Ready to Rent Literature Review · Ready to Rent Literature Review. 1. LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Prevention Strategies, Impacts and Emerging Practices This section of the literature review

Ready to Rent Literature Review

Prepared by BC Non-Profit Housing Association

Commissioned by Ready to Rent BC

October 10, 2015

Ready to Rent Literature Review > Table of Contents

PREAMBLE Ready to Rent BC offers a number of unique programs that supports both tenants and landlords to increase housing stability. Since 2009, over 1500 people have taken one of three Ready to Rent Courses:

RentSmart’s twelve-hour course covers tenant rights and responsibilities, landlord responsibilities and expectations, financial literacy, effective communication, and fire and other health and safety issues. Graduates leave ready to apply for and maintain their housing. The RentSmart certificate can be recognized in lieu of references and credit checks.

RentReady is a shorter course that addresses the specific needs of certain populations, such as youth and seniors.

RentED provides professional development education to landlords and housing providers in the areas of tenant management, residential tenancy act, responsibilities and expectations.

A recent third party survey of RentSmart graduates and community partners demonstrates that this approach is working:

‘100% of respondents said their knowledge about renting increased as a result of this course; 92% indicated their confidence around renting was greatly increased as was finding and maintaining housing once housed’1

The goal of this literature review was as a companion piece to the survey referenced above. It is important that Ready to Rent measure and understands the impact of the model on housing stability and prevention of homelessness, learning from participants and community partners and grounded in research and promising practices. Ready to Rent has been witness to the power of education to transform lives—what we have known anecdotally is now being confirmed through the combination of this literature review and participant survey.

We are thankful to BCNPHA for their hard work in compiling the relevant research, and for providing a baseline of what is current, best practice and prevention frameworks, and some examples to inspire future directions.

Onwards!

1 Norman, Trudy. ‘Ready to Rent BC- Surveys and Interviews’. October 2015.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background In jurisdictions outside of Canada such as the UK and Australia, broad consensus has emerged among policy makers and service providers that homelessness prevention is good policy (Burt et al, 2005, 2007; Crane, Warnes, and Fu 2006; Busch-Geertsema and Fitzpatrick, 2008; Culhane et al.,2011; Montgomery et al., 2013; Parsell and Martson, 2012; Mackie, 2014). These jurisdictions recognize that in addition to the moral imperative to house individuals, preventing homelessness actually reduces overall societal costs to housing providers, the criminal justice system, and health institutions.

In Canada there has historically been less emphasis placed on homelessness prevention than in countries like the UK and Australia (Raising the Roof Canada, 2009; Gaetz, 2014). Funding for homelessness in Canada has tended to focus on investments in short-term, crisis-based services rather than fully integrated, community-wide systems of prevention. This policy framework for addressing homelessness is beginning to change as policymakers increasingly recognize the effectiveness of Housing First strategies in closing the ‘back door’ of homelessness. Work still needs to be done however to understand how the multitude of organizations such as Ready to Rent can fit into a larger homelessness prevention framework that shuts the ‘front door’ on housing insecurity.

The purpose of this literature review is three-fold. First it outlines best, emerging and impactful best practices that have emerged domestically and internationally for preventing homelessness and stabilizing housing. In doing so, it will provide a framework for understanding how education is related to wider prevention strategies. Second, it seeks to identify best emerging practices related to tenant and landlord education for preventing homelessness. Third, it seeks to profile a few successful examples of prevention education initiatives outside of homelessness prevention.

Methods An electronic literature review of international and Canadian research was conducted. Both academic and grey literature was included. Literature was obtained through government and non-profit websites, Google scholar, and e-journal databases through the SFU library.

Various key words were used in different combinations to search for literature on homelessness prevention and tenant-landlord education. Table 1 provides an outline of these words. Once major pieces of literature were identified, the sources in those documents were reviewed to find other relevant literature.

All told this yielded 32 relevant pieces of literature related to homelessness prevention and/or tenant and landlord education. From there the articles were read and analyzed for key themes.

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Table 1

PREVENTION LITERATURE TENANT-LANDLORD EDUCATION

Prevention Homelessness Tenant Landlord

Program(s) Evaluation Program(s) Evaluation

Education Strategies Strategies Eviction

Eviction Mediation Mediation Advice

Advice Targeting

For literature pertaining to suicide prevention, the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (http://www.sprc.org/bpr) in the United States was used. The website has extensive resources related to prevention including lists of evidenced-based programs that have undergone rigorous evaluation and have demonstrated positive outcomes.

Findings The literature review had three main findings.

First, there is emerging consensus in the literature that health prevention frameworks provide an appropriate method to conceptualize homelessness prevention. These health frameworks break-up prevention into three main streams of prevention activity: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention seeks to prevent homelessness from ever occurring, while secondary prevention aims to end bouts of temporary housing insecurity quickly. Tertiary prevention seeks to end chronic, long-term homelessness. Education plays an important role in each one of these streams, such as through creating school-based primary prevention programs, educating tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities to one another, and educating landlords on matters such as behavioral issues tenants with cognitive impairments might display.

Second, when it comes to assessing best practices within landlord-tenant education, the literature is less developed and does not provide much in the way evaluation. While particular elements of successful practices in tenant-landlord education have been identified (developing tenant handbooks, holding workshops, etc) there has been few efforts to rigorously evaluate these practices.

