

commitments and space requirements. Maintenance costs money. At the same time, agood physical plant contributes to staff retention, client satisfaction, business

profitability, and even health. The Plan proposes an ongoing commitment to investment

in the physical plant, with a commitment to critically triaging emergent needs in the

context of the fiscal health of the organization.


16/38

16

Customers

Housing Works primary customers consist of HIV-positive adult men, women, and persons of

transgender experience, and in all of these categories, our customers are predominantly people

of color. Housing Works provides services to 2,500 HIV-positive individuals and their familiesfrom all five boroughs of New York City. Ninety-five percent of Housing Works clients have

histories of homelessness or are at severe risk for homelessness, compared with 45 percent of

New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS surveyed for the recent New York City HIV/AIDS Housing Needs

Assessment. Ninety percent of Housing Works clients live at or below the federal poverty line;

89% have histories of substance use (about 28% higher than the New York City HIV/AIDS

population); and 53% have been incarcerated. Forty percent live with chronic mental illness,

compared with 23 percent of New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS. Over one-third of Housing Works

clients identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Thirty-five percent of clients are

women; 50 percent have dependent children; and 21 percent are over the age of 50. Housing

Works serves a growing population of persons who are HIV-negative but at high risk of

infection. The demographics of this group mirror those of the organizations HIV-positive

clientele.

Supporting Customers

Staff

Housing Works staff diversity parallels the diversity of its clients and reflects the

organizations commitment to client empowerment. Among 616 full-time and part-time

employees, 41 percent are black; 25 percent are Latino; and 26 percent are white.

Management estimates that over 25 percent of staff is HIV-positive; these staff members

are represented at all levels of management and staff and in all programs. Approximately

3 percent of staff self-identify as transgender. Over 25 percent of Housing Works full-

time staff is former Housing Works clients; most of that group are graduates of our

nationally recognized Second Life Job Training Program. These former clients work

throughout the organization, from advocacy and case management to the thrift shops

and other entrepreneurial businesses.

Employees at Housing Works are enthusiastic about the work they do and the mission of

the organization. Their dedication to improving the lives of New Yorks most vulnerable

residents deserves the utmost respect and recognition from the organization, reflected in


17/38

17

Housing Works ongoing efforts to improve retention and promotional mobility among

effective staff members.

Business Customers

This group includes those who shop in the Housing Works Thrift Shops and Bookstore

Caf, as well as those who use the services of our catering company, The Works. Our

customers also include people who make donations of goods or money at the thrift stores

or bookstore. The diversity of backgrounds among this group cannot be overstated. Our

customers are generally socially progressive New Yorkers who value a good deal and

want to support the fight against HIV/AIDS. Many of these customers know Housing

Works primarily as a business entity, so the organization has placed increased focus on

involving them in our social services and advocacy, whether as volunteers or donors.

This goal has largely been pursued through a growing membership program.

Volunteers

Housing Works benefits from a diverse and dedicated group of volunteers, especially

older people and retirees, students, and people with flexible work schedules, such as

consultants, artists, and actors. Volunteers include an impressive number of people who

work full-time jobs and spend their free time helping Housing Works because of their

dedication to fighting HIV/AIDS. The organization relies on volunteers, many of who

have worked with Housing Works over long periods of time, to supplement staff asnecessary, whether for special fundraising events, work shifts in the thrift shops, or extra

volume at a rally or protest. This talent pool remains one of Housing Works best

resources, and we are working to provide them with better organization and

opportunities for deeper involvement in our programs and activities.

Major Donors

Housing Works major donors include individual donors of significant monetary and in-

kind gifts, as well as our corporate partners who support our fundraising events

throughout the year. For the most part, individual major donors are drawn from the

business customers described above, as well as friends and associates of senior and

executive level Housing Works staff, and individuals connected to members of the

various organizational Boards of Directors. Due to the nature of Housing Works two

major fundraising events, a notable portion of these donors hail from fashion and design


18/38

18

backgrounds, while others include HIV/AIDS activists, arts and entertainment figures,

and members of New York Citys financial industry. Major corporate donors include

banks, pharmaceutical companies, fashion houses, and interior furnishings companies.

Housing Works continues to seek further diversity among major funders and will seek to

create innovative paths of services and fundraising that will attract a broader pool of

interested donors.

Funders

Housing Works government and foundation supporters include local, state and federal

agencies, as well as organizations of all sizes. Among government entities, we receive

consistent, dedicated funding from the New York State Department of Health AIDS

Institute, Public Health Solutions/New York City Department of Health and Mental

Hygiene, and the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We have apending application to receive Federally Qualified Health Center status for one of our

health centers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health

Resources and Services Administration.

