May 16, 2023

HSA Summary – March 2023

HOUSING STABILITY ALLIANCE
March 2023 Meeting Summary and Network Next Steps

The Housing Stability Alliance (HSA) gathered in-person on March 10, 2023 for the first time  since before the pandemic. Goals included: 1) provide an overview of the HSA and Housing  Kent, 2) understand System Thinking v. Siloed Thinking and the impacts on collective impact and 3) share Housing Kent’s Strategic Framework for 2023, as well as the first iterations of the  system mapping work and the shared measurements work as part of Housing Kent’s key  performance indicators (KPI) for quarter one of 2023. There were 60 people in attendance.  

Communications Manager, Tiana Hawver, opened the meeting celebrating Housing Kent  turning one year old. President Eureka People shared our shared vision – that every person in  Kent County should be stably housed—or better. To ensure that, the HSA will focus on  increasing affordable housing, dissolving homelessness, and eliminating the racial disparities  in the housing system. Eureka also identified specific and measurable goals tied to those  objectives and described the Path to Housing Stability, with its distinct stages across the  housing continuum. She then led the group in understanding the need for Systems Thinking  over Siloed Thinking for greater collective impact.  

The HSA was then presented with the first iteration of the system map. The map was  developed to make the current state of the housing system visible. A survey was conducted to  begin gathering data on organization type, services offered, populations served, amount of  capacity to meet needs, and more. It was noted that some organizations that were sent the  survey had not responded by the deadline for the first phase. There will be additional follow up  to continue gathering data before it’s available on our website at the end of March. 

Following the system mapping, Alex Kontras, senior director of Data & Policy, unveiled  updated shared measurements. He noted that the data currently being used came from readily  available public data. He reshared the original data that was the baseline for the HSA’s work to  show the difference between then and now. Housing Kent is working on a shared  measurement system aimed at assisting system conveners, funders, municipalities, and  community members in better housing decision-making capabilities. For that to happen, the  data needs to be visible to more than a select few.

Small Group Sessions  

In small group session one, discussions were held to give feedback on the system mapping.  Groups were asked to consider the following questions: 1) At first glance, what is your  understanding of the purpose of system maps? 2) Is there anything that you like/dislike or that  you find clear/confusing? 3) What improvements would you make so that the system maps will  be useful tools in decision-making and how you go about your work? 

During the second small group session, participants were asked to give feedback on the shared  measurement system. Groups were asked to consider the following questions: 1) Share the  housing-related decisions you make in your role(s); 2) Which indicators here will help you 

make better decisions? 3) Which indicators do you feel are missing that will help you make  better decisions? The System Map and Shared Measurements Dashboard are still in draft and  not final. If you have questions or additional feedback, please contact Alex Kontras at alex@housingkent.org. The small group analysis from both sessions and the raw notes are  available here

Next Steps  

At the conclusion of the convening, members were invited to an Eviction Collab Lab. These are  taking place in April, with a daytime and an evening option available. There will be more details  to come, including registration. Currently, the dates are April 20 (9am-11am) and April 27  (6pm-8pm). 

If you have not joined one of the action teams, please consider being part of either Eviction  Prevention, Data & Shared Measurement, Community Engagement, or Policy & Advocacy. To  learn more about the teams, please see the contact information below for Adisa Chaney and  Alex Kontras who lead the teams. 

Housing our community is the responsibility of all of us. Please consider joining us to help build  this coalition to make Kent County a model for a fair and stably housed community. Thank you  for being part of this work.  

Housing Kent Action Team Contacts

Adisa Chaney, Sr. Director of Community Engagement & Equity
Action Teams: Community Engagement and Eviction Prevention
Email: adisa@housingkent.org
Phone: (616) 358-9935

Alex Kontras, Sr. Director of Data & Policy
Action Teams: Data & Shared Measurement and Policy & Advocacy
Email: alex@housingkent.org
Phone: (616) 358-9934