Finally, the lack of evaluation in the tenant-landlord education literature is contrasted with a robust and fully developed literature related to suicide prevention education. Numerous studies have examined community integrated suicide prevention education programs that have been evaluated with thorough and internally consistent methodologies. Tenant-landlord education programs could gain much insight from both the education practices and evaluation methods identified in the suicide prevention literature.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREAMBLE II

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY II

TABLE OF CONTENTS V

1. LITERATURE REVIEW 1

1.1 Prevention Strategies, impacts and emerging practices 1

1.2 Landlord-tenant education as prevention 8

1.3 Other prevention education approaches and emerging practices 11

2. APPENDIX A – SAMPLE OF TENANT AND/OR LANDLORD EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES IN BC 14

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY 15

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1. LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Prevention Strategies, Impacts and Emerging Practices This section of the literature review examines some of the emerging concepts that have been written about homelessness prevention, and begins to sketch out a prevention framework that situates tenant and landlord education within it.

The literature on homelessness prevention borrows extensively from health prevention frameworks that distinguish between primary, secondary and tertiary strategies (Burt et al, 2005, 2007; Busch-Geertsma and Fitzpatrick, 2008; Culhane et al, 2011; Parsell and Marston, 2012; Montgomery et al 2013; Mackie, 2014). Under each prevention stream there are different activities and strategies that have been shown to be effective in diverting new cases of homelessness as well as reversing short and long-term bouts of housing insecurity.

Primary Prevention Primary prevention relates to preventing new cases of homelessness among both the general population and those deemed at risk of homelessness (Culhane et al, 2011; Montgomery et al, 2013; Mackie, 2014). There are two types of strategies and activities that are included under primary prevention. First are broad-based universal initiatives such as large-scale investments in affordable housing and poverty reduction that lessen affordability issues in housing markets and create more socio-economic stability. Programs such as these would prevent homelessness through making housing more affordable and giving households more disposable income.

Second are ‘targeted strategies’ for populations deemed at risk of homelessness. These initiatives might include focusing prevention activities on groups who are known to be more at risk of homelessness such as youth leaving foster care, low-income people with cognitive impairments or mental illness, or those leaving prisons. Initiatives targeted at these groups might include school-based programs, family mediation, and targeted violence prevention (Montgomery , et al 2013; Mackie, 2014; Gaetz, 2014).

Some of these targeted primary prevention strategies have an education focus. School-based projects such as the Geelong project in Australia, the Schools Training and Mentoring Project in the UK, or the Safe Place program in the US offer education and workshops to youth about the realities of being homeless and also provide family support and intervention (Gaetz, 2015). Tenant and/or landlord education also falls under this primary prevention umbrella, given that such education informs both tenants and landlords of their legal rights and responsibilities to one another, which can increase certainty and understanding among parties and subsequently reduce disputes and evictions (Crane et al, 2006).

Secondary Prevention Secondary prevention attempts to intervene at an early stage of homelessness such as the beginning of an eviction or when a household first accesses a shelter. Under this prevention

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stream, some of the successful initiatives identified in the literature are emergency rent payments to landlords, utility assistance, eviction prevention such as landlord-tenant mediation, housing advice, and domestic violence victim support (Burt et al, 2005, 2007; Busch-Geertsma and Fitzpatrick, 2008; Mackie, 2014).

Education can also play an important part in secondary prevention. For instance, tenants ought to be aware of their legal right to dispute resolutions services so as to avoid unwarranted evictions. Organizations such as the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) in British Columbia provide education through a ‘hotline’ which tenants can call to inquire about their rights, access mediation resources, and advocacy services in the event of an emergency situation. Similarly, mediation and conflict resolution between landlords and tenants can help reduce the need to resort to evictions (Culhane et al, 2011; Burt et al., 2005, 2007; Mackie, 2014). These educational activities are aimed at intervening early in a housing crisis so as to prevent new cases of homelessness from occurring.

Tertiary Prevention Finally, tertiary prevention focuses on helping those who experience chronic homelessness find housing stability (Shinn et al 2001; Burt et al, 2007; Backer and Howard, 2007; Culhane et al, 2011; Parsell and Marston, 2012; Montgomery et al 2013; Mackie, 2014). Tertiary prevention would include interventions such as helping individuals find and maintain housing; supporting health and well-being; supporting access to income and education; and complimentary supports such as life skills training.

Given that tertiary prevention focuses on the people with the toughest housing challenges and is more likely to affect individuals with overlapping barriers such as trauma and mental illness, education plays a key role in supporting this prevention. Increasingly, Housing First programs are using supportive housing models which set up long-term homeless people into privately rented dwellings that are separated from institutional care and reflective of the homeless person’s choice. Ensuring that landlords are educated to tenant behaviors that might stem from mental health, addictions, or family violence issues is crucial to the success of these programs. Similarly, ensuring that tenants are educated on their rights and responsibilities, how to be a good tenant, and on basic lifeskills (financial management, how to clean, computer skills, etc) are necessary to ensure these individuals stay housed long-term.

As Mackie notes, “[these] three levels of prevention capture the breath of international prevention activity” (Mackie, 2014: 42). Homelessness prevention then ought to focus both on large-scale structural issues such as poverty reduction and increasing affordable housing supply, but also focus on targeting individuals and groups who are deemed at-risk or are vulnerable to homelessness (Parsell and Marston, 2012). Despite this separation of different activities however, Culhane et al note that “[p]roviding three distinct categories … is misleading. These prevention classifications are better seen as a continuum range on which lie the most practical intervention points for prevention initiatives”. These prevention activities are overlapping and a fully integrated prevention strategy needs to include elements of all three areas. Table 2 below provides an overview of this conceptualization, and highlights where education plays a key role.

