Area of Expertise: Policy and Advocacy

The PA Supportive Housing Coalition applauds the Shapiro Administration for issuing an executive
order in September of 2025 to create a statewide housing action plan and establish an Interagency
Council to Prevent and End Homelessness (PA ICH). In response, the Coalition convened an
interagency workgroup that met over several months to compile recommendations and seek
guidance from peer interagency councils in other states that have demonstrated sustained and
significant impact in preventing and ending homelessness.

This document presents operational recommendations for the PA ICH informed by those
conversations, as well as interviews with representatives from other established state interagency
councils across the country. The PA Supportive Housing Coalition strongly urges the PA ICH to
implement the recommendations outlined below.

Overview of Recommendations
Many states have attempted to establish interagency councils to coordinate work to prevent and
end homelessness. However, not all councils have been structured to achieve optimal
coordination or maximize the impact of public resources.

To inform these recommendations, the PA Supportive Housing Coalition reviewed the structure
and operations of effective state interagency councils and consulted peers from Texas, Maryland,
Minnesota, and Florida and other states.

The recommendations fall into the following categories:

• Representation on the council and its workgroups
• Leadership and administration
• Data governance
• Meeting structure and frequency
• Accountability mechanisms

The CSH Supportive Housing Need tool provides communities with system‑level data on supportive housing needs across populations and systems, informing policy and program design. It also provides financial modeling at the state and local levels, allowing communities to estimate the capital, services, and operating costs to make data-driven decisions that demonstrate the effectiveness and value of sustaining supportive housing.

CSH partnered with Housing Narrative Lab to research and understand supportive housing narratives. We saw a gap in supportive housing specific narrative data and sought to understand awareness and perceptions of supportive housing among broad audiences.  These research findings will help the field coordinate and rally amplifiers around messaging that resonates and persuades.

CSH estimates that there are approximately 90,000 families and youth in need of supportive housing, including 43,646 families with child welfare involvement. While lack of housing should not necessitate child welfare involvement, housing instability alongside additional challenges such as substance use or mental health needs can affect the overall placement decision. Access to permanent housing often means that families can stay together while receiving child welfare prevention services or reunify more quickly if children are in out-of-home care. Research has demonstrated that children and youth who have a reliable place to call home also spend fewer days in foster care, experience a reduction in subsequent abuse and neglect cases, reduce their risk of subsequent homelessness, and increase their school attendance.

Housing vouchers and rental assistance play a significant role in keeping families together and supporting youth in transitioning successfully into adulthood. While most housing vouchers are issued from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) via local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) , there are many states that have funded voucher and rental assistance programs for families and transition age youth. States like New Jersey, California, Washington, and Colorado have all developed and funded housing assistance to support child-welfare involved families and youth.

UPDATED March 2026

The Supportive Housing Coalition of Pennsylvania is proposing an investment that will expand access to housing, spur local economic and community development, ensure services are available where they are most needed, and build a healthier, more resilient Commonwealth.

By establishing a Supportive Housing Operations Fund—a dedicated, flexible funding mechanism to sustain the operations and services that make supportive housing successful—Pennsylvania can reduce reliance on costly crisis interventions and achieve significant long-term savings.

Across Pennsylvania, communities are facing a critical shortage of resources to adequately fund services within supportive housing programs. These programs—grounded in evidence and proven effectiveness—combine stable, affordable housing with tailored, person-centered services that empower individuals and families to overcome complex barriers and thrive. The populations served include those with histories of homelessness, behavioral health conditions, chronic medical needs, substance use disorders, justice system involvement, experiences of domestic violence, older adults, and transition-age youth, among others.

Supportive services are the backbone of these programs, providing the individualized care and coordination necessary for long-term stability.

This document presents an optimal budget framework designed to ensure supportive housing programs are equipped to deliver these essential services at the scale and quality needed to help residents achieve lasting stability and success.

Supportive housing is a proven approach to breaking the cycle of homelessness for people with serious mental illness and other disabilities. Supportive housing is a cost-effective approach that combines affordable housing with voluntary support services, enabling people to live with stability, autonomy, and dignity. While supportive housing is an effective approach for addressing homelessness, residents also need social support to live healthy lives and address loneliness, isolation, and barriers to maintaining their mental health.

Fountain House and CSH are exploring Community-Centered Housing (CCH), an innovative approach that integrates the clubhouse model’s social practice into supportive housing. Pioneered by Fountain House, social practice uses community engagement and social connection to help people recover from mental illness.

This policy brief illuminates early research findings from pilot programs, showing that Community-Centered Housing strengthens social connections, reduces loneliness, and enhances residents’ sense of purpose and wellbeing. To forge a path forward for expanding CCH, the brief recommends bringing the model to additional pilot sites, conducting rigorous evaluation, expanding workforce training, and educating the field about social practice and supportive housing integration.

This approach offers a chance to reimagine what housing can achieve. By embracing this model, we can drive meaningful transformation in the housing sector and create environments that support people living with serious mental illness and promote lasting recovery and stability.

Homelessness is rising nationwide, and recent policy proposals risk framing the issue through punitive measures rather than proven solutions. This resource provides evidence-based talking points to counter misconceptions, highlight effective strategies, and advocate for approaches that prioritize personal autonomy, fiscal responsibility, and long-term impact. Use these insights to promote community-based, voluntary support systems over costly, ineffective enforcement tactics.

A cost analysis developed by the Pennsylvania Supportive Housing Coalition

The Pennsylvania Supportive Housing Coalition’s Supportive Services workgroup has developed a new analysis using budget data from Pennsylvania providers to uncover how current funding structures impact service delivery.

This cost analysis identifies significant challenges that Pennsylvania providers face because of inadequate services funding. These challenges relate to provider wages, caseload size, administrative burdens, and other critical elements that must be addressed to provide high-quality services that keep people stably housed.

This one-pager provides five proven state actions to reduce unsheltered homelessness. In response to recent executive orders, these practical, evidence-based strategies for responding to unsheltered homelessness deliver measurable results.