Regional Collaboration

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Purpose and Target Population 

  • This project created a sustainable strategy for convening multi-sector partners around the significant community health need to address homelessness and support housing security across the continuum 

  • The Downeast Housing Collaborative is a broad group of providers, organizational representatives, and community members in Hancock and Washington counties whose mission is to improve health outcomes for individuals in our communities by focusing on safe and secure housing across the continuum as a primary resource for increasing individual well being 

  • Our purpose is to bring people together from across sectors and to work collaboratively to improve regional systems, reduce housing insecurity, and increase access to housing across the continuum of need throughout Hancock and Washington counties, Maine 

Planning and Implementation

  • Convening and facilitation of the Collaborative is led by Healthy Acadia, a community health organization serving the region 

  • Leadership, guidance, visioning, and engagement is provided by all Collaborative members 

  • Partnerships are continually deepened and expanded - the Collaborative brings people and organizations together in unique ways to foster innovative collaborations, strengthen communications, and improve outcomes 

  • An in-depth assessment and planning process was conducted, resulting in a comprehensive implementation plan to offer solutions and interventions across the continuum of housing – including our focus areas: emergency housing, supportive housing, low-income housing, and moderate-income housing 

  • Collaborative partners, individually and together, have been implementing solutions in line with the planning process to address the housing needs across the continuum.  

  • The Collaborative continues to engage partners in the ongoing work of identifying priority health needs of our communities and developing strategies to address them. 

  • The Collaborative amplifies Community Voice, highlighting the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness and housing insecurity 

  • The Collaborative ensures that community voice and lived experience shape our interventions and strategies 

Best Practices  

  • The Collaborative built trust with over 20 cross-sector partners that are fully engaged and committed to improving the health and wellbeing of residents in our local communities. 

  • The Collaborative successfully conducted a community readiness assessment to uncover priority health-related social needs in our region, such as housing, mental health, and workforce development 

  • The Collaborative developed a robust regional implementation plan across the continuum of care, to address housing insecurity and related social needs 

  • Collaborative partners implement housing solutions based on our planning process and evidence based/promising practices  

Challenges and Solutions 

  • The geographically expansive region creates challenges to connect all partners, some located over 200 miles apart 

  • Online (Zoom) meetings were an excellent way to ensure participation, with strategic in-person meetings when most useful 

  • Partners are extremely busy - MOU’s, incentives, and shared vision and goals all helped ensure robust partner participation 

  • The housing crisis is vast and multifaceted - bringing together multi-sector stakeholders and ensuring that multiple organizations are actively participating in small solutions enables us to make a significant difference in what can be an overwhelming challenge  

  • Examples of projects include: landlord liaison projects, voucher assistance, housing navigations, warming shelters, developing voucher-based units, and others 

Contact 

Downeast Housing Collaborative - Hancock and Washington Counties

Healthy Acadia, Ellsworth, Maine