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Table 2 where education fits into the prevention framework

Key practices (activities) Where education fits in

Primary Prevention (population based)

Poverty Reduction -Increasing knowledge and awareness about rental assistance programs and income supports

Increasing household income -Job skills training, budgeting courses

Reducing discriminatory practices in landlord-tenant

relationships

-Educating landlords about challenges that particular groups (women fleeing violence, persons with cognitive impairments, etc) face, behaviors they may exhibit

Critical Time Intervention for at risk groups such as those living prisons or foster care

-Ensuring lifeskills training and tenant education programs are established for at-risk households leaving state institutions

Primary Prevention (targeted)

School-based programs

-Workshops to youth and other at-risk groups about realities of homelessness, how to prevent housing insecurity, how to be a good tenant, family mediation

Accessing supports -Education on how to apply to income supports, rental assistance programs

Secondary Prevention

Short-term housing subsidies, Emergency rent, mortgage, or

utility assistance

-Education about Rent Banks, short-term subsidy programs, other programs and/or services available

Tenant /landlord mediation -Housing outreach workers establishing courses/training for tenants as a condition to staying housed

Housing Advice

-Providing at-risk groups with advice on housing options -Educating individuals on how to find suitable accommodation

Eviction Prevention -Educational materials such as tenant handbooks on how to maintain housing

Tertiary Prevention

Landlord recruitment Educating landlords about supportive Housing First models, issues particular groups at-risk groups may face

Successful tenancies/housing stabilization

-Ensuring tenants have education on how to be a good tenant -Job training activities -Lifeskills training such as financial management

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Housing Stabilization Related to all prevention streams (but particularly secondary and tertiary prevention) are strategies for creating successful tenancies and housing stability. The goal of housing stabilization programs are to ensure individuals experiencing chronic housing insecurity are appropriately housed and maintain their housing situation, so that they can become integrated into the wider community. There is substantial individual and community benefit to housing stabilization. Evictions stemming from problematic tenancies have been shown to cost between $3000 to $6000 per eviction, making it a costly ordeal for tenants and landlords (University of Winnipeg, 2011). Ensuring tenants are stably housed reduces the emotional and financial costs associated with evictions. At the same time, communities benefit from housing stabilization programs through decreased rates of homelessness.

A review of housing stabilization practices by the University of Winnipeg found ten best practices to creating a Success-based housing toolkit:

1) Incorporating success-based housing into organizational mandates 2) Developing client-centered approach to service delivery 3) Early intervention for eviction prevention 4) Building Relationships, Networks and Partnerships among service agencies 5) Exploring Programs, Supports and Resources for Staff 6) Resources, Education and Supports for Clients 7) Creating effective assessment practices 8) Embracing Challenges 9) Ensure ongoing and stable funding 10) Ensuring housing stabilization best practices fit together in a cohesive manner

As number six in the list shows, resources, education and support for clients are necessary best practices for success-based tenancies.

In addition to the identification of these best practices, a thorough review of tenancy failures and successes found that there were numerous (and often overlapping) factors leading to failed tenancies, including:

• Inability to obtain housing due to having to submit references, a criminal record check, and/or a credit check.

• Inability to manage finances or other essentials of daily living. • Inability to afford appropriate accommodation. • Mental health and addiction issues. (Edmonton Social Planning Council,

2011)

Best practices related to reducing the incidence of tenancy failure were found to include:

• Developing affordable housing programs. • Developing programs to assist vulnerable tenants become housed. • Using a Housing First Approach (Ibid)

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Education activities such as Ready to Rent’s curriculum fall under these best practices, through creating curriculum that helps those who may have issues with references, criminal records, or bad credit histories gain reliable references and learn how to become a good tenants. In addition, such education programs can help with financial management and daily living practices, which are necessary for successful tenancies. This in turn provides certainty to landlords and helps tenants become stably housed.

Best Practices in Homelessness Prevention In a recent article by Culhane (2011), he notes that “previous monographs on prevention outline the difficulties and challenges inherent to preventing homelessness as much as they identify elements of homelessness prevention that work” (Culhane, 2011:297). In comparison to literature on topics such as suicide prevention (discussed below), there has been less attention paid to evaluating what works and what does not for homelessness prevention programs. Despite this, this section identifies some of the broader strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective in creating homelessness prevention policies and programs.

Targeting and Early Intervention

One key best practice identified in the homelessness prevention literature is targeting groups that are deemed ‘at-risk’ of homelessness (Lindblom, 1991; Burt et al., 2005, 2007; Crane et al., 2006; Culhane et al, 2011). Targeting is a tricky concept, given that the vast majority of households that might display one or more risk factor(s) related to homelessness (e.g. spending more than 50% of their income on shelter, living in overcrowded conditions, facing eviction, etc.) will not actually end up homeless. The challenge for program and policy development then is determining who to target resources toward so that they actually benefit those who would fall into a condition of homelessness (Shinn et al., 1998, 2001).