The Robin Hood Foundation, which has supported Housing Works with significant,

generous gifts for over two decades, leads our foundation funders. Other major funders

include the MAC AIDS Fund, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Gesso Foundation,

and Red Hot Organization, among others. Housing Works depends upon governmentcontracts and foundation grants to build the organization and its programs and to keep

its lifesaving programs running efficiently. The organization remains dedicated to

developing and carefully managing these important funder relationships.

Members

Memberships are primarily sold in the Thrift Shops, Bookstore Cafe, online and via

direct response efforts throughout the year and can be bought at different levels with

varying benefits. Membership is an effective way to develop a dedicated base of support

for and interest in Housing Works. It also serves as a mechanism to keep track of a

significant portion of Housing Works public in an organized manner. While some

members are simply interested in getting a discount in the Thrift Shops and Bookstore

Caf, many members are dedicated to lives of social consciousness and, specifically, the

fight against HIV/AIDS and homelessness. For this reason, this group should not be


19/38

19

overlooked by Housing Works as a potential source of in-kind and cash donations,

volunteers, and advocacy participants. Housing Works public should be given every

opportunity for meaningful involvement in its services and activities.

Summary of Most Important Issues

Points in the Environment

The world is at a crossroads in regard to HIV/AIDS. At long last, there is a clear path to

ending HIV as a global pandemic and as an epidemic in the United States through a

combination of targeted prevention activities, the widespread and concentrated use of

antiretroviral medications, and housing and services for those who are infected. Yet at no

time has HIV garnered less attention on the global and national stage. Indeed, the

leading donor countries have for the first time in the history of the epidemic actuallyretreated from their commitments regarding HIV/AIDS funding, leaving millions of

people around the globe without access to the most basic treatment, services and care.

Similarly, governments have paid lip service to the right to housing, while economic

turmoil has caused dramatic increases in homelessness in New York, around the nation

and the globe.

In the United States, a heated discourse is taking place over health care, whether from

the perspective of the need to control health care costs or the right to health care forpeople who have little access. Indeed, the national health care reform legislation passed

last year, incomplete as it is, offers many opportunities for organizations such as

Housing Works. Republican proposals to reverse these reforms offer the single biggest

threat. At the same time, with waiting lists for AIDS medications growing across the

country (and especially in the South), the Obama administration has issued the first

National HIV/AIDS strategy. Anemic as it is, the strategy offers an opportunity to

challenge political leaders to make meaningful decisions to advance the fight against

AIDS.

In New York State, through its Medicaid Redesign Taskforce, the government has taken

a relatively enlightened approach to controlling health care costs, recognizing that

investment in improving health care coordination and even housing opportunities for

people with multiple chronic conditions will ultimately lower costs. In particular, while


20/38

20

the precise solutions are still undeveloped, there is a growing recognition that

ineffectively treated mental illness and chronic chemical dependence is major drivers of

high costs. Housing Works ability to influence decisions about strategies for dealing with

the high cost of uncoordinated care for homeless people who are mentally ill and/or

chemically dependent over the next two years will be critical to its mission and critical to

its ability to fulfill its strategic goal regarding integrated health care. These same

processes will be influential, if not key, in whether or not there will be new or increased

sources of funding for supportive housing.

Housing Works has the opportunity in this environment to help shape policies that will

foster its goals of housing and holistic integrated care for its constituencies if it can

achieve financial stability while remaining agile and adaptive. Meanwhile, there is a

crying need for a force like Housing Works to create and sustain a mobilizing platformthat allows the voices of marginalized people, particularly those living with HIV and

those most at risk for HIV, to be heard at the global, national and local level. If done

effectively, these organizing efforts can strengthen Housing Works' brand, garnering

recognition and resources as a national actor and an internationally influential advocacy

organization.

Strengths

Housing Works strengths include its ability to provide a wide array of high-quality,culturally appropriate services to those populations most affected by HIV/AIDS and

homelessness. It is a nimble and responsive organization that can quickly adapt to the

ever-changing epidemic and the needs of its clients.

With a staff of over 500, Housing Works employs a highly qualified and fully committed

cadre of professionals, many of whom take part in mission-related activities above and

beyond their job requirements. Our staff are not afraid to wear many hats to further

the mission of the organization.

The organization faces challenges with resolve and resourcefulness, often developing

new, innovative models to serve those individuals most difficult to engage and treat. Put

simply, the organization works well under crisis conditions and accomplishes the most

when faced with a shared dilemma or common enemy.


