Ending Long-Term Homelessness Through Supportive Housing
CSH has prepared a summary that charts the decrease in the number of people experiencing long-term homeless, the increase in supportive housing units, what it all means, and what remains to be done.

In 2002, CSH and its key partners committed to ending long-term homelessness through the creation of 150,000 new units of supportive housing. Many studies have shown that supportive housing is a cost-effective solution that ends a costly cycle that often includes homelessness, frequent emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and incarceration. Long-term homelessness has decreased significantly in recent years, but the problem has not disappeared. Our efforts to create supportive housing are having a real impact and the evidence points to only one conclusion: supportive housing works. As the stock of supportive housing has increased, chronic homelessness across the country has decreased.

In the summary below CSH reports that between 65,000 and 72,000 new supportive housing units have been created in the last five years, contributing to a 30 percent decrease in the number of chronically homeless individuals from 2005 to 2007.  The report describes how many additional supportive housing units are still needed and our aggressive action plan to create enough permanent supportive housing to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2012.

CSH Summary -- Ending Long-Term Homelessness

For more information on the number of supportive housing units created to date, read the full CSH document Reaching the Goal of 150,000 New Units: How Close Are We?