In a March 7 My Turn article, I declared that system governance and “assessing and strengthening our alignment with the CDPs [Core Design Principles for governing a commons] can help us … end homelessness in Concord.”
Why is improving governance of our community-wide homelessness system improvement effort so important? Think of what it takes to turn an ocean liner.
Evolving complex systems like those that make up homelessness (housing, social service, public safety, funding, government, mental health, etc.) is like getting a 150,000-ton ocean liner to turn. The rudder has to exert tremendous force and the ocean liner turns very slowly. To help with this effort, engineers designed a smaller rudder attached to the main rudder. It’s called a trim tab. The trim tab turns opposite the rudder and creates a leveraged force which makes it easier for the rudder to turn.
Effective governance might be likened to a trim tab — a small set of agreements and behaviors that helps the huge homelessness (prevention and care) system move in the direction desired.
So, what is needed for effective governance of a community-wide system improvement effort?
First off, let us be clear about the time scale. This work is urgent. Real people in our community suffer every day from homelessness. Sleeping in the cold. Separated from loved ones. Untreated illnesses. Humiliation, shame. New people are entering the system every day, from evictions, family breakups, job loss, foster care or prison discharges. Short term, pragmatic changes are imperative. People are suffering and immediate help is needed.
At the same time, homelessness is a complex dynamic that has taken decades to evolve — corroding the social, economic and institutional fabric of a caring society. So we have to play the long game by planning for the deeper changes in housing, health care and economics. We will have to sustain ourselves for the long haul by caring for ourselves and each other and learning new ways of thinking. The work needs to include both pragmatic, short term solutions and longer term changes in our thinking and acting.
If this is what is needed and improving governance is a leveraged action, then how might we best move ahead? Measurement can help guide action. Where are we now? What do we together choose to improve? And how might we assess our progress on the way — in the short term and for the long haul?
To start, it may be helpful to be clear on this system we are working to improve. What is our homelessness (prevention and care) system?
We might think of it at several levels. Most basic is a set of processes that serve homeless individuals. These core processes touch those at risk, or those individuals who are homeless and moving out of homelessness. We can prevent homelessness for those at risk, serve those currently homeless and support those who have recently moved out of homelessness. Three key steps: Prevent, Serve, Support.
Underneath these core processes are a set of resources that help homeless persons return to having a home. This includes available housing, mental health care, social services and job training. These are called support processes.
Overseeing these core and support processes are governing processes that organize the collaboration, resources and learning that system improvement requires.
To guide our actions at each level of the system — core, support and governance — it is helpful to measure and evaluate how we are doing. For measuring the current state and improvement of the core processes, data relating to the homeless person’s journey through the system may be helpful. Information about the specific individuals, like demographics, precipitating factors, time spent, bottlenecks and outcomes, may be helpful. For the supporting processes, information about the availability of housing, access to medical and mental health services, disability determination and job access can guide improvements to better support homeless persons.
For the governance processes, it may be helpful to know how we are doing along key dimensions of collaborative governance. We need a powerful sense of agency, the ability to act aligned with our values, and do this with a cool-headed awareness of whatever the current context presents to us. We will have to rely on each other. No one person or group or agency can do this alone. This will require trust. We will need to grow our ability to rely on each other and be open in our group interactions. We will need to grow a dedication and pride in working together — a commitment to working through tremendous challenges without losing our connection to each other.
This work will be difficult. At the same time, we will need to attend to our own and each other’s basic needs — to grow a sense of satisfaction with the life we are living and the meaning that this work creates for us. We will want to ensure that individually and as a community we are flourishing, that the quality of our relationships are thriving. And finally, assessing and improving alignment with the Core Design Principles for effectively governing a common endeavor will be critical in designing our own unique application of these principles. We may learn from others, but the solutions will be our own.
Measuring these dimensions of our work will help us design and improve the trim tab of effective homeless system governance — a key leveraged action in our work of ending homelessness in Concord.
Jim Schlosser is the Concord City Councilor for Ward 7.