“Is it actually possible to end homelessness in Vermont? A new report prepared for the legislature looks at whether the state is on the right track in tackling the problem, and maps out what it would take to make homelessness a thing of the past.” Vermont Public Radio and NPR looked at the report’s conclusions, the progress that’s been made, and what’s still to be done.

Listen to the interview with Larry Oaks, who led the team from CSH that prepared the report, and Vermont Secretary of Human Services Al Gobeille. Click here for access to the full recording. And click here to read more about how Vermont Governor Phil Scott is now leveraging the CSH recommendations to create affordable housing in his state.

Download the full report, Vermont Roadmap to End Homelessness.

This first of its kind national needs assessment of supportive housing was developed by looking at data across a spectrum of public systems. Supportive housing is a subset of the much larger affordable and private housing markets, and represents a small but critical portion of housing and services needs nationally.

This report presents the total number of supportive housing units needed to meet the current need. CSH estimates that approximately 1.1 million individuals and families in the United States have needs consistent with supportive housing.

For access to our interactive data map, to look at the need by state or population, click here. Detailed population reports are also available here, scroll down for the reports. (updated May, 2019)

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: INDEPENDENT EVALUATOR FOR JIR PFS (DUE 10/28)

CSH and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), in partnership with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and the County CEO’s Office, are launching the first Pay for Success (PFS) initiative in the County – JIR PFS. With support from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Justice (DOJ) Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Demonstration initiative, CSH is seeking a qualified independent evaluator for JIR PFS.

Over a five year period, JIR PFS will create 300 supportive housing “slots” for homeless, frequently incarcerated individuals in LA County Jail. The initiative will target the most vulnerable individuals in LA County jails – high cost users of public systems who are homeless and frequently incarcerated – and connect them with supportive housing and comprehensive wrap-around supportive services. JIR PFS’s program design includes in-reach supportive services, coordinated discharge, interim and permanent supportive housing placement, move-in assistance, and ongoing case management for individuals who are homeless and within the LA County criminal justice system. JIR service providers will receive referrals from a variety of touch points within the LA County criminal justice systems, including but not limited to the jail mental health clinicians, jail medical staff, and alternative sentencing courts.

JIR PFS will be evaluated for two purposes: (1) verifying outcomes tied to payments made to investors (i.e., housing stability and recidivism) and (2) estimating the broader impact of JIR PFS on individuals’ use of a spectrum of publicly-funded services. The appropriate subcontractor will be able to assist with various items, including:

• Design an evaluation methodology
• Identify all data inputs required to track
• Determine outcome measures for the PFS project
• Work with the PFS intermediary (CSH) to verify calculations about the amount of money to be paid back to investors based on the number of successful outcomes, per agreements with investors
• Participate in quarterly Steering Committee and occasional monthly Operating Committee meetings
• Develop a timeline and plan for data collection and reporting out

The subcontractor’s work will mainly comprise of the following:

Evaluation Design
The subcontractor and CSH will work closely together to ensure that the evaluation design is compatible with the program design and the plan for service delivery. The evaluation will answer the following questions:

1. Were housing stability and recidivism performance goals sufficiently met to trigger payments to investors?
2. Does supportive housing increase housing stability measures while decreasing the utilization of high-cost public services?

Broader Impact Analysis
The subcontractor will conduct a broader impact analysis of the impact of PSH on the utilization of a spectrum of publically funded health, public health, mental health, social, and criminal justice services and the associated costs of those services. Though the findings will not be tied to success measures and payments, this broader analysis will determine whether the results of the intervention result in significant costs savings. 

Ensuring Data Security
The subcontractor will work with CSH to ensure proper data sharing and storing procedures. Prior to commencing the evaluation, the subcontractor will be responsible for developing a process to match service records for individuals across different department datasets without identifying the individual personal records or information. The subcontractor will also be responsible for ensuring safe transfer of information between various partners.

Subcontractor and CSH coordination
The subcontractor and CSH will work closely together to merge the expertise of each organization in order to ensure that the evaluation is conducted in the most comprehensive, complete, and secure manner possible. Coordination will occur via in-person meetings, e-mail, and phone.

