8. What is Case Management?

In this episode, Carl and Danny take a deep dive into the heart of supportive housing: case management. They explore what great case management looks like, how it helps people build trust and stability, and where it sometimes falls short. With football analogies, real-life experience, and a whole lot of passion, they walk through the highs, lows, and realities of a job that’s more than a job — it’s a lifeline.

• A conversation on balancing data with dignity

• How caseloads, boundaries, and burnout impact client care

• When case managers help — and when systems need to do better

MVP of the Week: Gregg Colburn, co-author of Homelessness Is a Housing Problem. His groundbreaking research reveals the core driver of homelessness isn’t individual struggles — it’s the lack of affordable housing.

And as always, we bring you inspiration, NFL highlights, and a quote to carry you through the week.

Produced by Gigi Ramirez and Jay Falconer. Music and Sound Design by Kwon.

Please send any questions or comments to: ⁠⁠⁠questions@pathlighthome.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the Home Team Podcast. I'm Carl Falkener, Daniel Rudy, and we're tackling homelessness.

SPEAKER_05 0:20

Today in our podcast, we will discuss two of our passions, football and ending homelessness. Please join us through four quarters with our topic this week being case management. So, how's your weekend? I haven't seen you in a couple of days.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

I know I was gone. Uh had a really interesting and good weekend. You can hear from my voice. A little bit uh deeper than normal. Um and so don't get used to it, audience. This is not gonna be my normal voice. You got that Barry White voice, that's right, the Barry White voice, exactly. Yeah, um, I was uh went to a Auburn game. Uh my my college football team went there. They lost, of course, in double overtime. Uh, that irritated me. But then uh went to a NASCAR race in Talladega. Nice. Um, and I wanted to give a shout out to NASCAR because we did the NASCAR a thon give a thon this last uh spring, and one of the things that they offered us was some free tickets to go to a NASCAR race, and I ended up going to Talladega for the NASCAR race. It was a great game. Uh great Auburn going to see Auburn, obviously, was wonderful, but also wonderful race, wonderful experience. Um, so shout out to them. What about you?

SPEAKER_05 1:35

Uh I had my brother in town from New York, so he came in, so we saw, hung out on Thursday, and then Sunday came over to watch football. I haven't watched football with him in forever. And Dallas was on TV, so we saw Dallas. And they won. And we're both Dallas uh fans. So we had a great time. Yeah, we had a really good time, and so he's leaving today, so sad to leave. Wonderful. We had a good time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

So that's great, wonderful. All right, well, Danny, uh, as we always do, we're gonna start with the uh coin toss. So, Danny, call it in the air.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

Let's do heads.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

It is tails, so I'll start us off.

SPEAKER_05 2:10

All right.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Uh, welcome to our first quarter. I'm going to kick off by defining our topic of the week, and then we'll cover some news headlines and announce the results from last week's home team locks of the week. Uh, case management is our topic, just to remind everyone. And here's the definition case management is a person-centered and housing-focused process that assists individuals and families experiencing homelessness in achieving stability, independence, and long-term housing success. It involves building a trusting relationship with clients, assessing their needs, developing individualized service plans, and connecting them to essential resources such as housing, health care, employment, mental health, substance abuse treatment, and benefits assistance. The goal of case management in homeless services is to stabilize housing first, then support clients in addressing barriers that led to or sustain homelessness using a trauma-informed and strength-based approach. So uh obviously we have a little bit of experience in this uh with case management. We have case management services here at Pathlight Home. Um, I've been a case manager. Uh, I don't know if you ever did any case management. That's the only thing I've never done.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Wow. Um, case management is wonderful. I mean, that's the that's where kind of the rubber meets the road. And the thing about case management, I think, for the homeless service system is this is really kind of the linchpin of anything. If you want to use our football analogies, they're the offensive and defensive linemen. They're the people that are in the trenches, don't get a lot of credit, uh, but they're the ones who really make or break kind of your programs. If you have really good case management, there's a good chance your program's going to be really good. If you have really bad case management, there's a chance it's going to be a really bad program. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:09

Yeah. And we'll talk about in the offense and defense, kind of the positives and the negatives of case management. But yeah, again, our case managers here, we have, you know, some program unit uh programs that we have case management that's mandatory. And then we also offer, you know, voluntary case management for those that need it who are in our regular market units. But I agree with you. There's some I've I've been around for a while, so I've seen I've worked with a lot of case managers and I've seen some of that good and bad. Um it's a hard job. It's a really hard job to it's kind of like the outreach that we've talked about about building relationships.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

Same thing with case management. You have to build those relationships for them to trust you and and kind of make sure that you're following up and working with them and getting them where they need to be. So it's it's a difficult job.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Yeah, it it it can be tough, but it can be really, really rewarding. Yes, it yep, yes it can. When you get people into housing or keep them there, it can be the best, the best job in the world.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

Yeah, I think some case managers I've worked with, just seeing them when they house people and how happy they are, just hand them their keys. It's a it's a good feeling. It's a good even for the for the client, it's a good feeling when they're together. So yeah. All right, so uh now let's take a look at some of the headlines from the homeless world. So uh this week, this week, the Florida Coalition to End Homelessness Conference is happening this week in Orlando. It's a great opportunity for providers to come together, share knowledge, and learn about new things that are happening in Florida. So we attended last year, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:31

We didn't.

