Invest in Lived Experience and Human Resources
Invest in Lived Experience
Every community in Colorado (and across the country) that is addressing homelessness has people experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness. It is important that people with lived experience and expertise are involved in local program development and implementation. While every lived experience advisory group brings diverse experiences and membership, all groups share at least one commonality: experience and expertise in homelessness and housing response systems. It is critical that homelessness response systems are informed and led by persons with this lived experience.
“I understand what it feels like to be unwanted. I know the differences between a need and a want. But more than anything, I know and understand how to change.”
In addition to increasing effectiveness and appropriateness of programs, leadership from persons with lived experience promotes self-determination and empowerment for people who share the cultural experience of facing and overcoming one of modern society’s greatest challenges: housing inequity. The LEAG recommends that DOH and partner organizations increasingly involve people with lived experience in meaningful ways, at all decision-making levels. DOH’s ESG program should work with funded organizations, Continuums of Care, and other partners to include people with lived experience and pay for that expertise, as it would pay for any other level of expertise and program development.
Invest in Human Resources
In tandem with the financial investment in people with lived experience, the LEAG recommends that DOH’s ESG program invests in the professionalization of the entire homelessness response system in ways that sustain impactful change. Additional resources are needed to ensure that ESG programs:
- Have adequate staff capacity and staff-to-client ratios that allow programs to address needs, housing barriers, or other challenges in timely and culturally competent ways.
- Provide targeted, mandatory, and evidence-based training to overcome system disparities, including ensuring that staff successfully complete these trainings and consistently utilize training techniques.
- Offer competitive compensation, benefits, and professional development for program staff that reflect the professional status of the work and the life-saving outcomes of these roles.
As DOH increasingly joins people with lived expertise, we must also invest in the human resources of those working on the front line of homelessness response systems. This can help decrease the trauma of homelessness and the secondary trauma often experienced in front line roles. DOH’s ESG program can prioritize and support this shared priority for community leaders, multi-sector partners, public health, and other funders across the state.