Milestones and Deliverables: 

• The selected evaluator will provide an evaluation plan that includes a methodological approach to evaluating the Just in Reach Pay for Success project, and a data collection plan that will include a description of procedures to collect the data necessary for evaluation of the project.
• The selected evaluator will conduct 7 data pulls that combine LASD, HMIS data, and DHS administrative data (July 2018 to July 2021) for the purposes of determining the amount of money to be paid back to investors.
• The selected evaluator will conduct 2 data pulls from the Enterprise Linkage Project:
  • The first data pull will occur two years into the project (July 1, 2019). Potential deliverables from first data pull include:
    1. Description of program participants, their pre-program utilization rates and costs (no comparison group analyses)
    2. Description of “early” findings using subsample of 150 participants that have been enrolled more than 12 months; examine pre- and post-housing service utilization and costs for the 150 participants that have been enrolled at least 12 months
    3. Compare 150 participants to a comparison group on service utilization and costs
• • The second data pull will occur four years into the project (July 1, 2021) for the purposes of conducting the broader impact analysis detailed above. Potential deliverables from the second data pull include:
    1. Examine service utilization and costs for 300 treatment individuals (and a comparison group) from 24 months pre-program to July 2021
  • Attend quarterly Steering Committee and occasional monthly Operating Committee meetings and prepare presentations/materials for investors and other stakeholders.

Funding Available:
An amount not to exceed $400,000 is available for this project.

Application Process:
In order for consideration to become a subcontractor and participate in this work, we will need you to complete and return the below application and forms no later than Friday, October 28, 2016.

You may include up to 6 staff members in the application. The following forms are included:

• Attachment A: Application Letter
• Attachment B: Subcontractor Information and Budget (including billing rates)
• Attachment C: Financial and Administrative Requirements

All of the application information and forms must be completed and submitted to Tom Haskin (tom.haskin@csh.org) no later than Friday, October 28, 2016 in order to be considered. This information includes proposed billing rates, proposed project budget information, completed copies of the forms referenced above, resumes for up to six proposed staff members, and a narrative description (limited to 5 pages) of your organization’s core competencies and accomplishments.

Evaluation:
CSH will evaluate applications utilizing the following criteria and will select the highest-scoring valid proposal: 

• Demonstrated successful performance of substantially similar work (up to 20 points);
• Relevant project work, including Pay for Success project work (up to 25 points);
• Experience and expertise, including 1) experience with the Enterprise Linkages Project (ELP) integrated data system in Los Angeles County, 2) familiarity with evaluating homeless programs and supportive housing projects, and
• expertise in cross-system data matching to measure service utilization for homeless clients (up to 25 points);
• Years of relevant experience (up to 10 points);
• Rate reasonableness and overall cost of services (up to 10 points); and
• Proximity to and knowledge of Los Angeles (up to 10 points)

We will contact you regarding the determination of adding you as a CSH subcontractor. Please note that CSH requires subcontractors, including individuals and sole proprietors, to carry workers’ compensation insurance while performing work under a CSH subcontract.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail Danielle Wildkress at Danielle.Wildkress@csh.org.

Real Supportive Housing Need in New York State

A Statewide Supportive Housing Needs Assessment Based on data collected & evaluated by CSH

CSH conducted a first-of-its-kind assessment of supportive housing need in eight communities across seven geographic areas of New York State, including New York City. The goal is to better utilize existing data to understand where the greatest concentration of supportive housing needs are in the state and to assist decision-makers in efficiently allocating supportive housing resources to New Yorkers struggling with, or at risk of, homelessness.

About the Communities

The 8 communities selected for the needs assessment accounted for nearly 95% of the State’s total homeless population in 2013.

• NYC accounts for a lion’s share of the total homeless percentage (83%), the remaining seven selected areas compose 12% of the State’s homeless population, and the remaining 45 counties account for approximately 5%.
• This is important for understanding where the State’s highest concentrations of homeless individuals and families reside and also the significant pockets of homelessness outside of New York City.

What We Found

We estimate 36,164 homeless households (30,311 Adult, 5,853 Families) were in need of supportive housing in 2013 and that nearly 32,000 supportive housing units must be created in the near future just to meet this unmet need. Access the chart showing the statewide breakdown of numbers here.