21/38

21

Most importantly, Housing Works is a caring community that serves as a constant source

of encouragement for its clients and as a catalyzing force for the broader local, national

and international AIDS service community. Most of our clients truly regard Housing

Works as a lifesaving family that plays a positive role in their lives.

Weaknesses

Financial instability is a key underlying weakness for Housing Works. Instability is

directly related to a range of issues, including insufficient technology resources, limited

ability to undertake capital improvement projects, limited access to credit facilities, and

employee productivity issues. In particular, Housing Works has yet to prove that it can

run Medicaid-reliant primary health and dental programs profitably.

The organization often sets lofty goals that it does not have the ability or collective will to

reach. Follow-through and evaluation are often lacking and undervalued. There is

tendency to move on to the next thing before completing a project or initiative.

Housing Works enjoys the support and commitment of hundreds of volunteers but the

lack of an organization-wide volunteer plan is a weakness. Turnover in certain staff

positions or departments has been identified as a weakness, as has the organizations

inability to reward and retain high performers.

Housing Works' Board of Directors and, in particular, its outside directors are a

dedicated and committed group; however, the body is traditionally weak in comparison

to peer organizations. Key board positions have been vacant for long periods of time.

Furthermore, recent changes in membership has left the body unstable and without

strong leadership or direction.

While the initiative of efforts around core values is beginning to yield success, there has

been a tendency to operate programs in silos without meaningful efforts at integration.

Parochial interests have delayed even basic steps like the development of standardized

forms and integrated care systems.


22/38

22

Opportunities

There are a variety of new initiatives stemming from national health care reform

legislation that provide opportunities for enhanced integrated health care for persons

living with HIV and those most at risk. At the federal level, Medical Homes provide the

opportunity to improve communications between providers and patients through

electronic systems. Similarly expanded Federally Qualified Health Center expansion is

an opportunity to bring increased resources into Housing Works' health centers and

increase services to people who are homeless.

At the state level, Health Homes and the Behavioral Health Organization remain

largely un-designed. Yet Housing Works is well poised to become an actor in both of

these arenas if it can influence their design to allow entry for community-based

comprehensive care providers such as itself. One important component of the HealthHome legislation is the power of various commissioners of state agencies to waive

licensure requirements for behavioral health services. One of the important components

of the BHO legislation is the power of the health commissioner to expand the

populations served by the HIV-specific special needs plans. In both of these arenas,

Housing Works' partnership with Amida Care and its other owners will be critical to

execution of this program.

The MRT process offers two other critical opportunities. First, Housing Works haschampioned a proposal to redefine drug treatment to incorporate harm reduction

principles as a legitimate reimbursable modality. This effort has been facilitated

by federal recognition of syringe exchange and other harm reduction strategies as a

legitimate medical intervention eligible for federal funding. Such a change would

transform drug treatment in New York State. In addition, it would create a substantial

new revenue stream for harm reduction service providers such as Housing Works, and it

would create a new national model of drug treatment that can be replicated around the

United States. Federal funding for needle exchange and harm reduction activities also

opens the possibility for growing Housing Works' very small program serving homeless

IV drug users in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

Second, the MRT provides a platform to advocate for radical expansion of housing for

people living with HIV, for reducing the rent burden of people with AIDS who have


23/38

23

disability income, and for expanding housing opportunities for people living with co-

occurring disorders in New York State. The process provides a venue to promote housing

as a critical investment to decrease Medicaid costs, allowing housing to be seen as a

savings rather than a costly expansion of services.

On the national level, while there have only been incremental increases in funding for

HIV/AIDS housing, there have been significant increases for housing and support for

military veterans with chronic conditions. Also, while funding is more limited, there are

resources available for housing for the elderly, a growing segment of the homeless

population now living with HIV.

On the local level, Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of

Homeless Services, once hostile to Housing Works, have now recognized theorganization as an innovative partner, willing to serve populations other services

providers ignore, including chronic drug users and people who are transgender.

Nationally, Housing Works has been working for six years to provide a platform for AIDS

activists around the country to coordinate and coalesce without any single institution

controlling or dictating the agenda. A commitment to dramatically expand the reach of

this platform even while providing cutting-edge policy support and expanding its

commitment to creative direct action not only furthers Housing Works' mission, but alsohelps the organization build a national brand that could result in national levels of

sponsorship and donor commitment.

