Pearl House

Pearl HouseA Safe and Secure Place for Recovery

Mission

Support

Development Team

Location

Services and Amenities

FAQs

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Mission

Permanent Supportive Housing for Families

Fairfield County is witnessing an escalation of opiate and heroin addiction of a proportion that threatens to erode the quality of life in our community. The Pearl House will be one solution to help address this critical issue.

Serving the community as a special place where families suffering from addiction can heal and rebuild a healthy and productive lifestyle together, Pearl House strives to create a nurturing, stable, and supportive environment where residents receive convenient access to an array of services that allow them to focus on recovery as a whole. On-site case management, treatment, and counseling in housing that is safe and secure are the strategic elements of this 36-unit project that will contribute to successfully serving residents as well as the community.

Residents of Pearl House will be families fully committed to completing the final stages of overcoming the devastating effects of addiction. Pearl House will provide a safe and stable living environment to allow families to remain in tact and focus on successful recovery together. Staff members will consult and pre-screen all potential residents, and work to develop an individualized treatment plan that suits the specific needs of each family.

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Support

Support the Pearl House Initiative

Pearl House Letter of Support to Tim Schaffer.pdf

Thank you for your support of Pearl House. We sincerely appreciate your interest and commitment to this cause. Our goal is to promote accurate information to all members of the community. We are forming a coalition of support to ensure that Pearl House is able to successfully contribute to a solution to the opiate addiction crisis that is affecting all aspects of Lancaster, Ohio. To the right is a form letter of support to Senator Tim Schaffer. Should you so choose, please voice your support in your own words or by filling out and mailing the letter we have provided to: The Honorable Tim SchafferOhio Senate Building 1 Capitol Square Columbus, Ohio 43215Or e-mail to: sd31_senate.state.oh.usShould you be interested in additional information or would simply like to voice your support to us as Pearl House progresses, please contact us at supportpearlhouse_fairfieldhomesohio.com. (Link to the right.) Community involvement is key in the success of this development. We sincerely thank you for your support and for acting as an ally to promote the distribution of accurate information about Pearl House.

Pearl House Letter of Support to Tim Schaffer.doc

Gradient Development Team

Development Team

The ambitious development team is led by Fairfield Homes, Inc, and includes Gorsuch Property Management, Lancaster-Fairfield Community Action Agency, and The Recovery Center. Fairfield Homes, Inc. Founded in 1947, Fairfield Homes, Inc. is an experienced general contractor and full service developer that has constructed over 4,700 housing units throughout Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana. The company has expertise in all phases of development. Gorsuch ManagementThe property management division of Fairfield Homes, Gorsuch Management manages over 3,500 apartments. The company has extensive experience in the management of affordable housing projects subject to the regulations of the Federal Home Loan Bank, Ohio Housing Finance Agency, and USDA Rural Development.Lancaster-Fairfield Community Action AgencyLancaster-Fairfield Community Action Agency is certified by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency as a Community Housing Development Organization. Since 2003, LFCAA has been a non-profit partner with Fairfield Homes, Inc., on four Housing Tax Credit projects with a total of 203 units of affordable rental housing for seniors and families. LFCAA has over 40 years of experience serving homeless and low-income families as well as housing development experience dating back as far as the 1970s. The Recovery CenterThe Recovery center provides a full spectrum of alcohol, drug addiction and mental health prevention, intervention, and treatment programs to children, adolescents, and adults. The Center works collaboratively with the Fairfield County ADAMH Board, local physicians and hospitals, social and human service providers, law enforcement and criminal justice systems, city and county school districts and other professional organizations and key stakeholders to ensure the availability of a full continuum of services and effective community support to address the special needs of the populations it serves.

Location

Services and Conveniences Map.pdf

The site of the Pearl House is proposed to be the 200 block of West Chestnut Street and Memorial Drive in Lancaster. This ideal location provides residents with convenient access to services that will benefit their overall recovery such as Job and Family Services, the Fairfield County Court System, Fairfield County Metro Housing, South School, ADAMH, as well as a number of churches, convenience and grocery stores, and museums. Every day needs will be accessible to families so that they are equipped with the resources to complete the final stages of recovery and build healthy interests, habits and lifestyles as a whole.
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Map

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Service and Convenience Map
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Security and Floorplan
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Security

Our preliminary plans include staff on site during normal business hours, keyed front door with restricted access, interior and exterior lighting and 24/7 security cameras. We will have fencing around the green spaces on the property. Our staff will be trained in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT is an evidenced base practice) and we will be providing specialized safety training to the tenants to assist them in their independence. We plan to look at other safety curriculums such as those offered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for their applicability to Pearl House. We will draw upon expertise within our community to enhance our security plans and operations. Several Board members of the Recovery Center are safety professionals who will consult on our plans. We have a relationship with our Community Officer and will request his participation on our Community Advisory Committee. We have begun conversations with a local Block Watch group and would like to help create a Block Watch in the immediate neighborhood of the Pearl House site. Sheriff Phalen is an expert on increasing security and reducing crime around multi-family apartments. We will seek his input on any security enhancements Pearl House should have in place.

