Project Toolbelt

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

As described with its unique name, Project Toolbelt is a housing-focused project designed to facilitate the engagement and transition of persons experiencing homelessness into sustainable housing opportunities by using the “every housing tool in the toolbelt” approach. Project Toolbelt leveraged current efforts underway in the Homeless System of Care with participants in the State’s Project Roomkey program that was implemented to provide temporary non-congregant shelter for those at high risk for COVID-19. Since the primary goal of Project Roomkey was to provide temporary shelter and isolation shelter opportunities, it did not have an emphasis on intensive case management or transitioning to other appropriate housing options. To address this gap in services and to leverage current efforts underway to work with a traditionally underserved population, Project Toolbelt was developed as an innovative approach for program participants transitioning out of the existing Project Roomkey sites to actual housing options. Project Toolbelt engaged individuals who historically did not participate in the homeless system of care, with services that focused on transitioning them into more permanent and sustainable housing that would outlast the pandemic. To date, more than 700 persons experiencing homelessness before the pandemic have transitioned to sustainable housing opportunities under Project Toolbelt.