SPEAKER_05 5:32

This year we send some of our staff, that's right, and we will be presenting at one of the sessions for our nobody left behind. So our outreach person and case manager will be presenting, so they're excited to do that. Right. Um, but it was last year was a good conference. I'm assuming this year is gonna be just as good. But this is where all our providers and all our partners kind of attend um to kind of just talk and talk about homelessness. I mean, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah, I think it's a great opportunity. These conferences are great opportunities for people to share their knowledge, share their information. You and I talked about we went to the Texas homeless conference recently, and some people might be wondering why would people from Florida go to the Texas conference? Well, they do things a little different there. We wanted to learn some of the new things that maybe Florida hasn't caught up with yet, or also talk to people there about things we're doing here in Florida that they might be able to use in Texas.

SPEAKER_05 6:27

Yeah, I think I think these conferences are really good for that. It's you learn from other agencies what's working for them, what's not. You know, are we doing similar things that's working and how can we change our operations and how we do things internally? But yeah, I I love these conferences.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

So yeah, it's a great time to share, great opportunity to really get out the cards.

SPEAKER_05 6:45

And build partnerships, build more partnerships, which is really good. Yeah, so yeah. All right, so let's see how Cowboys and Bears did this week. We had a good week before, other than the Auburn, everything else was kind of good. I agree, so and we'll touch up on some of those. But uh yeah, my some my cowboys played Washington, it was a division game. Um, so we needed that win that win really bad. Yeah, um, but yeah, we had a great game. CeeDee Lamb was back, so which is fantastic. So we won uh 44 to 22. Ooh, put up some big points there. We did, yeah. So uh Prescott threw for 264 yards, Javante Williams ran for 116. CeeDee Lamb had five catches but 110 yards. He had a 70-something one that he caught. Um so now with three and three, and then that darn tie. That's right. It's hanging around.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, it could be useful or it could hurt. That's what me and my brother are talking about.

SPEAKER_05 7:36

Like it's it might screw us at the end or it might be an advantage.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

That's right, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 7:39

Yeah, so next week we have uh Denver um on Sunday. So your Bears played the Saints.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Absolutely. We did, and we won again. We're four and two. How about that, Chicago Bears? Very good. I did not think at the beginning of the season, yeah, at week six, I would be saying the Bears are four and two, or week seven, actually, because we have a bye. That's right.

SPEAKER_05 7:59

We got to listen to the first second podcast to see how you were. Your tone is a little different now.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Totally different. You're right about that. So we have one, great game. Yeah, we won 26 to 14. And uh I mean, we played the Saints, who are not the best team in the league. We get that. Uh next week's opponent, I think, is gonna be a little tougher. Uh, the Bears were playing at Baltimore. We're playing the Ravens. And I think because the Ravens are just coming off of their bye, I think they're gonna have a lot of their players back. And that's gonna make it really challenging, I think, for Chicago.

SPEAKER_05 8:32

Yeah, and like you mentioned before, they played the Saints, not a good record, but a win is a win.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

A win is a win. Yeah, take it highway. Absolutely, yes. So that wraps up the first quarter. We will be back after this break.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Hey, this is Gigi Ramirez, Senior Director of Fundraising. As you know, homelessness affects us all. Our neighbors, our businesses, our community. Join Pathlight Home on November 6th for a place at the table at the Citrus Club. Together, we can create pathways to housing and hope. Get your tickets today at pathlighthome.org or contact us at 407-462-7286. Again, that's 407-462-7286, or email at G Ramirez at pathlighthome.org.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

This is the second quarter. We're getting a little deeper into a homelessness topic with something we call offense versus defense. We'll each take turns discussing some opposing viewpoints of our topic this week. The statement that we'll discuss this week is case managers provide the appropriate level of care to their clients. Please remember that we're trying to show both sides of the issue. These do not necessarily reflect our individual stances on these positions. So, Danny, you're up first. Again, the the statement just to remind everyone case managers provide the appropriate level of care to their clients.

SPEAKER_05 10:19

Sure. So my uh offense this week is uh it improved client outcomes when care is matched to the client's actual need, client services that are timely, relevant, relevant, and effective, leading to better housing stability, mental health, and overall well-being. Um it's more efficient, uh efficient use of resources, uh, tailoring care levels to ensure that time, funding, and program resources are used effectively. Uh increase client engagement. Clients are more likely to stay engaged and follow through with case plans when they feel their needs are accurately understood. And we kind of talked about the importance of those good case managers and kind of not so good case managers. Uh prevention of burnout by setting clear boundaries around care levels, case managers can manage their caseloads effectively. Um I think we'll talk about caseloads and kind of the what's appropriate. And um, and then better data and reporting, uh, consistent application of appropriate care levels, how programs collect accurate data, demonstrate outcomes, and maintain compliance with fund requirements, which that's something we're really big on here is collecting data and making sure that we are reporting out on the positive and maybe not the positive stuff.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