Both nationally and internationally, Housing Works has been a leader in the effort to

recognize housing as a structural intervention for both the prevention and treatment of

HIV. That effort recently resulted in a White House summit on the topic, in which

Housing Works played a key-organizing role. The outcome was both an important white

paper and recognition of housing in the National AIDS Strategy. Now, for the first time,

through a Housing Works-led initiative, the United Nations General Assembly is

considering the inclusion of housing in its HIV/AIDS declaration. Moreover, Housing

Works' support of the now-international summit series on HIV/AIDS housing research

and policy continues to expand support for housing for people with HIV and AIDS, as

well as build recognition for Housing Works' leadership role in national and


24/38

24

international advocacy.

In the Caribbean, Housing Works has attracted financial support for its introduction of

human rights-based approaches to HIV prevention and care, particularly for sexual

minorities. Continued development of this model can open the door for funding as well

as growing international recognition of Housing Works role.

The upcoming International AIDS Conference, the first held in the United States in over

20 years, provides a unique opportunity for Housing Works to solidify its role as a

national and international catalyst for marginalized people living with HIV and AIDS to

affect national and global change.

ThreatsThe largest threat to Housing Works and its constituency is the overwhelming loss of

interest in and inattention to the AIDS pandemic at just the moment when scientific

advances make ending the AIDS pandemic a real possibility. Increasingly, the global

economic crisis and other events have been used to justify a diminished commitment of

resources to international efforts such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis

and Malaria, and the Presidents Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, as well as to the

domestic programs Ryan White and HOPWA. The Obama Administration has taken a

strategy of investing foreign aid in health programs that are seen as getting bigger bangfor the buck even while people with AIDS die while awaiting access to treatment. Within

the United States, there have been growing calls to end AIDS exceptionalism, which

largely translates into fewer resources, even while waiting lists for antiretrovirals grow

around the nation.

The second largest threat is that of conservative political forces fighting to overturn

health care reform and drastically cut health, housing and social service benefits to low

income and elderly Americans in the name of reducing Americas debt. In particular,

efforts to block grant Medicaid and turn Medicare into a voucher system would, if

successful, gut the health care system for low-income Americans and probably result in

significant cuts to Housing Works major source of health care funding.

The third major threat is the effort by states, including New York, to control health care


25/38

25

spending. While the Cuomo Administration has generally taken a more progressive view

in its efforts to restructure Medicaid services, there have already been cuts to a variety of

services that are critical to our constituents, including dental care, home care, and

nutritional supplements. Housing Works has advocated for strategic investments, to

which the Administration has been open, as a way of gaining savings, but the NYS

legislature gave the State Health Commissioner the power to unilaterally make across the

board cuts if savings are not quickly achieved. Even if this threat is not realized, smaller

across the board cuts and denial of rate increases to match inflation have already made

health care less financially viable as a business product.

In the context of Medicaid redesign in New York State, there is a large push toward

managed care and the elimination of fee-for-service products in favor of capitated rates

given to risk-bearing entities. While this offers opportunity if Housing Works is nimble,it also offers two distinct threats. The first is that Housing Works might not be able to

capture sufficient market share to remain in the health care business. The second is that

Housing Works might not be able to operate efficiently enough to survive on capitated

rates designed to provide the State with cost savings, or that those rates might be set too

low to cover the intense medical and behavioral health needs of Housing Works

customers.

The fourth major threat is that Housing Works might not be successful in improvingoverall compliance with regulation governing licensed programs and government

funding, as well as overall collection and evaluation of data that proves quality outcomes.

Increasingly, the State and Federal budgets rely on recoupment of fraud and

undocumented uses of funds. As reliance on this source for revenue grows, even minor

lapses in record keeping, miscoding, and other errors subject organizations like Housing

Works to costly audits and recoupment. In addition, private funders, such as the Robin

Hood Foundation are increasingly demanding more sophisticated data collection that

demonstrates favorable outcomes to justify their investment. Housing Works has had

difficulty in the last several years implementing electronic systems that capture that data

accurately enough to use it to both demonstrate good outcomes and to improve

outcomes.

The fifth major threat is that of changes to federal charity tax law that could lower or


26/38

26

eliminate the tax benefits presently enjoyed by private donors of money and goods.

While we do not believe a majority of Housing Works donors give with tax benefits as the

primary incentive, any disincentive to donating will likely have a negative impact on

foundation giving as well as Housing Works ability to secure direct gifts from individuals

and even gifts of goods that sustain much of our business enterprise.

The sixth major threat is to the performance of Housing Works business enterprises.