Recommendations

• State and local decision-makers should consider the findings from this assessment to inform near-term resource allocation decisions and deploy resources within each of the areas identified in this report.
• The State should establish a clearinghouse where uniform and complete data encompassing all populations served by supportive housing is collected, reported and available on an ongoing basis – data should go beyond “homeless” to also include those seeking refuge from domestic violence, those re-entering the community from jails/prisons and those with disabilities transitioning from institutional settings into the community.
• The State should invest in regular comprehensive assessments of supportive housing need that rely on a whole-person and person-centered approach, encompassing a holistic understanding of the multiple complexities individuals and families face, versus an over-reliance on diagnosis-specific categories of need.
• The State should focus on capturing useful information on individuals and families crossing multiple systems and amassing high costs to public agencies.
• A long-term plan and commitment to create supportive housing is needed from all levels of government to begin to address this large gap in supply as compared to demand for supportive housing.

Full Report

Press Release Announcing Report

Access Latest News on Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing

Four organizations intent on simultaneously addressing the most complex instances of homelessness, reducing healthcare costs and improving medical and mental well-being are meeting this week on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor to advance their plans to grow an effective model that blends housing with health services. Providers from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Connecticut are convening with their site host, Avalon Housing, as part of the CSH Social Innovation Fund (SIF) national initiative, locally known as FUSE (Frequent Users Systems Engagement) in the Ann Arbor area.

“Avalon Housing and our partners in Washtenaw County are really excited about this opportunity to meet with all SIF providers, to share our work on SIF/FUSE and highlight the progress being made by each of the four communities,” said Carole McCabe, Executive Director of Avalon Housing. “These are some of the brightest and best innovators in the country, working every day to figure out and implement what it takes to end homelessness and provide housing and cost-effective healthcare to our most vulnerable neighbors.”

CSH is leading a five-year national initiative to address the problems of homelessness and rising health care costs by demonstrating how supportive housing pulls people with the most complex issues out of the revolving door of costly crisis services. Backed by a prestigious federal Social Innovation Fund award from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the initiative is leveraging the FUSE model of housing linked to health services that saves public dollars and improves the lives of very vulnerable men and women.

“States and communities spend billions of dollars each year on programs that simply bounce vulnerable people around between shelters, hospitals, detox centers, and then back on the streets again, never really addressing their needs or improving their situations,” said Sarah Gallagher, CSH Director of Strategic Initiatives. “These individuals and families are forced to be super-utilizers or what is known as frequent users of costly crisis services, and they are overtaxing ERs, shelters, jails and other emergency care. SIF is all about using the FUSE model to change this paradigm so that people are off the streets for good, in real housing, with ongoing and preventative healthcare to keep them healthy at a lower cost to all of us.”

CSH estimates super-utilizers are about 5% of those homeless for longer periods of time and that they absorb approximately 50% of the cost of services due to the fact that homelessness exacerbates health issues, limits access to effective care, and inhibits healthy behaviors.

To date, the CSH SIF initiative has found housing for over 500 people nationally, with over 90% remaining housed and over 85% retaining primary healthcare that reduces their regular visits to hospital emergency departments and other crisis care.

CSH works with four teams across the country that are using supportive housing integrated with care management, and primary and behavioral health, to improve outcomes while decreasing public costs among individuals with complex needs. The teams are:

1. Avalon Housing – Ann Arbor, MI
2. AIDS Connecticut – Connecticut (statewide)
3. Los Angeles County Partnership – Los Angeles County, CA
4. Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation – San Francisco, CA

 

 

 

---

“FUSE has played a leading role in helping Washtenaw County reach the goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2016,” said Carole McCabe, Executive Director of Avalon Housing in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “SIF and Washtenaw’s efforts align with HUD’s objectives by bringing community partners together to prioritize those most in need, coordinate services and effectively use our limited resources. Linking the housing and healthcare services makes a huge difference in people’s quality of life, and saves the community money.”

---

 

See what happened on Day One (September 30) of the CSH Social Innovation Fund Convening in Ann Arbor.

See what happened on Day Two (October 1) of the CSH Social Innovation Fund Convening in Ann Arbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Access to Complete CSH Summit 2015 Survey Responses Results

Access to Complete 2015 State of the Supportive Housing Industry Survey Results

 

The Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) posted this blog today at their Pay for Success Learning Hub. Click Housing to Health to advance directly to the page or read the full blog post reprinted below.