While there is some debate as to the effectiveness or even ability to target people who are vulnerable to homelessness given its multiple causes(Shinn et al., 1998; Smith et al., 2005; Parsell and Marston, 2012), recent evidence has suggested that targeting has been effective in reducing rates of homelessness (Pawson, 2007; Busch-Geertsema and Fitzpatrick, 2008). For instance, Pawson (2007) has argued that it in the UK it is “highly likely” that the dramatic fall in homelessness was the result of homelessness prevention activities that targeted at-risk households, given that decreases in homelessness occurred despite deteriorating housing affordability (Pawson, 2007; Busch-Geertseema and Fitzpatrick, 2008). Figure 1 below demonstrates the year-on-year change in homelessness acceptance by Local Authorities in England from 1980-2006 (Pawson, 2007). The figure shows a major decrease in acceptance of homeless individuals after 2003, corresponding to when prevention policies were put into place. There is some evidence then that through appropriately targeting groups at-risk of homelessness, it is possible to intervene early and prevent new cases from occurring while also ending chronic homelessness more quickly.

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Figure 1. Year-on-year change in homelessness acceptances by Local Authorities in England, 1980-2006.

Source: Pawson (2007)

Risk factors of homelessness and housing insecurity have been identified in the literature. Crane and Warnes (2000) found six risk indicators of a high level of default and eviction among 45 homeless individuals. The six risk factors were:

• Change from a regular to a poor payment record • Inheritance of tenancy or mortgage in middle or old age • Neighbours’ reporting disturbed behavior • A housing subsidy being turned off • Living alone in the absence of a care giver • A previous episode of homelessness (Crane and Warnes, 2000: 767).

A commonly shared characteristic leading to non-payment of rent for these individuals was that for much of their adult lives a parent or spouse was responsible for the dwelling. Problematic behavior was found to start only after a change of tenancy, bereavement or martial breakdown (Crane and Warnes, 2000). Toronto Community Housing have shown the top three indicators of problematic tenancies are rent arrears, hoarding or housekeeping issues, and anti-social behavior (University of Winnipeg, 2011). The literature has also demonstrated that youth leaving foster care (Brown and Wilderson, 2010) individuals leaving mental health (Thomson, 2014) and criminal justice institutions (Rodriguez, 2003), and women and children fleeing violence (Spinney and Blandy, 2011) are all groups that are more at risk of falling into homelessness.

Despite this recognition in the literature, a review of eviction prevention programs in Metro Vancouver, Halifax and Ottawa found that current programs typically do not target clientele effectively enough (Acacia Consulting and Research, 2006). Services are too frequently

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aimed at the general population, which makes them inefficient (Culhane, 2011). The report recommended that programs should target priority clients who have eviction risk (Acacia Consulting and Research, 2006). Through identifying risk factors such as these, it allows for program design to be more efficient. As is demonstrated below in section 3, targeting has also been shown to be successful in suicide prevention programs.

Integration of Services

Consensus has also emerged in the literature that the most successful prevention programs and policies are integrated in wider community support systems. Burt et al (2005, 2007) provided a thorough review and evaluation of six prevention programs in the United States and found that the most successful prevention programs go beyond the activities of single agencies to encompass the whole community in a structured and coordinated manner (Ibid). In the same review, the authors provide a list of key elements that go to constitute a systems approach to homeless prevention:

• Information sharing across agencies and systems • Community acceptance of legal, moral, and monetary obligations to shelter • Collaboration among public and private agencies • Non-housing agencies accepting client housing stability as a responsibility • Having clear goals of preventing homelessness • Having mechanisms to provide feedback on progress, stimulate new

thinking and innovation, identify gaps, and next steps • Significant investment of public funds

They found that the organizations or programs that more fully integrated these factors were more successful in providing effective prevention. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to prevention, and best practices centre on creating a range of available options (Montgomery et al. 2013) to homeless people. While single agencies can provide critical training, education, and support for at-risk individuals, they need to be a part of broader system of integration to maximize their effectiveness. Again, the literature on suicide prevention also supports the idea of community coordination and integration of services (discussed below).

Examples of Successful Homelessness Prevention Strategies Some examples of programs that integrate these best practices are the Homebase Community Prevention program in New York City and the Reconnect program in Australia.

The Homebase Community Prevention program has come to be recognized as a national best practice in the United States by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (Durham and Johnson, 2014). The program uses a network of neighbourhood agency centres that are concentrated in high need areas of the city, aimed at preventing homelessness for families and individuals. The program has a Community Prevention element, which aims to prevent homelessness from ever occurring, as well as a shelter diversion element, which aims to prevent repeated stays in shelters.

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People who are experiencing a housing crisis contact a Homebase Community Prevention centre, who are then screened for risk and placed into the program and assigned a case manager. The case manager works with the individual or family to develop a long-term plan to keep them housed. Service plans are unique to each situation and can include either direct services or referrals to services such as advocacy, mediation, employment assistance, and legal support, as well as limited financial assistance to pay rental or utility arrears, security deposits, or moving costs. There is also an education component to these service plans, through workshops on topics such as budgeting, tenant rights, and the eviction process. The interventions of the Homebase program have been shown to be very successful in preventing new cases of homelessness as well as diverting individuals from the shelter system (Durham and Johnson, 2014).

In Australia, the Reconnect program uses community-based intervention services to help youth aged 12 to 18 who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. The program is integrated with the school system and is delivered through a wide variety of non-governmental agencies who work with youth and their families to avoid housing insecurity. Teachers or other members in the community refer youth to a Reconnect centre, whose staff then work with the youth and their family to resolve issues, disputes, or trauma. Interventions are wide ranging and include counselling, mediation, and practical support services such as short-term rent subsidies. The services are located in areas of socio-economic disadvantage, a high degree of youth, and with more vulnerable populations like Indigenous or newly arrived refugees or immigrants. The model provides a good example of systems-wide integration of services in that it is available across the country, and works across jurisdictions to ensure young people stay housed (Gaetz, 2014). A thorough evaluation of the program by the Australian government found that it “had a significant positive impact … on building community capacity for early intervention for youth homelessness” (Australian Government, 2003: 70).