So yeah, absolutely. All right, so those are the pros. Uh now I'll talk about the cons or uh what might be some negative things or uh not so positive things about case managers providing the appropriate level of care. Uh in some circumstances, case managers hold on to people too long. Uh I've seen programs where case managers are allowed to keep people on their caseloads even after the residents don't necessarily need those services any longer. Uh case managers are not needed for everyone. Uh sometimes people are put into programs because they need the housing support, they need other services, but case management they don't need. Unfortunately, they have to receive that case manager as well. Case managers discharge people for the smallest program violations, and this is one that that probably irritates me the most is you know, it could be missing one appointment, it could be ignoring a case manager coming to your door, could be any of those little things that they're discharged for. Case managers are not responsive. I've heard this from different people before. Clients sometimes say that their case caseloads get too big, and or it's a time management issue, and case managers aren't as responsive as they need to be. And then finally, case managers are not trained well enough. Um, sometimes it's a lack of resources or the need for constant assistance to one client versus the other clients they have, and that makes it a little bit uh that makes it a little bit harder for them to get trained well enough. So let's go ahead and let's discuss some of these points. Um, you know, uh let me start with your offensive points. Um the one that really stood out to me as being maybe the most beneficial, but also maybe one of the mil most misunderstood is the better data and reporting. I mean, without case managers, programs really can't collect the data. They can't collect the information that's necessary to see whether the program's actually working well or not. Now, on the con side of that is sometimes case managers get too caught up in collecting data only, and they lose that whole personal touch of actually letting the client lead them uh on in their case plan or whatever their individual plan is. They're more worried about the outcomes than they are about what the person actually needs. And so it's you know, back and forth. And I agree with some of some of your um pros here in that, you know, um increased client engagement, of course, with case managers there, they get more engagement. Um, they also help with those resources, as you mentioned before, efficient use of the resources. So some of these are pretty good, but I really, I really like that uh better data in report.

SPEAKER_05 14:07

Yeah, I think the data is so important on again the system we use, you know, RCLC uses, most of them use it. That's a way of of like I tell my case manager, that's that's a history and a story of the person. Right. So if they go to get services somewhere else, you can see their kind of where they've been, where they're going, you know, where they're struggling. It's just it's so key to collect all that. You know what I mean? You're big on data. So that's right. Um, I think on your on your defense side, yeah, I some of these uh discharging people for the smallest program, we've talked about this a bunch of times. It is extremely frustrating when, oh well, you don't want to be housed, I'm not gonna work with you no more. That's not the mentality of a case manager, right? It should be okay, this didn't work. And you said the story about the person who got evicted five times, that's right, and they never gave up, right? They kept doing it trying to get them in. So I think just for the smallest violation, and I think that's where the supervisor of the case manager come in, and you know, those conversations of what's going on with your your client, and okay, what do we do next? Don't just exit them. That's just not that doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

And that's where that training comes in, too, is really helping the case manager understand what their real role is. And I hate when I hear that, you know, someone got discharged for this smallest violation or this smallest thing, because it just says to me, your case manager doesn't really know what their job is. Yeah, their job is to try and keep in the program at all costs.

SPEAKER_05 15:28

Even discharging someone for a big thing is what are we doing for them next? That's right. Not just one and done. It's what are you doing next? Okay, they they violated whatever they did. That's right. It was a big issue. That's right. But what are we doing next? It's not just go back in the street, it's what are the options do we have?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

And I think case managers sometimes are in that moment of they have to go, but not what are the other And some of the things that I've actually seen in my in my experience has been when I was a case manager, I know one of the things that we really used to harp on and focus on is if someone wasn't working with me, if you know, for whatever reason they were violating their the rules or or they just wouldn't answer the door when I came there or whatever, sometimes we would change who the case manager was. We would keep them in the program, but realize, look, I'm not the best person to work with this person.

SPEAKER_04 16:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

So let me hand them off to someone else on my team who's another case manager, and then let me take one of their people that maybe they, you know, didn't uh couldn't work with as well. And so switching between that is perfectly fine. It's better than discharging someone from the program altogether and them not getting any services whatsoever.

SPEAKER_05 16:38

So we we I've I've seen instances in different places I've worked where there was a language barrier.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:44

And that just wasn't working. And we had we had to move someone over to uh, let's say a Spanish-speaking case manager to better communicate because that's just not gonna work. If you can't communicate, the the client is gonna get annoyed, they're not gonna come see the case manager. That's right. Then you want to discharge them. So it's it's that's right. So it's kind of finding what their needs are and who the best case manager for that is.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

That's right. And I think on both of these, offense and defense, the the thing about case management is it is that fine line, is there's a balance between those things, the data collecting and keeping people in the program and making sure that they're individualized. You know, like I said, on the defensive side, the case manager holds on to people too long. Sometimes those relationships that they build with people just get way beyond a case manager and a client relationship. And, you know, they get too friendly with them or too personal with them or whatever the case is. And so I I've seen, you know, this fine line that goes between these two things between really good case management and what makes it more or less good, I guess, or bad case management.