While Housing Works has dramatically expanded retail sales through its stores and on-

line, it has had to face rising costs and diminishing profit margins. Unless this trend is

reversed, what has been Housing Works unique asset could quickly erode. In addition to

this overall trend, Housing Works has a specific investment in the resale of donated

books, a market that has been put in considerable turmoil by the growing electronic book

industry. Housing Works relies on its businesses success to pay for importantinfrastructure to the organization, all of its advocacy work and the unfunded programs

such as job training, that make Housing Works a unique and attractive provider to its

constituency.

Strategic Direction

Housing Works success over the coming years will require the organization to capitalize on its

strengths, even while holding steady to its commitment to inculcate its core values throughoutthe organization in measurable ways. It is only through consistent practice of these core values

that Housing Works will be able to overcome its weaknesses. Indeed, more important than how

Housing Works measures itself in this regard, will be Housing Works willingness to be

measured by its customers in open and transparent ways. This effort will not only address the

organizations weaknesses but also build intangible assets that are necessary to realize Housing

Works vision.

Even while building the organizations intangible assets, Housing Works recognizes the

imperative to build a solid infrastructure if it is to carry out its mission. Sacrifices in good

financial management, technology, the development of human resources and the maintenance

of physical plant in the interest of expanding or even maintaining services are ultimately

counterproductive. Lack of focus on these basics is destabilizing as well as demoralizing and

ultimately lowers the quality of the services Housing Works provides. For this reason, Housing


27/38

27

Works has outlined steps it intends to take to address these infrastructure needs as predicate to

realizing the goals outlined in this Strategic Plan. Meanwhile, it has selected three goals,

accompanied by measurable objectives and annual benchmarks that capitalize on current

opportunities while furthering Housing Works mission.

At their core, the first two goals around integrated health care and expanded housing, are about

improving the health and quality of life of the people directly served by Housing Works while

maintaining the organizations tradition of providing innovative and replicable models of care

that can change the course of the lives of people living with AIDS and HIV. The third goal speaks

to Housing Works essential roots in advocacy and the recognition that pandemics such as AIDS

and devastating social conditions such as homelessness are not inevitable. Instead, they are the

result of social and economic injustice that can only be countered with the development of a

large social movement that demands change. Thus, these three goals provide a set of concretestrategies to advance the organizations mission in a practical way while encouraging our highest

aspirations.

Goals and Objectives

In the following section outlines each goal and its accompanying objectives required to meet

each goal:

Goal One: Housing Works will create an innovative integrated health care model thattransforms deliver of care for marginalized people who have co-morbid conditions.

Objectives

1. Achieve Federal Qualified Health Center (FQHC) status FQHC look-alike statusacross sites, as well as achieve highest level of Medical Home certification to fulfill

our integrated health care model.

2. Integrate a full array of specialty services throughout our health centers.3. Obtain full New YorkState Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services

(OASAS) and mental health services and programs licensed under Article 31 of the

Mental Hygiene Law across health centers.

4. Position Housing Works integrated health care model as a premier health careprogram to new and prospective clients through our partnership with Amida Care, a

not-for-profit HIV Special Needs Plan.

5. Development of comprehensive marketing and communications campaign to attract


28/38

28

clients and encourage enrollment into our integrated health care model.

Goal Two: Housing Works will build and maintain a comprehensive continuum of housing

resources to meet the full gamut of its clients needs.

Objectives

1. Create 330 new housing units (either completed or in development), bringing thetotal of Housing Works housing inventory to 500 units that rely on a diversity of

models to serve a diversity of needs.

2. Create a Housing Development Trust Fund and secure funding for operating costsand supportive services.

3. Cultivate effective relationships with external entities that can facilitate access tohousing resources such as real estate, capital and operating funds, as well as with

government regulatory agencies that can impede or expedite opening of new housingprograms.

4. Implement a quality control program to manage operating challenges and expensesthat are to be expected with an expanded housing program.

Goal Three: Housing Works will reenergize grassroots AIDS advocacy at the local and national

levels through an expanded network of advocates and enhanced funding opportunities.

Objectives

1.

Among staff, clients, board members, volunteers, consumers and other stakeholdersestablish a norm of universal participation in advocacy efforts and increase

significant participation in Housing Works direct action activities.

2. Build and strengthen strong coalitions and strategic alliances with otherorganizations that share Housing Works policy and strategic goals, including direct

engagement of at least 75 organizations with which Housing Works is at any point

actively working to achieve a strategic end.

3. Develop and implement wide-ranging branded Housing Works materials, includingstate-of-the-art social media and traditional modalities; both are critical tools for

AIDS activists attempting to achieve policy changes.