1.2 Landlord-Tenant Education as Prevention As demonstrated above in the homelessness prevention framework, tenant-landlord education plays a key role across the spectrum of homelessness prevention. Assessing best practices in the realm of tenant and landlord education however is more difficult. As Holl et al note in their extensive review of the eviction prevention literature “there are many local initiatives and projects that focus on the prevention of evictions, but these interventions have not been documented, let alone studied for their effectiveness using a robust research design” (pg.12). In a similar vein, there has not been a thorough evaluation of successful education practices as they relate to homelessness prevention, despite there being a variety of local initiatives (see Appendix A).

Pawson et al. (2007) for instance identified more than 20 education programs in Scotland that use education as a prevention activity, but do not provide a systematic review of their effectiveness. The situation is similar in British Columbia and North America more generally, in that there are many examples of tenant-landlord educational programs (see appendix A) but no systematic review of their effectiveness or what constitutes best practice. As a consequence, a major gap in the literature is the need for a thorough and robust evaluation

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of best practices in relation tenant and landlord education and homelessness prevention. With that in mind, this section will review the evidence available related to best practices in tenant and landlord education.

Tenant Education Ensuring that tenants and landlords have a proper understanding of their rights and responsibilities to one another is an important prevention activity. Low-income tenants are vulnerable to not knowing their rights and being evicted as a result. For instance, in a study by the Chicago Community Landtrust fewer than 15 percent of households living in extreme poverty who became homeless from an eviction for nonpayment of rent were evicted through a formal court order (Lindblom, 1991). As Lindblom notes, “[m]ost [tenants] left because the landlord “asked them to leave” and not through a formal eviction process. Increasing education and certainty about tenant rights then is an important prevention activity.

There are numerous organizations in Canada and the US that provide educational material, outreach, workshops, and public education events that inform tenants and landlords of their rights and responsibilities to one another (Appendix A). One common element these organizations provide are educational brochures on rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords, what to do when entering into a tenancy agreement, what do in cases of eviction and moving out, and a review of the dispute resolution process. A good example of these brochures is TRAC BC’s “Tenant Survival Guide” which provides a very easy-to-read and informative reference guide for commonly asked issues tenants face. Organizations such as TRAC also provide education workshops on tenancy law for both tenants and advocacy organizations.

The downside of resources of such as tenant handbooks is that they are ‘static’ educational material. They are not interactive in nature, and require a person to find the materials, read, and interpret them. Ready to Rent’s curriculum differs from these educational practices in that it provides more hands-on learning in a classroom setting that provides interaction and a more dynamic learning process.

Evidence suggests that classroom and workshop activities are at least partially successful for raising awareness and improving landlord-tenant relationships, which in turn help with homelessness prevention. One of the few evaluations the author found was of a landlord-tenant service agency in Red Deer, Alberta (Downie, 2011). The aim of the agency’s service is educate landlords and tenants about their rights and responsibilities so as to resolve issues, help landlords and tenants avoid dispute resolution through mediation, provide an avenue for tenants to develop skills necessary to work with landlords to maintain housing, and assist landlords preserve their desire to maintain rental housing (Downie, 2011). The services the agency delivers are Information Services, Education, Mediation/Advocacy, and Outreach, which are similar to what other advocacy agencies provide. In the program review, client surveys were distributed after workshops and education sessions. Between February and December of 2008, 357 surveys were completed. Of those surveys, 64 (18%) identified increased knowledge of the Residential Tenancies Act while 5 (1.4%) identified no increased knowledge (the other 293 did not respond). In the same survey, 40 respondents

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(11.2%) indicated the agency’s services had a positive impact on their tenant-landlord relationships (Ibid), while 3 indicated no change (the other 314 clients did not respond to the question).

Another area where tenant education plays an important role is in eviction prevention policies. Toronto Community Housing has developed an eviction prevention policy that has identified best practices (University of Winnipeg, 2011). These best practices have an education component, such as developing a Tenant Handbook, having staff help tenants understand consequences when they don’t meet responsibilities, training staff in eviction prevention strategies, and connecting tenants to legal workshops and other agencies (Ibid). The City of Hamilton has also developed an eviction prevention policy that has an education strategy as part of it (City of Hamilton, 2013). As best practices for educational material, they identify using clear language in all documentation, developing a Tenant Handbook, holding information sessions and workshops to raise awareness, and information sharing with housing providers. The policy also created an Eviction Prevention Tool Kit that includes educational material in different languages so that they can reach as large of an audience as possible.

Landlord-tenant mediation is also an important best practice that can include an education component. Culhane et al (2011) note that some crisis intervention and housing stabilization programs in the US have tenants and landlords sign a short term agreement that commits the tenant to take a money management or household skills course in exchange for not being evicted. This could be applied to individuals leaving the criminal justice system, foster care, or mental health institutions so as to help provide certainty to landlords to rent to them.

Financial literacy workshops are also considered best practice. In a review of such programs in the US, Braunstein and Welch note that research on the subject generally concludes that they yield positive benefits (2002). A prevention program in Montgomery County has local state social workers complete a service plan with at-risk tenants which involve giving subsidy as a condition of attending credit counseling or other educational programing (Burt et al, 2005). In a similar vein, the Homebase program in New York provides workshops on financial management. These financial training programs can be considered an important best practice of tenant education.