SPEAKER_05 17:50

Yeah, and the last one I and just what we talked about was the caseloads, it's how many a case manager can manage. And I think the higher that number, I think the less, I guess, attention that that person is gonna get. Absolutely, which they're gonna fall through the cracks, so they're not gonna get the services they need or just the help that they need. So I think case managers struggle with that a lot is the size of caseloads. And again, it's all because of resources, it's so it varies on all that, but yeah, uh, I call that the the Disney model effect.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

You know, one of the things that I love about Disney is they always have more people than they need, more staff than they need at every everywhere you go in Disney.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

You go into a store and there are 12 people there when they probably could be running the store with six people. But Disney's all about that customer service. And they're like, look, we're not going to get caught up in our people not being able to give individualized service. And I think that's if we could get to that level of scale with case management, I think it would be a whole different game in terms of case management.

SPEAKER_05 18:54

100%.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, absolutely. And of course, uh Pathlite Homes position, uh, what we think is with the appropriate training and level of support, case management is a valuable tool to help residents get into and maintain their housing. But again, we go back to that case management, we go back to the training, we go back to the level of support that they get, and we get all of those things.

SPEAKER_05 19:20

We have made it to the halfway point, and during halftime, we want to take a moment for fan interaction and highlight an inspired quote related to housing and homelessness. So the first one is let's start by hearing from our listeners. So, first question comes from Maria. So, how do you measure success in case management, Carl?

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Oh, wow, that's a good one. Uh, I mean, ultimately, it just comes down to whether they can keep people in housing or not. Uh, that's the that's the number one key. Now, I might add to that, because we just talked about this a little bit. I might add transitioning them on to not need case management. Right. Uh a friend of mine once said uh who's uh who works in the homeless service system, he said, Carl, why should we sentence people to a lifetime of case management? Right. I mean, Danny, you don't have a case manager, do you?

SPEAKER_05 20:11

No.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

I don't have a case manager. No, a lot of people in the world don't have case managers. And I understand that in our in our field, oftentimes people need a little bit of support and they need that system in place to help them for a little while. But the goal should be to wean them off of that and get them out into the world self-sufficient on their own and using natural supports out there. You know, that's what I would measure as success.

SPEAKER_05 20:38

That's kind of that holding on for to people too long. Like there has to be kind of a case plan of what the steps are, what the goals are, because you got to set goals for them, right? So for the clients to see what when it's time to kind of wean them off and say, okay, good luck. I'll still be here.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 20:53

But we don't have to, I don't have to case managers at all. So and it's harder for some people than others, um, because they get used to their case managers. They get, you know, they do, they they rely on them heavily, you know. So to let them go, it's kind of hard. So all right, the next one comes from Steven. Uh, what are the toughest barriers case managers face when helping clients secure housing?

SPEAKER_02 21:13

In terms of securing housing, uh it's your regular things. I mean, affordability is always the biggest one. And honestly, I think with a lot of programs, that's why I see case managers holding on to people too long, is because it's not that they need the level of case management that's there. It's that they can't afford any other housing. And unfortunately, in order to be in the program, or a lot of times the way our programs are set up, in order to be in the program, you have to receive that case management.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Even at a minimal level. You know, I've seen you know, where case manager visits once every two weeks or something like that, and that minimal level. But if if there was affordable housing available, we'd be able to transition people a whole lot easier out of that. And so I think that's that's That's probably the toughest barrier. The other barriers, obviously, are things like identification and you know making sure that people um have all the documents that they need. And then the funding. I mean, the application fees and the security podcast. I mean, trying to get people into housing nowadays is really expensive. You know, I heard uh I was at a a uh fundraiser for another provider recently, and they talked about it taking sometimes five thousand dollars to get someone moved into housing. That's not even paying the rent regularly, that's just getting someone moved in. Now, I think they were talking about a family and a larger unit and larger house. Just a little bit more money, but still but still a lot. I mean, that's just a lot of money for people to come up with to get in and secure that house.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

I mean, it's hard enough to come up with just a one a regular unit, right? You know, but then you think about this, and and a lot of landlords they want that security deposit, they want that, and that's okay, that's fine, but it makes it harder to get someone in. So um, yeah, I I think I agree with you. I think the housing, of course, is the mean main barrier out of everything else that we want to move people in. With us here, again, it's a little easier because we have our own units and we're affordable. Um, but yes, our units come with our programming's come with case management. It is there for them.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:13

Um, so yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Absolutely. It's time to get inspired by our quote of the week, Danny. All right. This one is an oldie but a goodie. Uh the quote of the week this week comes from the Beatles.

