Our Mission
The Partnership is the only community-based collaborative—bringing together community-based agencies, local government, private and public organizations, nonprofits, philanthropic foundations, people with lived homelessness experience, faith communities, and the greater community—committed to ending and preventing homelessness in Chester County.
Our mission is to ensure that homelessness is a rare, brief, and one-time only experience for all residents of Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Vision
We envision a community in which all residents have fair, equal, and equitable access to permanent housing opportunities and services to improve their health, quality of life, and financial stability.
Guiding Principles
Housing is a human right.
Where you live directly affects your health and wellbeing.
People experiencing homelessness must first have a decent, safe, and affordable place to live, even temporarily, in order to successfully address their health, family, financial, or legal barriers to permanent housing stability.
Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility are essential to achieving housing justice.
Services should be provided through a trauma-informed approach to care that is rooted in an understanding of the impact of trauma and the specific needs of trauma survivors.
Families and individuals should have equal access to safe and affordable rental housing regardless of their source of income.
Collaboration, cooperation, and communication between service providers, funders, landlords, community partners, policymakers, and people with lived experience of homelessness is the best way to reduce homelessness.
Data should drive decision making related to policy change, program planning, and resource allocation.
The Chester County Partnership to End Homelessness organizational goals for 2023–2026 serve as a roadmap to advance the organization’s mission and vision that our community is one in which all residents have fair, equal, and equitable access to permanent housing opportunities and services to improve their health, quality of life, and financial stability.
Our Plan
Our 2023–2026 Goals
Goal 1: Advance equitable access
The Partnership will advance equitable access to safe and affordable housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
-
Objective 1: Treat all people experiencing homelessness with dignity, including protecting their privacy.
Objective 2: Address disparities in access to both interim and permanent housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness based on their race, ethnicity, ability, age, class, language, gender, gender identity, religion, sexuality, or sources of income.
Objective 3: Provide non-congregate and low barrier interim housing to families and individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness.
Objective 4: Provide flexible housing subsidies, case management, and wrap around services for people exiting from homelessness to permanent housing.
Objective 5: Support efforts to develop more safe and affordable housing opportunities for residents exiting from homelessness.
Objective 6: Reduce the stigma associated with homelessness and the use of housing vouchers or subsidy programs and services.
Goal 2: Strengthen Partnerships
The Partnership will strengthen partnerships that promote permanent housing stability for people experiencing, exiting, or at risk of homelessness.
-
Objective 1: Partner with the criminal justice system to prevent justice-involved individuals and people with a criminal background from becoming homeless.
Objective 2: Partner with health systems to connect people experiencing homelessness with appropriate physical, mental, and behavioral health services.
Objective 3: Partner with childcare, employment, job training, and public benefits access services to help people increase income.
Objective 4: Partner with legal services and the court system to prevent evictions and promote fair housing and tenants’ rights.
Objective 5: Partner with PreK-12 and higher education systems to address the needs of students experiencing homelessness.
Objective 6: Partner with child welfare systems to better support and help reunify families experiencing homelessness.
Objective 7: Partner with public transportation services to ensure people can access program and service appointments.
Goal 3: Develop innovative solutions
The Partnership will develop innovative solutions for people at increased risk of experiencing long-term homelessness.
-
Objective 1: Ensure everyone experiencing homelessness has the necessary supports to achieve and maintain permanent housing stability.
Objective 2: Partner with organizations led by and serving communities of color to establish a more welcoming and inclusive homeless crisis response system.
Objective 3: Address the social, educational, and emotional needs of children and youth aged 0–24 experiencing homelessness.
Objective 4: Partner with medical care providers to deliver appropriate medical services for medically frail individuals living in unsheltered living situations or interim housing.
Objective 5: Partner with service providers to address the needs of survivors fleeing intimate partner violence, family violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking.
Objective 6: Partner with aging and older adult housing and service providers to address the needs of seniors experiencing homelessness.