4. Strengthen global influence on housing and other human rights issues related to thedual crises of homelessness and AIDS through active participation and leadership in

international summits or conferences.

5. Build an army of individual AIDS activists around the country through C2EA who


29/38

29

engage in collective advocacy efforts, generate financial support for their efforts and

to sustain C2EA as a whole, and encourage new and expanded leadership

opportunities.

6. Structure national and international efforts so that they are fundable through bothDevelopment and Social Enterprise strategies and increase documentable reach

recognition of advocacy efforts to support such fundraising.

Strategic Action by Year

Our substantial, existing organizational momentum ensures continuity, which is generally

positive, but also limits organizational change. In an effort to foster positive change, each year

the organization matches the annual proposed budget to emerging directional commitments,

recognizing that the budget reflects the operating plan of the agency. Below we forecast how

the momentum and activities of the Strategic Plan will shape our financial stability,infrastructure and its other implications on Housing Works by year.

Year One

The FY2012 budget is designed to mesh precisely with the Plan, and many of the key

decisions made during the budget process were made so as to ensure that Plan goals

could be met. In particular, while the three goals contain many Programmatic

benchmarks for Year 1, the Strategic Plan also requires that Housing Works reach and

maintain certain Infrastructure benchmarks.

Infrastructure Benchmarks

The FY2012 budget reflects a commitment to meeting these benchmarks, in

recognition of the importance of a successful infrastructure in executing the

overall Strategic Plan. The budget includes substantial lines for climate control,

new hardware and software services, and performance-based compensation.

Finance:

Enhance Budget Process: Based on Roll-Forward Concept Improve Financial Reports: More transparent, more accountability at all

levels

Improve Accounts Payable: Improve function, lower average days aged

Information Technology:


30/38

30

Stabilize Network: Through Hardware purchases and Virtualization Eliminate Core Software DownTime: ECW, case management,

communications, POS

Execute Data Collection: Fully implement robust client/customer datacollection begun in FY11

Human Resources:

Execute On Boarding and Training: Fully implement systems begun inFY2011

Reorient Evaluation & Compensation: new compensation, improvedperformance evaluations

Customer Service: fully implement systems begun in FY11 Build Intern/Volunteer Program: first steps toward powerful agency-wide

in-kind program

Facilities:

Stabilize Climate controls: assorted sites

Goal One - Integrated Care

Housing Works put tremendous effort into building a program of Integrated Care

during FY2011 and will continue these efforts in FY2012. The Initiative iscentered in Primary Care but touches many areas of the organization, including

changes in job descriptions and priorities for Day Treatment staff, Contract

Mental Health providers, OASAS counselors, Housing case managers, COBRA

case managers, dental staff, IT backup staff, HR Training staff, and Health

Services leadership.

The Integrated Care initiative is reflected in several key ways in the budget. Fiscal

Year 2012 is the first full year of the VP for Quality in Health Services, which is

crucial to all evaluation elements and already impacting clinic flow. It also

proposes new revenue for Primary Care Medical Home Certification, a project

lead by the VP for QA. The budget includes Notebook computers for COBRA case

managers to improve documentation and enable patient portal usage. There is

additional revenue due to reducing the no-show rate for Primary Care


31/38

31

appointments, based on better integration and some additional revenue from the

new Mobile Engagement Teams funded through Amida Care.

Beyond the VP for QA, there is an additional focus on evaluation throughout

Housing Works health care. Clients will be rewarded for taking steps toward

positive health outcomes. The advent of Electronic Medical records enables us to

track a wide range of clinical indicators. And internal targets for engagement and

performance will be posted prominently on the walls at all health centers.

Goal One - Integrated Care Summary of Activities

Finish building the Integrated Care Program by establishing trackingtools, QA standards, and evaluation plans and by building Integrated Care

into all Agency orientation and trainings. Our Target is 45 percent of allHousing Works clients participating in the Integrated Care processes by

June 2012

Launch Patient Portal so patients can view their records on line andinteract with their providers

Achieve Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Level 3 status by April2012

Certify all four sites as Health Homes pending Federal and Stateguidelines

Extend Mental Health and Substance Licenses, pending Health Home andexpand available services

Advance FQHC status, through existing pending application at East NewYork and other look-alike opportunities

Develop and implement interdepartmental CQI standards, includingefforts to minimize wait times, reduce cancellations, and meet a 12-visit

per day target in primary care


32/38

32

Maximize billing opportunities, including optimizing APG execution,expanding HMO credentialing and position ourselves for Meaningful

Use designation

Lead state efforts for ADHC Step Down Program

Begin active marketing program for Integrated Care services

Goal Two Housing Development

Much of the Year 1 activity for the housing goal is preparatory. Housing Works

inventory of housing has grown slowly in recent years, and the five-year planproposes steep increases. To accomplish that requires establishment of a vision,

fundraising, planning, and other capacity-building efforts.