Ready to Rent’s educational initiatives do a good job of bringing these best practices together into one comprehensive curriculum. Having educational initiatives offered as separate workshops or brochures might limit their effectiveness, given that it requires a tenant to seek out information in different areas (tenant rights, financial literacy, mediation services, etc) by themselves. In contrast, Ready to Rent’s curriculum brings together key pieces of tenant education into one curriculum that makes it easier for tenants to access many different sources of information. In turn, this helps ensure tenants all the skills they need to make a tenancy successful.

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Landlord Education – Identifying Best Practice On the landlord side, discriminatory practices can lead to evictions that eventually lead to homelessness. Landlord education can play a crucial role in preventing unwarranted evictions and also help more vulnerable tenants to become and/or stay housed.

In addition to the landlord-tenant workshops noted above, one area that landlord education could play a role in preventing homelessness is in the area of domestic violence. Evidence suggest that in cases where women have faced domestic violence landlords are less likely to rent to them due to the perceived risk to other tenants or the property if the abuser continues to pose a threat on the premise (Jasinksi et all, 2002; Levin et al., 2004; Baker et al 2010). Similarly, women with such challenges might have poorer rental histories, due to repeated moves or evictions that arise from an abuser. Abusers might also lead women into criminal activity, which precludes them from some forms of public housing. Increasing education among landlords to these issues could increase the chance of these women obtaining housing. One education program identified as a best practice by Baker et al is the Home Free Program run by Volunteers of America Oregon (2010). The program is designed on a Housing First model, providing long-term intensive services to victims of domestic violence. Program services include active advocacy with landlords so that they are able to reduce stigma and keep women housed.

Another area where landlord education may be needed is in dealing with those that suffer from cognitive impairment. Backer and Howard (2007) suggest that landlords sometimes deny housing to those with cognitive impairments because behavior resulting from the impairment is poorly understood as being antisocial or disruptive. Montgomery et al (2013) note that the provision of ‘light touch’ interventions such as negotiations with landlords and discussing budgeting concerns can help greatly improve the chances of these groups accessing and maintaining housing.

Crane and Warnes (2000) note that in many cases rent arrears in the UK stem from poor personal skills and/or income changes rather than a willful refusal to pay rent. Vulnerable tenants may have issues like literacy problems that make them unable to read official overdue rent notices or eviction letters. Increasing landlord education to recognize these vulnerabilities and establishing procedures to deal with vulnerable tenants is considered best practice.

While the section above has highlighted some of the sparse literature on tenant and landlord education best practices, there is a general lack of thorough evaluation of the numerous educational activities out there. A more thorough review of what constitutes best practice in landlord and tenant education is needed.

1.3 Other Prevention Education Approaches and Emerging Practices There are numerous sets of literature dedicated to prevention in other areas of social policy, be it suicide (Madden et al, 2007), youth substance abuse (Skiba et al.,2004), health (Zulman et al, 2014), sexual violence (Cook-Craig et al, 2014), and numerous others.

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One example of prevention strategies that relate to the complexity of homelessness is suicide prevention. Shinn et al note that suicide, like homelessness, is “ambiguously defined, multiply caused, questionably responsive to interventions, and difficult to assess” (2001: 96). It therefore poses a challenge to prevent. Nonetheless, programs, policies, evaluations, and measurement of suicide prevention are miles ahead of the homelessness prevention literature, and much can be learned from the former.

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center in the United States has extensive resources related to prevention, including lists of evidenced-based programs that have undergone rigorous evaluation and have demonstrated positive outcomes. Many of these prevention activities and programs have a direct education focus. This section will outline some of these best practices.

Kognito is an organization in the United States that has developed a suite of online role-playing training simulations that support suicide prevention and health promotion, as well as early detection and intervention of suicidal ideation and mental illness. The organization has a series of online courses, each ranging between 30 minutes and an hour which are aimed at targeting different groups known to be more at risk of suicide such as college students, youth, and veterans. Courses are meant to be taken by health care professionals, high school educators, or peers of college students and youth. Each curriculum is designed differently, based on research and evidence for particular at-risk groups. For example, the curriculum aimed at military families is designed to increase awareness about signs of post-deployment stress such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries, depression and suicidal ideation and is targeted at primary family members such as spouses and parents. Training in the different modules has the user practice conversations and interventions with online avatars that act and respond like the various groups that are being targeted (veterans, college students, youth). This allows the person taking the course to broach topics of psychological distress in a non-judgmental and effective way, as well as suggest different at-risk groups to seek help at counseling or health centres. Persons taking the course also learn to avoid common ‘gatekeeper’ behavior or diagnosing problems or giving unwarranted advice. In total the training is aimed at increasing participants’ confidence in dealing with these situations in real life and has been widely adopted in the United States.

Another best practice is Lifelines, a schoolwide suicide prevention program for high school students. The Lifelines program has a series of components implemented sequentially in a given school system, that include reviewing a school’s procedures for responding to a student deemed at-risk, training for faculty to enhance awareness about suicidal ideation and behavior, workshops and educational material for parents, and curriculum for students. The curriculum consists of four 45 minute (or two 90 minute) lessons and uses interactive teaching techniques such as role play. The curriculum for students has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated in numerous studies (Madden et al, 2007; Kalafat, 2009). Results of surveys distributed to students taking the curriculum versus the control group who did not demonstrated that taking the course significantly increased knowledge about suicide, improved attitudes toward suicidal ideation, created more openness to seeking adult help, and made youth more willing to share friends’ suicidal ideation to someone who could help

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(NREPP, 2009). The program is successful because of its intervention at a systems-wide level, that include reviewing school administrative policies, talking to faculty and parents, as well as students in the prevention activity.