 

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University has released The State of the Nation’s Housing 2015 and this is what it says about our PROGRESS IN REDUCING HOMELESSNESS and the role supportive housing is playing, effectively getting people off our streets and keeping them housed:

“The lack of affordable housing in the United States continues to leave nearly 600,000 people homeless. More than a third are people in families, including 130,000 children under the age of 18. By comparison, chronically homeless individuals (those who have been without a place to live for at least a year or have had repeated episodes of homelessness over the past few years) account for a much smaller share (15 percent) of the homeless population. Recent increases in federal funding have aided progress in reducing both homelessness overall and among the most vulnerable groups. Indeed, the number of beds in permanent supportive housing expanded 60 percent between 2007 and 2014, to over 300,000. Beds for the chronically homeless accounted for just over half of this increase. As a result, total homelessness fell 11 percent in 2007–14, the number of homeless veterans dropped 19 percent, and the number of chronically homeless individuals was down by 30 percent. At the same time, however, the number of homeless people in families declined by only 8 percent.

But the national reduction in homelessness is not apparent in all markets. Rising rents and a dwindling supply of affordable rentals continue to put people at risk, especially in high-cost locations. Indeed, total homelessness jumped by 29 percent in New York and 40 percent in Massachusetts between 2007 and 2014. The increase in the District of Columbia was even larger, at 46 percent. Family homelessness is particularly acute in major cities, which were home to 45 percent of this population in 2014. New York City headed the list with 41,600 homeless people in families, or nearly 20 percent of the national total.”

 

CSH is pleased to share the 2^nd year report of our Stable Homes, Brighter Futures initiative, a three-year demonstration project to better understand supportive housing for youth and young adults, ages 18-24, also known as transition age youth (TAY).  With support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation, and The California Wellness Foundation, the Stable Homes, Brighter Futures initiative contributes to broader systems-level efforts to:

• Increase the capacity of organizations in Los Angeles County to develop and operate high-quality supportive housing for transition age youth in areas of high need.
• Create a safety net of housing and services for TAY that includes health, mental health, education, and employment.
• Collaborate with government agencies and partner organizations to secure adequate and coordinated public funding mechanisms.

While the first-year report provided a level of initial baseline data and immediate impacts of supportive housing, this second-year report provides a more comprehensive understanding of the service needs of TAY in supportive housing, factors associated with their level of risk of long-term homelessness, the longer-term impacts of living in supportive housing, and a descriptive look at TAY who exited supportive housing.

It’s clear that supportive housing providers are serving young people who face significant barriers to accessing and retaining housing:

• More than half of the youth were literally homeless prior to living in supportive housing, and 40% of those youth were homeless for over one year.
• About 70% of youth in supportive housing report mental health challenges that interfere with their daily living and ability to live independently.
• 18% of youth in supportive housing self-reported substance abuse challenges.
• supportive housing providers are serving young adults who have incomes significantly below the poverty threshold and have lower levels of educational attainment compared to the general youth population.

This report also explores the impact of supportive housing from the perspective of preventing adult chronic homelessness.  Through the utilization of the TAY Triage Tool, a predictive tool that identifies a young person’s risk of experiencing five or more years of homelessness, the report provides a snapshot of how many youth and young adults in supportive housing were on a trajectory to becoming chronically homeless adults.

• 72% of youth in supportive housing had at least one lifetime experience that doubled their risk of experiencing 5 or more years of homelessness.
• 10% of youth tenants were at a high risk of experiencing long-term homelessness, as indicated by the endorsement of 4 or more experiences itemized on the TAY Triage Tool.
• Youth who reported mental health challenges were at a high risk.
• Youth who experienced the foster care and juvenile justice systems were at a high risk.

The report offers recommendations that not only reflect data findings, but also reflect discussions with providers learned through our TAY Learning Community, and the voices of TAY tenants.

“They try to get us out of survival mode and do little events to learn how to deal with life… learn how to be around other people besides ourselves.” – Youth Tenant, Age 21

Overall, this second year report presents quantitative and qualitative data that inform how the supportive housing model has evolved to serve homeless youth and young adults, and how it can further adapt to improve the operation of, and service delivery in, supportive housing for youth and young adults.

To download the full report, click here.