Housing expansion is one of the largest new items in the FY2012 budget. The

property at Jefferson Avenue in budgeted for January. Its residents, coupled with

the residents of new scattered site apartments in the Transgender Transitional

Housing Program are also expected to be frequent visitors in Housing Works

health programs.

Much of Housing Works research budget in recent years has focused on

evaluation of Housing as a health intervention. The proposed expansion of units

would increase the commitment to evaluation, especially because the plan

proposes a range of housing models, each requiring evaluation for impact.

Goal Two Housing Development Summary of Activities

Finish housing in development and identify next projects. JeffersonAvenue expected to open in January 2012, and funding application

already submitted for Hull Street.

Assess the range of clients needs and identify appropriate neighborhoodsfor future development that match those needs.


33/38

33

Identify all capital and operational funding streams, and apply to HousingWorks Board for KC fund seed money.

Articulate green vision for housing, including building development andongoing operations that will allow cost benefit analyses of potential green

interventions.

Lay groundwork for a capital campaign, intended to build a $500,000Housing Development Trust Fund.

Build relationships with local community boards, Department ofBuildings, and other decision makers, giving Housing Works the ability toadvocate for its proposed projects.

Goal Three Advocacy

Advocacy plans for the next five-years are a combination of depth and

breadth initiatives. Year 1 proposes a deepening of advocacy activity and

impact, and subsequent years will show Housing Works having a larger

impact nationally and internationally. For depth, there is a renewed internalcommitment to advocacy as a critical component of every staff persons job

description. The new staff performance evaluations place heavy weight on

advocacy activities. Advocacy expects client participation in advocacy to rise

in connection with increased staff participation.

The budget for FY2012 reflects Advocacy plans in several ways, including

replenishment of the Keith D. Cylar fund, building a volunteerism program,

and providing support for virtual organizing efforts. For the first time,

Housing Works is also planning to institute metric-based concrete evaluation

of its advocacy efforts. While advocacy gains are often difficult to measure,

the team believes that it can create metrics to track participation, partial

victories, and organizational reach.


34/38

34

Goal Three Advocacy Summary of Activities

Establish a norm of universal participation in Advocacy by staff andclients.

Develop metrics for evaluating all possible areas of Advocacy activity. Define scope, growth and distribution of Keith D. Cylar fund that

includes small grants to C2EA affiliates, reflecting the original charter

of the fund.

Increase technology use in Advocacy, by integrating advocacy contactsinto Salesforce and moving toward web meeting and other virtual

organizing techniques.

Organize extensively both in and out of the Housing Workscommunity for mobilization leading up to and during the 2012

International AIDS conference in Washington D.C.

Begin Planning for national social entrepreneurial activities, inconjunction in Housing Works business leadership.

Build a program enabling volunteer participation of non-HousingWorks staff in high profile direct actions.


35/38

35

Year Two

Assuming Housing Works meets the benchmarks required during Year One, the true

financial effects of executing the five-year strategy would begin to take shape during Year

Two. Decisions about how to use surplus may be largely based on Integrated Cares need

to meet FQHC status and the Housing Development departments need to maintain

operating reserves for projects in pipeline. In addition, Housing Works will begin to

determine funding enhancements and financial and other resources that would be

required to support the advocacy goal.

The Marketing and Communications Department as well as the Development

Department may require additional resources to execute the five-year strategy beginning

in Year Two. Reasons include the development of a Housing Capital Fund, which will

coincide with marketing strategy about housing, the grant-making process for advocacy,and the additional marketing and promotion of the Integrated Care model. The potential

development of an event or enterprise outside of the New York City area will require

positioning the Housing Works brand with a thoughtful national marketing and

communications strategy.

During Year Two, Housing Works will begin to execute a board leadership and volunteer

strategy that matches the changing and growing needs of the organization by adding

either funding, expertise, and/or resources for Housing Works to further its mission.Besides the Housing Works, Inc. board, ideally this process will help identify new ways

for high-level volunteers in all subsidiary boards and committees to function. The board

leadership and volunteer structure will encourage active engagement in implementing

the Strategic Plan.