SPEAKER_05 23:25

Never heard of them. You've heard of them? Never? Never heard of them? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

Yeah. A new group. Uh, you know. Uh, and uh the quote this week is I get by with a little help from my friends. Um, hopefully, our producer will, you know, give us a little uh background music to go along with that. We'll see. Um but anyway, but uh yeah, um and again this fits in with that case management, you know. Case management, the idea of case management is to get them is to be that support system for them and and to do those types of things. So but not but not be their friend, but not be their friend, that's exactly right. And so that leads me to my little story, my little short story. So when I was in charge of uh case managers, uh I was the the director of the case management department, and I had case managers working under me several years ago. One of the things that we would do from time to time is we'd do surveys with our residents or our clients, and um we had case managers go out and you know survey people and things like this, obviously trying to figure out you know, customer service and how well we're doing, all these different things. But one of the questions that I added to our survey was who is your best friend? And it was interesting for case managers to come back and have written on their surveys that their clients said that they were their best friend. The case manager was their best friend. And I said, You're wrong. I said, You're wrong. I said they cannot be your best friend. I said, you are a professional who's getting paid to help these people, to support these people and get them and keep them in housing, but you should be moving them on to some kind of self-sufficiency where they can have friends out in the community. And again, it's that transition from relying on me as your case manager as your only support system to now building your own natural support system. And again, we don't have case managers, right, Danny? You and I, we don't have case managers, but we have natural support systems, you know. We have spouses, we have family members, we have, you know, groups that we hang out with outside of our homes.

SPEAKER_05 25:45

Yeah. So yeah, no, I agree. I think that uh again, kind of what we discussed is that enabling and you know, it's clients holding on to you, and it's it it is that you're doing a good job with them because they trust you and they want to work with you, but you have to draw that line of where it's professional and once you it becomes personal, it it just it's gonna cross a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

That's absolutely right.

SPEAKER_05 26:07

So but I think it's just setting those boundaries with the client right away and say, I'm here for you for this, this, and this, but I'm not here for this, this, and this with you.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

That's exactly right. And or to be here forever. Forever, right? You know, that's not the goal here. The goal is to get you out and meeting other people in the community.

SPEAKER_05 26:23

And I think that's what case managers should do is start helping them going out to churches and going out to community events and just start meeting people and networking and just getting to know more people. And it it'll it'll kind of make them forget the case manager eventually.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

So that's exactly right. Yeah, and uh uh Danny, I know this was a part of our segment, but I have a bonus story for you. I just thought of it off the top of my head as we're sitting here. Um uh this is uh uh story of a gentleman who was who got into a program. Uh he was kind of a big biker dude or whatever, you know, you know, the typical stereotypical biker dude that you would see. Huge guy, wore leather all the time, had the beard, the tattoos, all this good stuff. So his case manager told him he had to start, you know, getting involved in the community, and you know, because they were trying to transition him out to do other things. And he went to a community center, so they took him to a community center and you know, looked at all the activities that were there, and and of all the things that he could choose, he signed up for knitting.

SPEAKER_04 27:28

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Knitting, right? Okay, so here's this big biker dude as he goes into this this knitting group with all these older ladies, these you know, tiny older ladies sitting around knitting and all this stuff. And the the cool thing about this was he knew exactly what he was doing because when he went in there and he got in that group, all these little old ladies just surrounded him and loved him and just like you know, made him part of their community. The story goes, he never once knitted anything at the knitting at the knitting sessions. Okay, but he also never had to never had to prepare any of his own meals. They had meals for him and they would come visit him and all kinds of stuff. That's great. And that's a great transition, you know, and and understanding what your needs are and what you need out in the community and getting those paired up is just absolutely, you know, crucial to getting people out in the community on their own and getting those natural supports. But definitely.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yeah, I thought that was I thought that was a pretty good story when I heard that one as well.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

All right. Uh, and that concludes our halftime. Please stay with us after this short message.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Hello everyone. I'm Carl Falconer, the president and CEO of Pathlight Home. And I'm often asked by many in the community, what can I do to help end homelessness? I would like to invite you to join Path Light Home's efforts. Pathlight Home is a 501c3 nonprofit organization in Central Florida. We currently have 560 units of housing that we provide to individuals experiencing homelessness. But we also provide additional support through employment resource centers and mental health services. We have a drop-in day center where people can come in from the heat, do laundry, get meals, all in preparation to get them into housing eventually and off the streets. Community involvement is key to the success of our efforts, and we love when community members want to get involved with Pathlight Home. There are three things we invite you to do to help. Number one, consider supporting us with funding. No donation is too small, and every dollar has an impact on our community. You can go to pathlighthome.org and click our donate button to contribute anytime. Number two is volunteering. We love to have volunteers come in and help us with any of our projects. We have ongoing projects and needs, but are also open to individuals and groups sharing specific talents in ways that build up our residence. Number three is take a tour with us. Come here to our facility and see what we do for yourself. It's the best way to get an inside look at what we're doing at Pathlight Home each day. We think it's important to understand the work it takes to fight homelessness and love the opportunity to meet community members who are passionate about the issue. We love our Central Florida community and are grateful every day for the continued support. And again, to get involved, go to pathlighthome.org. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 30:44

