Connecticut Supportive Housing Quality Initiative

Program Overview

The primary goal of the Connecticut Supportive Housing Quality Initiative is the support and improvement of supportive housing programs funded by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). The Quality Initiative monitors programs for overall quality of policies and practices, housing units, and services experienced by tenants. The core components of the Initiative are the Supportive Housing Quality Initiative Review Process and the Supportive Housing Quality Initiative Learning Collaborative.

Program Background

The Connecticut Supportive Housing Quality Initiative (formerly known as the Quality Assurance Program) has been in operation since 2007. In 2012, CSH, DMHAS and Center for Urban and Community Services engaged with CT supportive housing agency staff to evaluate and revise the program. The revised quality review process delivered new standards for on-site reviews and information gathering, a revised Assessment/Acuity Index, and most significantly the addition of provider representation through peer reviewers as part of each review team. In late 2015, after the completion of the first round of quality reviews, CT supportive housing providers met with CSH, DMHAS, and Housing Innovations to make recommendations to further improve and enhance the review process. Lessons learned were incorporated into the current 2016-2018 Supportive Housing Quality review process.

Goals

The Connecticut Supportive Housing Quality Initiative operates as a collaborative process between DMHAS and supportive housing providers from across the state. The goals of the program are to:

Help ensure better outcomes for supportive housing tenants, especially those with multiple barriers to housing stability;

Build the capacity of the supportive housing industry to create and operate high quality, effective and sustainable supportive housing units; and

Help ensure that existing resources for supportive housing are being used efficiently and effectively and to support the allocation of new resources.

Quality Initiative Activities

The Connecticut Supportive Housing Quality Initiative takes a systematic approach to improve and strengthen the quality of supportive housing in Connecticut. All activities are intended to help providers improve quality in a supportive and helpful way. As such, CSH works with both DMHAS and the supportive housing providers to complete the following activities:

• Setting basic standards for supportive housing operations, philosophy and outcomes;
• Assessing individual programs through a peer review process utilizing common standards to identify strengths that can be shared and challenges that can be overcome;
• Developing standard tools that programs can use to enhance quality;
• Providing opportunities for programs to collaborate and learn from each other; and
• Conducting training and providing learning opportunities for program staff.

Standard Tools & Forms

These standard tools and forms can help providers enhance the quality of service provision and program operations. It is recommended that supportive housing providers use the forms below in the operation of their programs. If agencies have other forms that are currently in place, we recommend that you reach out to CSH and/or DMHAS to review the forms in order to ensure that they will be adequate for the site review.