There are specific activities slated for all three of the goals. Our ability to execute these

activities concretely in Year Two will impact the outcome of the Strategic Plan. If we do

not meet the objectives outlined for Year One, such as achieving FQHC status or

infrastructure benchmarks, Housing Works may be required to revaluate the five-year

strategy and the organizations ability to meet these goals. In contrast to the planning

activities to develop new housing units during Year One, Year Two will require that

Housing Development is well on its way to identifying fundraising streams and drafting

plans for properties bought during Year One. The Advocacy department will execute


36/38

36

strategies around the 2012 International AIDS Conference (which would have been

planned much of Year One) and launch a specific and pre-determined social

entrepreneurial or fundraising activity. In addition, all of these activities will begin to

implement quality assurance measures that will help Housing Works deliver quality

service in all areas while maintaining efficiency.

Year Three

By Year Three, Housing Works hopes to have successfully implemented a financially

viable Federally Qualified Health Care Center (FQHC) in Brooklyn. We will be in the

process of submitting applications for FQHC at all remaining sites. Housing Works will

roll out a capitated and integrated model of health care, including OASAS and Article 31

and/or other means of internal MH and SA services.

Housing will begin to slate opening units in this year and have several projects in

different stages of development. In addition, Housing will identify new properties to

purchase utilizing the Housing Development Fund, which, Housing Works hopes will

grow throughout the five-year plan.

Advocacy staff will update specific metrics for policy efforts and develop relationships

with key policy and decision makers to promote policy and programmatic priorities.

Housing Works will award five grants from the Cylar fund, focused on fostering directaction and grassroots advocacy efforts based on the revenue generated from a Thrift

Shop and/or Thrift Shop-related activities to benefit national advocacy efforts.

Years Four and Five

Housing Works will continue to phase-in FQHC programs at all sites while developing a

defined transitioning out of, and positive options after, ADHC clients via the integrate

care model. Clients demonstrating success in employment, skill building, and academics

will be enrolled into a redefined vocational program. Finally, Housing Works will provide

Behavioral health under a capitated rate through behavioral health SNP (via Amida Care

or other NEW Behavioral Health SNP).

Housing development will continue to develop projects, raise funds and be more than

halfway to meeting its goal of 330 units within five-years. Quality Assurance measures


37/38

37

established during Year One and Two will be fully realized and positively impact

retention rates and increases client enrollment into integrated health care and other

supportive services.

Advocacy staff will measure, monitor, revise and update specific metrics for policy

efforts, staff participation and client involvement into policy initiative. The Advocacy

team will work with programs to determine and share advocacy and activism

opportunities for staff and clients while leading the Housing Works delegations

mobilization efforts for International AIDS Conference in 2014. Advocacy will work on

targeted, project-specific grant writing, and implement the Keith D. Cylar (KDC) fund.

The KDC fund will include small grants to C2EA affiliates, fundraising matches, and

reflect the original charter the KDC fund.

Adherence to Plan/Evaluation

Housing Works executive team, Senior Staff, and frontline providers and clinicians will ensure

adherence to the Plan and will develop tools to measure outcomes.

Model for Improvement

As part of the agency-wide CQI process, all areas will be encouraged to utilize the Model

for Improvementdeveloped by the Associates in Process Improvement to accelerate

organizational change. The model has two parts: (1) Three fundamental questions; and,

(2) The Plan-do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.

The three questions, which can be addressed in any order, are: (1) What are we trying to

accomplish?; (2) How will we know that change is an improvement?; and, (3) What

changes can we make that will result in improvement? These questions can be asked in

relation to the identified goals at various levels of the organization, and it is expected that

answersaims, measures, and changewill vary by departments and/or program area.The PDSA cycle is used to test change in a real-world setting by planning it, trying it,

observing the results, and acting on whats learned. As described below, Senior Staff will

use this two-part process for improvement as a tool and will serve as the model for other

departments/areas in implementing the methodology.


38/38

Role of Senior Staff

The Model for Improvement will be rolled out in conjunction with the new Senior Staff

Charter, which provides a framework for the groups role and function going forward. In

addition to evaluating new initiatives, members of Senior Staff will meet regularly to

communicate results related to the plan and ensure dissemination of key information to

frontline staff, clients, and other stakeholders. The group is also responsible for forming

subcommittees and working groups. As part of the strategic planning process, Senior

Staff can choose to form a working group to ensure adherence to the Strategic Plan and

foster evaluation using the CQIModel for Improvementdescribed above. The group will

meet throughout the five-year Strategic Plan period and select key issues to bring to the

large group for discussion and resolution. They will also prepare reports, adapt

measurement tools, and develop communication strategies as needed.

HW StratPlanFINAL 5_20

Documents