Originally published on CASAHOPE’s website.
PAPER OVERVIEW
Today CASAColumbia® has released the fourth and final project paper from CASAHOPESM (Housing Opportunities Program Evaluation). Public Service Use and Costs Associated with NY/NY III’s Supportive Housing for Active Substance Userspresents findings from CASAHOPE’s service utilization and cost analysis of New York/New York (NY/NY) III’s Housing First for chronically homeless individuals whose substance use is a primary barrier to housing. The NY/NY III agreement is an agreement between New York State and New York City to provide over 9,000 units of supportive housing between 2005 and 2015.
Using administrative data for both those who received housing and a comparison group of similar individuals who were eligible for housing but were not placed due to availability of units, CASAColumbia scientists in the treatment research and analysis division examined service use and associated costs across multiple publicly-funded systems.
STUDY FINDINGS
The study found that NY/NY III supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals whose substance use is a primary barrier to housing was successful in reducing tenant use of shelters, jail and medical services. Reductions in crisis service use were associated with considerable cost savings for tenants in the year after being housed, such that savings were approximately the same as the cost of the housing program.
To learn more about CASAHOPE and this paper’s findings please click here.