Location

Location
Map
Security

Services and Amenities

While members of our community suffering from the effects of addiction may currently seek access to outpatient treatement centers and programs, statistics show that inpatient or controlled environments, such as Pearl House, with on-site access to the professional assistance needed to overcome addiction, allow for a much higher rate of successful recovery. The services provided at Pearl House will allow for families to seek the help they need in a private, controlled space with stability and without the dangers of outside influence. Pearl House will not only provide on-site assistance for addiction recovery, but assistance with general every day needs so that families can focus more intently on the healing process. Residents can then recover at a pace that enables them to become self sustaining individuals with the ability to provide well rounded, healthy home environments for their children. Pearl House will be a safe and secure building, requiring key card access and providing 24 hour security. Pearl House will additionally feature such amenities as a community social center, private counseling rooms, arts and crafts rooms, a fitness room, a medical consultation room, a computer lab, and babysitting services to create a safe and nurturing environment with the tools families need to heal and develop positive, healthy lifestyles.Green space, gardens, a toddler lot, indoor and outdoor play areas, as well as privacy fences contribute to the promotion of safe, family oriented recovery.Resdients will work with staff members to use tools such as consultation, referral and information, crisis intervention, diagnostic assessment, indvidual and group counseling, medication management for opiate dependency, case management, education and training, early intervention, problem identification, community awareness and advocacy, treatment, and support groups for all members of the family to most effectively rid addiction from their lives. Additional services such as the Adult Learning center, Employment Readiness, Early Childhood Services, Life Skills Education, rent, utility, food, clothing, and houseware assistance will be readily available to service the needs of resident families. We encourage resident families to be committed to proactively utilizing these tools to thoroughly heal and develop healthy, functioning lifestyles in our community.
FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Connecticut Highlights.pdf

