Two pilot projects will explore innovative solutions to strengthen supportive housing, improve resident outcomes, and support frontline staff.
Media Contact:
Jesse Dean, Director, Strategic Communication
[email protected] | 347-931-0132
New York, NY | August 20, 2026 | Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) today announced the recipients of its High Tech, High Touch Technology Innovation Awards, a new initiative to help the supportive housing field keep pace with rapidly changing technology, including artificial intelligence, and put it to responsible use strengthening services and housing more people.
Selected from more than 40 applicants across the country, the two awardees will test promising solutions that address some of the sector’s most pressing challenges: connecting housing and healthcare systems so people move into housing faster and cutting the administrative work that keeps staff from helping residents. The projects are intended not only to benefit local communities, but also to generate practical lessons that can be replicated across the supportive housing field.
Congratulations to the recipients:
- Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA)
- Housing Works of California
“Supportive housing sits at the intersection of housing, healthcare, and human services, and too often, the people doing this work have had the least access to the tools that could make it easier for them to do their jobs,” said Deborah De Santis, President and CEO of CSH. “More than 40 organizations answered our call, which tells us what we hear from the field every day: providers are ready to modernize, and they need partners willing to invest in them. We congratulate Georgia DCA and Housing Works of California, and we are eager to share what their work will teach the entire sector.”
“These two projects tackle very different problems: one connects housing and health data so people don’t fall through the cracks between systems, the other tests how AI can take routine work off staff’s plates, but they share a principle,” said Katie Kitchin, Senior Advisor for External Affairs at CSH. “Technology should give frontline workers more time for the human side of work, not less. That’s what we will be watching for in both pilots, and what we will share with the field.”
Each organization will receive approximately $50,000 to pilot and evaluate innovative technologies with the potential to improve housing stability, health outcomes, service coordination, and operational effectiveness. Through these investments, CSH aims to help supportive housing providers better leverage emerging technologies responsibly while ensuring that person-centered care remains at the center of service delivery.
Georgia DCA: Housing and Health Bi-Directional System Integration
Equipping Georgia Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Case Workers with Real-Time Clinical and Social Care Context to Improve Outcomes for Tenants of Supportive Housing
The Georgia DCA project addresses a longstanding challenge in both housing and healthcare: critical information often remains trapped in separate systems, limiting providers’ ability to coordinate care for people with complex needs. Through a partnership with GaHIN and CaseWorthy, Georgia will test a secure connection between its homelessness response system (HMIS) and healthcare information platform, allowing providers to share critical housing and health information more effectively. The pilot will focus on one or two Continuums of Care (CoCs) and aims to reduce the time it takes to place people with behavioral health or complex medical needs into supportive housing while improving care coordination.
“We are excited for the opportunity this grant award that supports the continued work to advance the bi-directional integration of systems between DCA and GaHIN. This partnership will help bridge gaps between systems, empower providers with more comprehensive information, and ultimately improve outcomes for the individuals and families we serve across Georgia,” said Jeanette Pollock, HMIS Lead Manager at Georgia DCA.
“Housing is health. The bi-directional exchange between DCA’s HMIS, powered by CaseWorthy, and GaHIN is a gamechanger for Georgia’s underserved populations. This ensures that housing and healthcare providers can work from the same picture to improve outcomes,” said Denise Hines, Chief Executive Officer at GaHIN.
“CaseWorthy believes that when technology is designed around real caseworker decisions, it both advances and humanizes care for people experiencing homelessness. Partnering with DCA and GaHIN on this CSH pilot is an honor, and we’re proud the CaseWorthy platform will help bring real‑time clinical and social care context into Georgia’s HMIS workflow so supportive housing teams can coordinate care more effectively and prevent returns to homelessness,” said David Lewis, VP Industry Leadership at CaseWorthy.
Housing Works of California – Responsible AI Tools for Supportive Housing Practice
Equipping Supportive Housing Staff with AI-Powered Tools that Improve Efficiency, Strengthen Service Delivery, and Enhance Resident Outcomes
Housing Works of California will explore how artificial intelligence can responsibly support supportive housing staff, reduce administrative workload, and improve service delivery while maintaining strong governance practices and resident-centered safeguards.
Through the project, Housing Works of California will assess, design, and test AI-supported workflows that improve access to policies and best practices, strengthen coordination across teams, and allow staff to spend more time focused on residents. After completing a readiness assessment and AI governance framework, Housing Works will implement three to six AI-supported workflows and engage stakeholders and residents in evaluating their impact.
“Artificial Intelligence can either add to frontline staff’s workload or take work off their plates, but the difference is in how it’s designed and governed,” said Celina Alvarez, Executive Director of Housing Works of California. “With CSH’s support, we are building tools around real staff and resident needs, with safeguards in place from the start, so our team can spend less time on paperwork and more time with the people we serve.”
While the projects will be implemented over approximately six months, their impact is intended to extend far beyond the pilot period. CSH will document the implementation process, outcomes, challenges, and lessons learned through case studies and field resources designed to help supportive housing providers across the country evaluate and adopt effective technology solutions.
These awards reflect CSH’s commitment to reinvesting flexible philanthropic support, including the unrestricted grant CSH received from MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving, in activities and efforts that improve the resident experience and strengthen staff capacity to deliver high-quality services. Tools that let a caseworker spend less time on paperwork and more time with a resident, or that move someone with complex needs into housing weeks sooner are crucial to help a stretched sector meets rising needs.
By testing and documenting what works, CSH aims to give providers across the country a clearer path to technology that pays off in housing stability and stronger care.
To learn more about CSH’s High Tech, High Touch initiative, contact our Director of Data & Analytics Kim Keaton at [email protected].
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About CSH
CSH (Corporation for Supportive Housing) advances affordable and accessible housing aligned with services by advocating for effective policies and funding, investing in communities, and strengthening the supportive housing field. Since our founding in 1991, CSH has been the only national nonprofit intermediary focused solely on increasing the availability of supportive housing. Over the course of our work, we have created more than 512,500 units of affordable and supportive housing and invested more than $2.2 billion in communities. Our workforce is central to accomplishing this work. We employ approximately 170 people across 30 states and U.S. Territories. As an intermediary, we do not directly develop or operate housing but center our approach on collaboration with a wide range of people, partners, and sectors. For more information, visit www.csh.org.