All right, it's now time to kick off the third quarter by highlighting the goodwill and good works in the NFL community, looking at how our local football teams fared and announcing our NFL home team locks of the week. So this week's spotlight of the week goes to hen NFL Hall of Famer Patrick Willis, traded to the gridiron for dining room, as he teamed up with Pepsi and San Francisco 49ers to provide free meals to fans and residents at DeLancy Street restaurant. The former 49ers lineback was met with cheers and admiration as he greeted fans in the heart of the city, serving burgers and sodas while sharing messages of inspiration with those rebuilding their lives to the Delancy Street Foundation rehabilitation program. There is no place like the Bay Area, Willis said. Maybe I'm a little biased. This is where I spend my whole professional career, and it's love. It's love here. And so to be able to come here and to receive the 49ers' love, to receive the love from the Lancy Street residents, it's really special. The Lancy Street restaurant is staffed and operated by individuals participating in the foundation's residential program, which offers a second chance to those overcoming addiction, homelessness, and incarceration. It's more than a restaurant, Will has said. It gives people a second chance at life to turn around and be positive.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

So I looked up the Lancy Street Foundation and read up on a little bit on them. They do a lot of good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

They do a lot. I'm very familiar with the Delancey Station. Oh, you are? Oh. I never heard of them. Oh, yeah. They're a huge organization. They do really, really great stuff. Yeah. Um, they do, they give really, really good uh opportunities to people, uh, whether it's restaurants, I think they have a moving company, they have a security company. I mean, they've really developed the this is a nonprofit that really developed into kind of a for-profit business to feed their nonprofit organizations.

SPEAKER_05 32:36

And they're in different in different states. Yeah, not just it's not just San Francisco. But yeah, I think it was great that he's giving back. And again, for yeah, like I said, they always give back where they're at, and then you go back home. But he's doing great, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

And Patrick Willis is was a fantastic player. I mean, he really was. He was a great player for the San Francisco 49ers. So it's really great to hear that he's you know giving back and and part of that.

SPEAKER_05 32:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

All right, Carl. Fantasy football player. All right, we're not laughing anymore, Danny. We're not laughing anymore.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

I was like, that's nothing to make fun of now. Exactly. All right, my fantasy football player pick of the week last week was Justin Herbert, the quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers. They played Indianapolis. He was expected to get 18 points. He got 33 points. Danny, just like I said he would. Yeah, right. I called it. You're one four. Hey, hey, hey, we won't talk about that. I'm 1-0 this week. 1-0 this week. He had a great game. Absolutely. Yes, he did. Um, this week, uh, my fantasy football player for next week is Josh Jacobs. He's a running back for Green Bay. They're playing at Pittsburgh. He's expected to get 14 points. And if Green Bay wants to win, I really think that he's gonna have to overproduce that. Um, Pittsburgh's been playing pretty high at a pretty high level offensively. I know defensively they kind of slacked a little bit this last weekend. Cincinnati beat them. Uh Joe Flacco can't, you know, moved to Cincinnati and then beat Pittsburgh there after beating Pittsburgh in Cleveland earlier. So, you know.

SPEAKER_05 34:13

Um how's Josh Jacobs doing so far this year?

SPEAKER_02 34:15

He's not doing too bad. Um, again, he's expected to get 14 points, so that's that's a little higher than normal for most fantasy football players, but um, but he's doing pretty good. He's doing pretty good. So I think he's gonna have to outproduce it though against Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

You did good, you did good. Now we're gonna look at our local football teams to watch. So call our teams did really, really well this week. Yeah, they did. So I'm gonna let you go and take talk about Jones.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Yeah, Jones High School. Uh, we played Wakiva and we beat them 56 to 0. I don't think Wakiva was uh quite the competition we were looking for. Uh but that makes us six and two. Uh in Florida, we're number 40 ranked, and in Orlando, we're still number two ranked. So Jones is rolling, and it's almost getting to playoff time, so we're almost ready to ready to roll right into the playoffs. Hopefully there's a championship in our future this this uh this year. Um our next uh opponent is uh versus Lake Region, so Jones High School versus Lake Region next week. And on to Boone.

SPEAKER_05 35:17

Yeah, so Boone played uh Colonial. We won 58 to nothing. Had to be not talking Jones, but 50. I called them during the game. I was like, we need two more. We need two more safety or something. Uh but yeah, we're 50 uh 58 to nothing. Um we are currently 8-0. So we'll have to us this year. Rolling. Yeah, uh, we're actually 44 so far um in Florida rankings, and we've moved up to number nine. So we are we're we're chasing you guys. Closing in on us, absolutely. So I was looking back at uh when we first started where the rankings were just shooting up like really fast. So they had a great game. Uh so uh this week they are playing Freedom High School. Um never heard of the school, but no, I haven't either. Um but yeah, Freedom High School, and they're playing on the 24th. Uh so now we're gonna look at the locks of the week, predicting the home team to win each week. So, call, um you had call uh you had Indianapolis versus the Chargers.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Yeah, I had the Chargers at home versus Indianapolis. Unfortunately, they did not come through for me. Uh Indy won that game 38 to 24, so that takes me down to three and four on the season.

