There is also a clear need to reengage homeless individuals who have been unable to access the traditional system and use its available supports to move off the street.  The challenge lies in re-engaging this more chronically homeless population whose experience over many years is now characterized by self-isolation and alienation. At the same time, there is a separate but equally critical need to engage people who are recently homeless before they become inculturated to life on the street. 

We meet the need for re-engagement by placing outreach workers on the street where they build personal relationships with homeless people wherever they are at upon the continuum of care and help recreate supportive communities. We capitalize upon the provision of basic services to support this process through a unique system of barter exchange. In this system, homeless individuals barter for the basic services they identify, with work undertaken at our facility and in the surrounding neighborhood. As individuals work for services, they avoid traditional relationships of dependency and begin to recapture a sense of dignity. This concept that homeless individuals are capable of contributing and must be the primary agents in their transition is a powerful catalyst for change and positive progress along the harm reduction continuum.