Supportive Housing Works to End Homelessness
Supportive housing is proven to help people who face the most complex challenges--individuals and families who are not only homeless, but who also have very low incomes and serious, persistent issues that may include substance use, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS--to live more stable, productive lives.
Without a stable place to live and a support system to help them address their underlying problems, most homeless people bounce from one emergency system to the next--from the streets to shelters to public hospitals to psychiatric institutions and detox centers and back to the streets--endlessly. The extremely high cost of this cycle of homelessness, in human and economic terms, can be seen in the lives of people like Frank, a formerly homeless veteran from Chicago.
View pictures and hear a real-life experience of how supportive housing works by watching the multimedia presentation, More Than a Place to Live, produced by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The ever-increasing momentum of government, corporate and philanthropic investment in supportive housing has been bolstered by research documenting its effectiveness. To date, these studies indicate:
Positive impacts on health. Decreases of more than 50% in tenants' emergency room visits and hospital inpatient days; decreases in tenants' use of emergency detoxification services by more than 80%; and increases in the use of preventive health care services.
| Positive impacts on employment. Increases of 50% in earned income and 40% in the rate of participant employment when employment services are provided in supportive housing, and a significant decrease in dependence on entitlements - a $1,448 decrease per tenant each year. |
 |
Positive impacts on treating mental illness. At least a third of those people living in streets and shelters have a severe and persistent mental illness. Supportive housing has proven to be a popular and effective approach for many mentally ill people, as it affords both independence and as-needed support.
A study of nearly 900 homeless people with mental illness provided with supportive housing found 83.5% of participants remained housed a year later, and that participants experienced a decrease in symptoms of schizophrenia and depression.* A study of almost 5,000 homeless individuals with mental illness placed in supportive housing through the NY/NY program confirmed that nearly 80% remained housed a year later, with 10% moving on to independent settings.
Positive impacts on reducing or ending substance use. Once people with histories of substance use achieve sobriety, their living situation is often a factor in their ability to stay clean and sober. A one-year follow-up study of 201 graduates of the Eden Programs chemical dependency treatment programs in Minneapolis found that 56.6% of those living independently remained sober; 56.5% of those living in a halfway house remained sober; 57.1% of those living in an unsupported SRO remained sober; while 90% of those living in supportive housing remained sober
Supportive Housing Research FAQs Documents:
For persons interested in more detailed analysis of research and evaluation studies, CSH has produced a series of brief documents that summarize key research findings to help answer Frequently Asked Questions regarding supportive housing, including the following:
(Click on the question to access the document.)
* US Dept. of Health and Human Services. Making a Difference: Report of the McKinney Research Demonstration Program for Homeless Mentally Ill Adults. 1994.
Who Lives in Supportive Housing?
Is Supportive Housing Cost Effective?
Is Supportive Housing Effective for Families?
