Douglas County, Kansas, is launching a lived experience compensation policy as part of a strategic plan to address homelessness in the county. Approved on September 13, 2023, the policy will pay community members who have experienced homelessness or housing insecurity for short-term engagements and for serving on county boards and committees. The goal is to address barriers that prevent people from participating in the decision-making process regarding issues that affect them.
The policy is the result of HUD guidance that stresses the importance of paying people with lived experiences of homelessness to participate in the creation and implementation of homelessness policy. The guidelines suggest that people with a personal knowledge of homelessness can make vital contributions to relevant programs. HUD also stresses that “compensation acknowledges and affirms the contributions of people with lived experience and expertise of homelessness, addresses inequalities between those who are and those who are not paid to engage in work, and helps break down barriers to participation.”
Jill Jolicoeur, assistant county administrator for Douglas County and treasurer for the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition, says that Douglas County has much room to improve when it comes to lived experience compensation policies for homelessness programming. The policy’s approval comes after the 2022 Douglas County Homelessness Needs Assessment drew heavily from the relevant lived experience of community members. The new policy is similar to other policies enacted by Douglas County, which has an established Peer Fellows Program that pays people with lived experience of mental illness and addiction to support other community members.
The county’s housing and homelessness stakeholder group steering committee’s five-year strategic plan to address homelessness has prioritized equity and inclusion. The committee formulated the plan after researching similar policies enacted by Ramsey County, Minnesota, the Washington State Office of Equity, and the LA County Transit Authority.
The Douglas County policy will pay people with lived experience to provide input on Douglas County initiatives in a short-term or long-term capacity. Short-term engagements include attending board or committee meetings and participating in a focus group. Short-term engagements will pay $25 per event. Participants may also serve on a board or committee, a more intensive role that will pay $50 per meeting. The maximum compensation for any individual will be $599 per fiscal year. (Participants must complete a 1099 tax form if that amount is exceeded.) Payments will come in the form of cash, check vouchers, or approved non-monetary compensation, such as food, transportation, or parking vouchers. The compensation will also provide additional incentives for individuals with lived experience, as they typically volunteer and have limited time availability.
The new policy will “allow Douglas County to operationalize our community’s goals related to housing insecurity and homelessness by authentically engaging the individuals that stand to benefit or potentially be harmed by public policies and programs,” said Jolicoeur, when asked how the policy would impact the community.
Though the policy has now been approved, the final version of the five-year strategic plan still needs to be submitted to county and city elected bodies by the end of December for approval by January 2024. The Lived Experience Advisory Council will then be installed and will begin to build a framework throughout the next year.
Read more about the concept of lived experience in this blog post: https://hfront.org/2023/10/11/what-is-lived-experience/
Learn about the future of the Douglas County policy by e-mailing Jill Jolicoeur at: [email protected]