A final suicide prevention education program that has been demonstrated as a best practice is the Model Adolescent Suicide Prevention Program. The program was originally created for an indigenous community in Arizona and has proven to be a very successful model. The program is integrated at the systems level and aims to reduce the incidence of adolescent suicides and suicide attempts through universal, selective, and indicated interventions that emphasize community involvement, ownership, and culturally distinct public health approaches. Main features of the program include formalized surveillance and data gathering of suicide and suicide-related behaviours, a school-based suicide prevention curriculum, community education, enhanced screening and clinical services, and outreach provided through conventional streams like health clinics, social services, schools as well as unconventional settings where at-risk youth tend to congregate. Neighbourhood volunteers of various ages also engage in peer training, personal and program advocacy, client referral, and counseling.

A thorough review of the program over 15 years examined suicides, suicide attempts, and suicidal gestures in the community using data from public health institutions. The study found a “remarkable downward trend … in suicidal acts” (May et al., 2005), with number of self-destructive acts declining from 36 to 14 from 1988 to 2002, corresponding with the implementation of the program. The authors concluded that success of the program was attributable to its community-wide approach. In particular, the authors found that not focusing on a limited set of suicidal behaviours as a condition for treatment, but on root conditions and an array of social, psychological, and development issues. Second, the authors concluded that community involvement was crucial in developing culturally and clinically appropriate health promotion and intervention strategies. Finally, flexibility in program development and implementation was essential through continual evaluation and feedback from program staff and community.

These evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness of educational programing as a prevention activity. Education activities are particularly successful when coordinated into institutions such as the school system and targeted at particular at-risk groups. In a similar vein, education aimed at preventing homelessness could display similar results however more effort is needed to evaluate existing programs.

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2. APPENDIX A – SAMPLE OF TENANT AND/OR LANDLORD EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES IN BC

ORGANIZATION TYPE OF ACTIVITY LINK

Ready to Rent Tenant and Landlord education http://www.readytorentbc.net/courses

Justice Education Society of BC

Brochure- “Legal Pix – A Pictoral Tool on Landlord and Tenancy in BC”

http://www.justiceeducation.ca/sites/default/files/Tenancy%20FINAL.pdf

Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC) Brochure – “Tenant Survival Guide”

http://tenants.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tenant-Survival-Guide-English.pdf

Community Advocacy & Legal Centre

Tenant information and landlord-tenant fact sheets

http://www.communitylegalcentre.ca/legal_information/HSG/Tenants/Tenant_Rights_Links.htm

Entre Nous Femmes Housing Society

Tenant guide - “Tenant Support Services Guide”

http://enfhs.org/uploads/tenant_support_services_guide.pdf

BC Housing Brochure – “Tenant Handbook” http://www.bchousing.org/resources/Tenant/BCH_Tenant_Handbook.pdf

POVnet Agency referral – “Find an advocate – Housing and Tenants”

http://www.povnet.org/find-an-advocate/bc/housing-and-tenants

BC Centre for Elder and Advocacy Support

Residential Tenancy Workshop for Older Adults

http://bcceas.ca/programs/education-outreach/workshops-presentations/

More than a Roof Financial literacy program - Next Steps Financial Literacy Program

http://www.morethanaroof.org/support-services/next-step

LandlordBC Online education https://www.landlordbc.ca/how-we-help

BC Non-Profit Housing Association Landlord-Tenant relations course http://bcnpha.ca/education/programs/operati

ons/

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Brochure - “Information on renting a home”

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/reho/index.cfm

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3. BIBLIOGRAPHY Australian Government “Report on the Reconnect Longitudinal Study: building community capacity for early intervention” RPR Consulting (2003)

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Baker, Charlene K.; Billhardt, Kris A.; Warren, Joseph; Rollins, Chiquita; Glass, Nancy E. “Domestic Violence, housing instability and homelessness: a review of housing policies and program practices for meeting the needs of survivors” Aggression and Violent Behavior Vol.15 No.1 (2010): 430-439.

Basi, Sandip; Clelland, Tabrina; Khind, Navi; Morris, Amy; Severinson, Peter. “Housing homeless youth in Vancouver: key barriers and strategic responses”.

Braunstein, Sandra and Welch, Carol. “Financial literacy: an overview of practice, research, and policy” Federal Reserve Bulletin No.445 (2002).

Brown, S.; Wilderson, D. “Homelessness Prevention for Former Foster Youth: Utilization o Transitional Housing Programs.” Children and Youth Services Review Vol. 32, No. 10 (2010): 1464-1472.

Burt, Martha R.; Pearson, Carol. L.; Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth. “Strategies for Preventing Homelessness” U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2005).

Burt, Martha R.; Pearson, Carol. L.; Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth. “Community-wide strategies for preventing homelessness: recent evidence” Journal of Primary Prevention Vol. 28 No.1 (2007): 213-228.

Busch-Geertsema, Volker and Fitzpatrick, Suzanne. “Effective Homelessness Prevention? Explaning Reductions in Homelessness in Germany and England” European Journal of Homelessness Vol.2 (2008): 69-94.

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Crane, Maureen; Warnes, Anthony M. “Evictions and Prolonged Homelessness” Housing Studies Vol. 15 No. 5 (2000):

Cook-Craig, Patricia; Millspaugh, Phyllis; Recktenwalk, Eileen; Kelly, Natalie; Hegge, Lea; Coker, Ann; Pletcher, Tisha. “From Empower to Green Dot: Successful strategies and lessons learned in developing comprehensive sexual violence primary prevention programming”

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Ready to Rent Literature Review

Violence Against Women Vol. 20 No. 10 (2014): 1162:1178.