SPEAKER_05 36:24

All right.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Um Danny, I think you had a little better luck.

SPEAKER_05 36:27

Yeah, we hit we uh it was the Texans at Seattle. Um I picked the Seattle Seahawks just because somebody I know loves that team and was like, you'd never picked them. I was like, I'll pick them for you.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

There you go.

SPEAKER_05 36:37

So she's happy right now with that, but she's sad that the Mariners lost in baseball. So um, but yeah, they they so I'm uh five and two right now. So uh that's my uh you're rolling, dude. I know, I know. I've had some good weeks. Yeah, um, so then your weeks, selections, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

My selection this week. Then you gotta do it. I think after uh four-game winning streak, I think uh Chicago is uh ready for a loss probably this week. We're going to Baltimore. As I said earlier, Baltimore, I think, is gonna get back a lot of their players this week, and I think they're gonna be really, really hungry for a win. Uh we've been on a streak now. We're four and you know, four and oh for our last four games.

SPEAKER_05 37:20

You think I'm questioning your loyalty now?

SPEAKER_02 37:21

No, I I just looks at the game and I'm like, I think this is a trap game for us. I think we're feeling a little bit too good about our team, and I think Baltimore really needs this win. If they if they lose this game, they could they could be risking not making the playoffs at all.

SPEAKER_05 37:38

And that's my Super Bowl pick, so they they better win. Yeah, exactly. What about they've been having a rough week, yeah. A rough season. Uh so I have your nemesis, the Packers against the Steelers, and um, I am picking the Steelers. I love that pick, Danny. I love it. Six and two. That's what I'm hoping. Six and two. Good pick. So again, uh my that's my dad's favorite team as well, so I'm I'm catering to the people that listen to us. Oh, good. So I picked the Steelers. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

We'll see. All right. Well, stay tuned for our wrap-up after this message.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Hello, I'm Gigi Ramirez, the Senior Director of Fundraising and Engagement here at Pathlight Home. For over 30 years, we've helped more than 8,000 people transition from homelessness to hope. But when someone moves from the streets to their own home, they often have nothing. That's why we provide immediate essentials, everything from bedding and food to soap and cookware to help them truly feel at home. Beyond housing, Pathlight offers career training and supportive services, like our 12-week culinary program, helping residents gain skills, find jobs, and rebuild independence. You can be part of the story, volunteer your time, donate essential goods, or become a monthly Pathlight hero, ensuring every neighbor has a chance to thrive. Visit pathlighthome.org to donate today.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

All right, so I'll start it with the MVP of the week, the homelessness MVP of the week. Um, as we mentioned, uh the Florida Coalition to End Homelessness Conference is going on this week. So our MVP of the week is Greg Colburn. He is the co-author of the book Homelessness is a Housing Issue. I actually got to meet Greg when I was in Asheville, North Carolina. He's fantastic, great guy. Um he's speaking this week at the Florida Coalition to End Homelessness Conference, but also he agreed to speak to a small amount of community leaders here in Central Florida at the request of the Homeless Services Network. So Greg is great. I mean, he does, you know, speaking engagements, he goes to conferences. Ever since I've written that book, he's been out there really not even highlighting his book, but really trying to educate people about what the causes of homelessness are.

SPEAKER_05 40:18

When did that book come out?

SPEAKER_02 40:19

Uh it came out uh a couple of years ago. Um, I want to say two 2023, maybe 2022, somewhere there. Yeah, it's fairly new. Yeah. Yeah. This is one of the newest, one of the newer works on uh homelessness and housing. So using rich and detailed data, this groundbreaking book, the as I said, homelessness is a housing issue, explains why homelessness has become a crisis in America and reveals the structural conditions that underlie it. In homelessness is a housing problem, Greg Colburn and his co-author, Clayton Page Aldern, seek to explain the substantial regional variation in rates of homelessness in cities across the United States. In a departure from many analytical approaches, Colburn and Aldern shift their focus from the individual experiencing homelessness to the metropolitan area. Using accessible statistical analysis, they test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city, including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low income mobility, and find that none of those things explain the regional variation observed across the country.

SPEAKER_04 41:40

Instead, you want to guess what it is that that determines housing.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

It's housing. Exactly. It's the housing market condition, such as the cost and availability of rental housing. That's the only thing that accounts for the differences in homelessness across the country. And to Greg's credit, he has spent time since the book came out speaking to communities throughout the country. He is also a huge fan of the Washington Huskies uh football team. Uh when I met Greg, I got to meet him in Asheville, North Carolina. Uh he was talking about Michael Penix Jr., the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, though, who is leading his Huskies to the championship game uh for the NCAA. Unfortunately, they didn't win. Um, but he is a huge fan of the Washington Huskies and just an all-around great guy. Greg's wonderful, but it's it was really great hearing his presentation. If you ever get a chance to hear it or read his book, uh it's it's fantastic because it really does do a deep dive data analysis of all the things that people think cause homelessness. And what he what they find is from place to place. They, you know, uh an example of that is they talk about, I think, I think in his presentation he did previously that I saw, he was talking about Alabama, right? Alabama has some of the highest rates of poverty in the entire country, but there's very little homelessness. And the reason is because rents are low and affordable housing is available in Alabama. And so it doesn't make any sense, though, that the poorest people would not have the highest homeless rates. But it's true. It's true in some of the poorest areas, homelessness is the lowest because rent is low. People can't afford anything else.