Why Downtown? People in recovery and with limited incomes need easy access to amenities, such as parks, schools, medical facilities, and support services. Consequently, funders of supportive housing will judge the proposed project on its accessibility to the services and amenities that are proven to help tenants be successful. Downtown has accessibility to the amenities that are needed. Why not locate at the Big Bear site? Best practices in supportive housing development states that the housing should be in a neighborhood. For this reason, funders for housing discourage the use of sites similar to the old Big Bear location by reduced scoring in their competitive processes. What type of security will be in place? Our preliminary plans include on-site staffing during normal business hours, keyed front door with restricted access, interior and exterior lighting and 24/7 security cameras. We will have fencing around the green spaces on the property. Our staff will be trained in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT is an evidenced-base practice) and we will be providing specialized safety training to the tenants to assist them in their independence. We plan to look at other safety curriculums such as those offered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that could be applicable to Pearl House. We will draw upon expertise within our community to enhance our security plans and operations. Several Board members of the Recovery Center are safety professionals who will consult on our plans. We have a relationship with our Community Officer and will request his participation on our Good Neighbor Committee. We are initiating conversations with a local Block Watch group and would like to help create a Block Watch in the immediate neighborhood of the Pearl House site. Sheriff Phalen is an expert on increasing security and reducing crime around multi-family apartments. We will seek his input on security enhancements for Pearl House. Who are the residents? The Pearl House will provide permanent supportive housing to chemically dependent parents and their children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and who are Fairfield County residents. The project must meet fair housing laws regarding tenant selection, but we know that the Recovery Center will be a primary source of tenant referrals. The Recovery Center is a family-focused service center whose average client is 26 years old with two children. Sixty percent of the families are female heads of household. Twelve percent are actively working and have private health insurance. The majority of Recovery Center clients -- 60% -- voluntarily participate in the Center’s services. The remainder of clients is referred by hospitals, churches, employers and family court. How will this draw businesses downtown? The tenants are consumers and will need groceries, clothing, school and work supplies. They will patronize the businesses they need, as would any neighbor in town. Staff will patronize restaurants, the post office and business-related establishments within close proximity to the project and the Recovery Center’s offices. Thirty-six families and approximately thirty staff will be living or working in the neighborhood as a result of Pearl House. This is a relatively small number of new neighbors to the neighborhood, so we are not sure whether this number is sufficient economically to draw business downtown. What is the impact on property values? There are two published studies that demonstrate that property values do not decline after new supportive housing projects are established in a neighborhood. In 2002, a comprehensive study of the Connecticut Permanent Supportive Housing Demonstration Project was published. This comprehensive report details the positive impact of permanent supportive housing on tenants and neighborhoods. In the Executive Summary, found under Connecticut Full Report to the right, pages 18 & 19 state the impact on property values. Chapter III explains the methodology used to conclude that property values were not reduced due to permanent supportive housing. For a summation of the highlights of the entire study, please see the two page Report Highlights, found under Connecticut Highlights to the right. The second report was produced by Furman University in New York City and looked at over 100 Permanent Supportive Housing projects that were developed over an 8 year period and can be found under Furman Center to the right. As Fairfield Homes has demonstrated with development of Pershing House on North Columbus Street in Lancaster, new construction completed in a quality manner that is managed effectively can add beauty to our city. We also know of successful, well designed and managed supportive housing projects in Columbus and Cleveland that have made positive improvements to neighborhoods and downtown areas. We welcome the opportunity to share these success stories with Lancaster and to apply their lessons learned to Pearl House for it to be of the highest quality possible.What effect does Permanent Supportive Housing have on public service expense?Studies show that following the implementation of Permanent Supportive Housing, particularly in rural and suburban communities, public service expenses see radical reductions, many exceeding cuts by 50%. A study, Cost of Rural Homelessness: Cost Analysis of Permanent Supportive Housing, conducted in Maine in 2009 reported the following cost reductions: •Emergency Room Costs- 62% Reduction•Health Care Costs- 59% Reduction•Ambulance Transportation Costs- 66% Reduction•Police Contact Costs- 66% Reduction•Incarceration- 62% Reduction•Shelter Visitation- 98% ReductionThe full report, Cost of Rural Homelessness, can be found to the right. A second study, Supportive Housing in Illinois: A Wise Investment, conducted in 2009, revealed a savings of over $850,000 in public service expense for 177 residents in the 2 years after entry into supportive housing.PSH causes a shift from expensive inpatient services to less expensive outpatient and community-based services. What is the policy on rule breakers? People living in supportive housing are tenants and will sign leases. As a rental property, Pearl House must follow Ohio tenant landlord law in dealing with tenants that violate their leases. As supportive housing, management understands that tenants will need additional support and assistance in learning how to be good tenants and good neighbors. This will be part of the supportive services offered so that tenants are successful. Who pays the rent? Tenants will need to meet income eligibility requirements set by the federal government to reside in Pearl House. Following these same program requirements, all tenants will be required to pay at a minimum 30% of their monthly income toward their rent. We will have an opportunity to apply for a federal rent subsidy through Fairfield Metropolitan Housing Authority to pay the balance of the rent on all the apartments. How long will they stay there? Families can live in Pearl House as long as they want and as long as they abide by their lease. How will this improve downtown? The project will be rebuilding a corner that is currently uninhabited with an architecturally pleasing project. Lighting, security and landscaping will enhance the site which currently lacks these features.Will any tax dollars being spent on this project? We anticipate that most of the capital for the project will be low income housing tax credits, which are administered through the US Treasury Department. Housing tax credits are federal tax credits that investors can acquire by financially investing in projects like Pearl House. Other capital sources and the rent subsidies are federal programs, so those would be supported through federal taxes. In some cases, the support and treatment services the tenants will be receiving would be federal and state programs supported by federal and state taxes. The project would be bringing federal taxes back into the Lancaster community. How will visitors be handled? We anticipate the tenants will have their friends and families visit them occasionally in their home, just as any of us would have guests to our own home or apartment. We recognize though that there will be “house rules” in Pearl House to ensure the tenants are safe and that guests don’t overstay their welcome. We anticipate developing the house rules in consultation with the Good Neighbor Committee and the tenant council. Where else did you consider building? Other sites were reviewed with professional input including potential funders. The current location was considered the best through this review. Who is funding the project? At this time, we are still applying for funding of the project. Who will own the property? It will be jointly owned by Fairfield Homes and the Lancaster-Fairfield Community Action Agency. Why the rush? We are building upon work begun by the community several years ago, beginning with a 2008 needs assessment completed by the Fairfield County Housing Coalition, and then the Opiate Task Force in 2009. We brought a potential team of interested parties together in July 2010 to think about a supportive housing project that would address the community’s most critical needs. We spent subsequent months discussing options with various stakeholders. In 2011, the team participated in a six-month training institute held in Columbus, provided by the Corporation for Supportive Housing, to learn how to plan and implement a project using best practices. What is the time line on the project? The time line is entirely contingent upon funding. We will know in April 2012 whether Pearl House is awarded low income housing tax credits. At that time a specific time line will be made available to the community.

Connecticut Full Report.pdf

Furman Center.pdf

Cost of Rural Homelessness.pdf

Video

Pearl House

Watch NCR's The Commons at Grant Video The Commons at Grant is a simliar PSH development that exemplifies success in Columbus.

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