The 1996 National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients: A Comparison of Faith-Based and Secular Non-Profit Programs. Appendices

NSHAPC covered 16 different types of homeless assistance programs, defined as follows:

1. Emergency shelter programs provide short-term housing on a first-come first-served basis where people must leave in the morning and have no guaranteed bed for the next night OR provide beds for a specified period of time, regardless of whether or not people leave the building.  Facilities which provide temporary shelter during extremely cold weather (such as churches) and emergency shelters or host homes for runaway or neglected children and youth, and victims of domestic violence were also included.
2. Transitional housing programs have a maximum stay for clients of two years and offer support services to promote self-sufficiency and to help them obtain permanent housing. They may target any homeless sub-population such as persons with mental illnesses, persons with AIDS, runaway youths, victims of domestic violence, homeless veterans, etc.
3. Permanent housing programs for homeless people provide long-term housing assistance with support services for which homelessness is a primary requirement for program eligibility.  Examples include the Shelter Plus Care Program, the Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Program for Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) Dwellings, and the Permanent Housing for the Handicapped Homeless Program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  These programs also include specific set-asides  of assisted housing units or housing vouchers for homeless persons by public housing agencies or others as a matter of policy, or in connection with a specific program (e.g., the HUD-VA Supported Housing Program, "HUD-VASH").  A permanent housing program for homeless people does NOT include public housing, Section 8, or federal, state, or local housing assistance programs for low-income persons that do not include a specific set-aside for homeless persons, or for which homelessness is not a basic eligibility requirement.
4. Voucher distribution programs provide homeless persons with a voucher, certificate, or coupon that can be redeemed to pay for a specific amount of time in a hotel, motel, or other similar facility.
5. Programs that accept vouchers for temporary accommodation provide homeless persons with accommodation, usually in a hotel, motel, board and care, or other for-profit facility, in exchange for a voucher, certificate, or coupon offered by a homeless assistance program.
6. Food pantry programs are programs which distribute uncooked food in boxes or bags directly to low income people, including homeless people.
7. Soup kitchen programs include soup kitchens, food lines, and programs distributing prepared breakfasts, lunches, or dinners.  These programs may be organized as food service lines, bag or box lunches, or tables where people are seated, then served by program personnel.  These programs may or may not have a place to sit and eat the meal.
8. Mobile food programs are programs which visit designated street locations for the primary purpose of providing food to homeless people.
9. Physical health care programs provide health care to homeless persons, including health screenings, immunizations, treatment for acute health problems, and other services that address physical health issues.  Services are often provided in shelters, soup kitchens, or other programs frequented by homeless people.
10. Mental health care programs provide services for homeless persons to improve their  mental or psychological health or their ability to function well on a day-to-day basis.  Specific services may include case management, assertive community treatment, intervention or hospitalization during a moment of crisis, counseling, psychotherapy, psychiatric services, and psychiatric medication monitoring.
11. Alcohol/drug programs provide services to assist a homeless individual to reduce his/her level of alcohol or other drug addiction, or to prevent substance abuse among homeless persons.  This may include services such as detoxification services, sobering facilities, rehabilitation programs, counseling, treatment, and prevention and education services.
12. HIV/AIDS programs provide services for homeless persons where the services provided specifically respond to the fact that clients have HIV/AIDS, or are at risk of getting HIV/AIDS.  Services may include health assessment, adult day care, nutritional services, medications, intensive medical care when required, health, mental health, and substance abuse services, referral to other benefits and services, and HIV/AIDS prevention and education services.
13. Drop-in center programs provide daytime services primarily for homeless persons such as television, laundry facilities, showers, support groups, and service referrals, but do not provide overnight accommodations.
14. Outreach programs contact homeless persons in settings such as on the streets, in subways, under bridges, and in parks to offer food, blankets, or other necessities; to assess needs and attempt to engage them in services; to offer medical, mental health, and/or substance abuse services; and/or to offer other assistance on a regular basis (at least once a week) for the purpose of improving their health, mental health, or social functioning, or increasing their  use of human services and resources.  Services may be provided during the day or at night.
15. Migrant housing is housing that is seasonally occupied by migrating farm workers.  During off-season periods it may be vacant and available for use by homeless persons.
16. Other programs: providers could describe other programs they offered, as long as the programs met the basic NSHAPC definition of a homeless assistance program.  Types of programs actually identified through the survey include housing/financial assistance (e.g., from Community Action, county welfare, or housing agencies); Emergency Food and Shelter Program agencies; job training for the homeless, clothing distribution, and other programs.

Luis Lugo, Director of the Religion Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts, has developed a nine-point scale in describing the variety of ways that the government can support faith-based agencies in organizations in their delivery of social welfare services.  The nine types of government support — ordered from high to low in terms of general public approval — are:⁽²⁴⁾

1. The president and other leaders trumpet the success of innovative and effective faith-based programs, encouraging citizens, corporations and foundations to increase their support for these efforts.
2. Citizens and corporations directly support their favorite charities, including religiously affiliated nonprofits (i.e., 501(c)(3)s) and congregations, and receive a tax deduction.  A new study by Price-WaterhouseCoopers estimates that President Bush’s proposal to extend the charitable deduction to the 85 million taxpayers who do not itemize their taxes could stimulate an additional $14.6 billion a year in charitable giving, with the lion’s share going to religious organizations.
3. Citizens and corporations directly support their favorite charities, including religious nonprofits and congregations, and receive a tax credit.  For example, President Bush is encouraging states to provide a tax credit (up to 50 percent of the first $500 for individuals and $1,000 for married couples) against state income or other taxes for donations to charities — whether secular or religious — that are battling poverty and its effects.  (Note: This proposal could become quite controversial if federal welfare dollars were to be used to offset the cost of these credits.)
4. State and local government job training and juvenile delinquency programs have recruited volunteers from churches as mentors.  Conversely, a federal volunteer program, AmeriCorps, placed nearly 6,000 of the total 40,000 positions in 2000 in religious nonprofits such as the Catholic Network for Volunteer Service and the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy.
5. Religiously affiliated nonprofits such as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities USA have received billions of public dollars to run a variety of social service programs, including Head Start, emergency shelters, adoption services and refugee resettlement.
6. Government provides both in-kind, non-cash assistance and formula grant support to religiously affiliated nonprofits.  In-kind assistance often is provided informally, for example, by allowing a welfare-to-work program to use a desk in the county welfare office and copying program brochures.  Formula grants designate money for specific resources, for instance, computers for qualified low-income housing projects, according to objective, non-discretionary criteria (usually, the number of clients served).  While these grants are made to 501(c)(3)s), both religious and secular, these organizations often redistribute funds to on-the-ground programs, including church-based social services.
7. A large secular nonprofit such as Goodwill Industries with the administrative capacity and experience to work with the government signs a contract to provide social services, and in turn subcontracts some of the services to other organizations, including church-based ministries.
8. Government provides clients with certificates or vouchers, and they in turn select the provider of their choice, including church-based social service ministries.  Vouchers are a restricted subsidy that falls between cash and direct government provision of services, and are currently used in higher education, child care, job training, housing and health care.
9. The newest, and most controversial, option is made possible by the charitable choice provision of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.  Charitable choice permits churches, synagogues and mosques as well as other pervasively religious organizations to compete for government contracts on the same basis as secular, non-governmental service providers, but prohibits the use of public funds for religious worship or proselytizing as well as discrimination among clients on the basis of religious belief.  However, congregations may continue to use religion as a criterion for personnel decisions, as under current law.

Endnotes

24.  This list is drawn directly from a recent publication by the Pew Charitable Trusts (Lugo 2001).