SPEAKER_05 43:30

Yeah, yeah. I think if you're talking about homelessness and you're not talking about housing, it it doesn't there's no sense in that. Yeah, you're gonna talk about all these other things, mental health, and you still have to housing is to keep it without that. We did we can't address all the other things if we're not working with people to get them housed.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

Absolutely. So that's our MVP of the week, Greg Colburn.

SPEAKER_05 43:50

Yep. So now on to our fumble of the week. Uh this week is uh a Beverly Hills man was arrested in a federal fraud uh in federal fraud cases involved. Involving the misuse of public money earmarked for California's homelessness crisis, prosecutors announced. Federal officials held a press comp press conference Thursday morning to announce the charges, with representatives from the FBI, the IRS, and the U.S. Department of Justice speaking at the U.S. Courthouse on Spring Street. Accountability for the misuse of billions of tax dollars intended to combat homeless starts today, said acting U.S. Attorney Bill Esali, I guess. Charges have been filed against Cody Holmes 31, the former chief financial officer of Shangri-La Industries. Holmes faces male fraud charges after allegedly submitted fake bank records and balance sheets to the State Housing Department to obtain nearly $26 million in grant money as part of uh Governor Gavin Newsom's Project Home Key initiative, which turns old hotels into transitional housing for the unhoused. That money was intended for projects in Thousand Oaks, Redlands, and King City. According to the federal complaint, Holmes claimed Shangri-La and its affiliates held about $160 million in available funds. My God, that's a lot. Prosecutors say those accounts never existed. Instead, Holmes allegedly funneled millions into personal American Express accounts to fund purchases at luxury luxury retailers. Holmes was arrested Thursday morning. Salee said the FBI and IRS criminal investigation are leading the probe. Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

This is what gives our industry such a bad name. Yeah. You know, is things like this, where people are are using money that's intended to provide housing and services to individuals experiencing homelessness and then funneling it to other things. Look, we deal in large amounts of money on a regular basis. I mean, we have projects, capital projects that are happening right now here that are millions of dollars worth of things. And we have to be accountable and we have to make sure that we're doing the best and being as efficient as we possibly can with all of the dollars that we get. Because we need every single penny to be able to go to the that housing and those services. And to see this and this be wasted by you know someone funneling it to you know uh advance their lifestyle basically and you know do that, it's just it's criminal.

SPEAKER_05 46:24

Yeah, I yeah, that's just that just gets me mad. Yeah, just seeing someone take advantage of the system and take advantage of, you know, and and and now taking advantage of people who don't have anything, who are trying to get something and just yeah, it's not good.

SPEAKER_02 46:38

So yeah, absolutely. All right, and finally, here's our key takeaway for this episode. The number one thing that keeps people from becoming homeless is a good community support system. Whether it's a professional support system like case management or a natural support system, it can and will keep people housed. I know a lot of people, the the one saying, and I think we've talked about this in one of our previous episodes, you know, you're one week away from being homeless, one paycheck away. The reality is that most people aren't one week away or one paycheck away, and that's because they have support systems. But people who don't have support systems or stable support systems in place, they really are on the verge of becoming homeless, regardless of your paycheck or regardless of whatever. If you don't have a good support system in place, there's a real good probability or possibility that you could become homeless almost any time that you're out there.

SPEAKER_05 47:34

Yeah, no, I agree. I think that's that's something we do well here is if we see someone struggling or someone having some type of crisis that they might lose their housing, you gotta talk to us so we can jump in and try to fix it for you. And if we don't have the resources, we go out and find it somewhere else to help you. Again, we don't want to we don't want anyone living here to go back out on the street. Correct. And then someone from the outside coming in who's just needing assistance, we help them as much as we can. But again, if we don't have the resources, we have multiple partners and people we know that we can just make a phone call, and then we get phone calls as well, right? Of people asking us, hey, we don't know what to do with this person, can you provide some services? And we can. So it's all a partnership and it's all working well with other agencies and yeah, and the community.

SPEAKER_02 48:16

And again, it's that case manager that's at linchpin. Yep. Because once people start to, you know, spiral or start to, you know, something bad happens or whatever the case is, that case manager stepping in, providing that little bit of support to them. Right, it's like your best friend or your family or you know, or whoever, your pastor or your community people, you know, giving that just that little support for you to get you through it, and then trying to get you beyond it to other natural supports.

SPEAKER_05 48:45

Yeah, definitely. All right, so that concludes our episode for the week. Remember, if you have any questions or comments for us, please email us at questions at pathlight home. And as always, we leave the last words for our beloved co founder, the late Reverend Fred Maxwell.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

I'm still dreaming. I'm still dreaming that we will become uh able and sufficient to increase uh the housing of homeless. This is merely a beginning.