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Culhane, Dennis P.; Metraux, Stephen; and Byrne, Thomas. “A prevention-centered approach to homelessness: a paradigm shift?” Housing Policy Debate Vol. 21 No.2 (2011): 295-315.

Cunningham, Mary; Burt, Martha; Biess, Jennifer; Emam, Dina. “Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration Evaluation” The Urban Institute (2013)

Davis, Tim H.; Lane, Lane, Terry, S. “Rapid Re-housing of families experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts: maintaining housing stability” Centre for Social Policy Publications (2010), Paper 61.

Durham, Christin; Johnson, Martha. “Innovations in NYC Health & Human Services Policy: Homelessness Prevention, Intake, and Shelter for Single Adults and Families” Urban Institute (2014)

Edmonton Social Planning Council. “Understanding tenancy failures and successes” Edmonton Social Planning Council (2012). Found at: http://www.homewardtrust.ca/images/resources/2013-02-06-14-21ESPC-ECOHH_FinalReport_Oct2012.pdf

Gaetz, Stephen. “Coming of Age: Reimagining the response to youth homelessness in Canada” Homeless Hub (2014). Found at: http://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/ComingOfAgeHH_0.pdf

Gaetz, Stephen. “Preventing Youth Homelessness through school-based initiatives” Homeless Hub (2015). Found at: http://www.thepushforchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/PreventingYouthHomelessness.pdf

Holl, Marieke; Dries, Linda van den; Wolf, Judith R.L. M. “Interventions to prevent tenant evictions: a systematic review” Health and Social Care in the Community (2015) DOI: 10.1111/hsc.12257

Insley, Emma. “Homelessness prevention: can we afford not to?” Insley Consulting (2011) Found at: http://www.depauluk.org/_uploads/documents/homessness-prevention-report-reconnect.pdf

Lindblom, Eric N. “Toward a comprehensive homelessness-prevention strategy”. Housing Policy Debate Vol.2 No. 3 (1991): 957-1025.

Mackie, Peter K. “Homelessness Prevention and the Welsh Legal Duty: Lessons for International Policies” Housing Studies Vol.30 No.1 (2014): 40-59.

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Madden, Mary; Haley, Diane; Hart, Suzanne; Kalafat, John; Saliwanchik-Brown, Cheryl. “An evaluation of Maine’s comprehensive school-based youth suicide prevention program” Found at: http://www.maine.gov/suicide/docs/Final_CDCEvalPublicReport3-09.pdf

Maschede, Tatjana; Sara, Chaganti “Home for now: a mixed-methods evaluation of a short-term housing support program for homeless families” Evaluation and Program Planning Vol.52 No.1 (2015): 85-95.

May, Philip; Serna, Patricia; Hurt, Lance; DeBruyn, Lemyra M. “Outcome evaluation of a public health approach to suicide prevention in an American Indian Tribal Nation” American Journal of Public Health Vol. 95 N0.7 (2005): 1238-1244.

Montgomery, Ann E.; Metraux, Stephen; Culhane, Dennis. Rethinking homelessness prevention among persons with serious mental illness” Social Issues and Policy Review Vol. 7 No.1 (2013): 58-82.

Mulroy, Elizabeth and Lauber, Helenann. “A user-friendly approach to program evaluation and effective community interventions for families at risk of homelessness” Social Work Vol. 49 No. 4 (2004): 573-586.

Rolston, Howard; Geyer, Judy; Locke, Gretchen. “Evaluation of the Homebase Community Prevention Program: Final Report” Abt Associates (2013).

Parsell, Cameron; Martson, Greg. “Beyond the ‘at-risk’ individual: housing and the eradication of poverty to prevent homelessness” The Australian Journal of Public Administration Vol. 71 No.1 (2012): 33-44.

Pawson, Hal. “Local Authority Homelessness Prevention in England: Empowering Consumers or Denying Rights?” Housing Studies Vol. 22 No. 6 (2007): 867-883.

Pawson, Hal; Davidson, Emma; Netto, Gina. “Evaluation of Homelessness prevention Activities in Scotland” Scottish Executive of Social Research. Found at: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/172550/0048196.pdf

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Shinn, Marybeth; Baumohl, Jim. “Rethinking the Prevention of Homelessness” paper presented at the 1998 National Symposium on Homelessness Research

Shinn, Marybeth; Baumohl, Jim; Hopper, Kim. “The Prevention of Homelessness Revisited” Analyses of Social Issues Public Policy Vol.1 No.1 (2001): 95-127.

Skiba, David; Monroe, Jacquelyn; Wodarski, John S. “Adolescent substance use: reviewing the effectiveness of prevention strategies” Social Work Vol. 49 No. 3 (2004): 343-353.

Spinney, Angela and Blandy, Sarah. “Homelessness Prevention for Women and children who

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have experienced domestic and family violence: innovations in policy and practice” Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (2011) Position paper 40.

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University of Winnipeg “Holding on!: supporting successful tenancies for the hard to house” Institute of Urban Studies (2011).

Zulman, Donna; Vijan, Sandeep; Omenn, Gilbert; Hayward, Rodney “The relative merits of population-based and targeted prevention strategies” The Millbank Quarterly Vol. 86 No. 4 (2008): 557-580.

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