The CSH Supportive Housing Quality Toolkit toolkit contains tools, templates and project profiles designed for anyone interested or involved in creating or maintaining quality supportive housing. This toolkit was made possible by the generous support of the Metlife Foundation.

In creating and sharing the CSH Standards for Quality Supportive Housing, CSH strives to:

• Build the capacity of the supportive and affordable housing industries to create and operate high quality,
  effective, and sustainable supportive housing units
• Encourage the investment of adequate resources, especially from public systems, to support that
  capacity
• Ensure that existing resources for supportive housing are being used efficiently and effectively,
  and support the allocation of new resources
• Create better outcomes for supportive housing tenants, especially those with multiple barriers to
  housing stability

CSH is pleased to present “2017 Low Income Housing Tax Credit Policies Promoting Supportive Housing & Recommendations for 2018 & 2019”. This new report builds on our assessment of 2016 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) policies and examines the strategies Housing Credit agencies adopted to foster and encourage supportive housing development within QAPs for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit), highlighting significant national trends and changes made within QAPs.

Supportive housing – combining affordable housing with services to help people who face complex challenges live with stability, autonomy and dignity – is a proven, cost-effective way to end homelessness. By providing people who are chronically homeless or have other special needs with a way out of expensive emergency public services and back into their own homes and communities, supportive housing not only improves the lives of its residents but also generates significant public savings. Communities across the country have identified expanding availability of supportive housing as critical to their efforts to end homelessness.

This report represents one element of CSH’s ongoing efforts to analyze and share information regarding the role of federal Housing Credits in financing supportive housing development and addressing the need of special needs populations.

In this report, CSH identifies a variety of innovative Housing Credit policy approaches to supportive housing.

 2017 Low Income Housing Tax Credit Policies Promoting Supportive Housing & Recommendations for 2018 & 2019

A full Excel state-by-state spreadsheet chart can be found by clicking here.

A list of State Housing Agency Websites can be found by clicking here.

 

Five supportive housing development teams from across the Hoosier state have completed the 2017 Indiana Supportive Housing Institute hosted by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) and CSH. Plans to develop supportive housing were presented by teams from Elkhart, Plymouth, Indianapolis, Martinsville and Columbus.

“The process of creating this type of affordable housing can be incredibly complex,” said Jacob Sipe, Executive Director of IHCDA. “Through the Institute we, along with CSH, have the unique opportunity to work alongside development teams, before they submit a funding application, to support them in their efforts to create housing that will benefit individuals and families experiencing long-term and chronic homelessness.”

Started in 2008, the Indiana Supportive Housing Institute is a partnership between IHCDA and CSH. The Institute is the signature vehicle for creating new units of supportive housing across Indiana.

“Our strong partnership with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority has ensured the success and growth of the Institute model to a point where it’s now being replicated to create even more supportive housing in our state,” said Lori Phillips-Steele, CSH Director in Indiana. “The Institute produces local, community-based teams that are ready, willing and able to advance supportive housing. The winners are those facing homelessness who, as a result of the intense training that propels our teams forward, will find a home and support services keeping them housed, healthy and moving toward better lives.”

The five teams are made up of the following partners:

Elkhart: Oaklawn, LaCasa and the City of Elkhart

Plymouth: Bradley Company, Bowen Center, Garden Court, the City of Plymouth and Plymouth Community Schools

Indianapolis: Partners In Housing Development Corporation, Midtown Mental Health, Adult & Child, Gennesaret Clinic, and Community Construction

Martinsville: LIFEDesigns, Milestone Ventures, Home Bank, Valenti Real Estate and South Central Community Action Program

Columbus: Thrive Alliance, Centerstone, and the City of Columbus

In addition to IHCDA and CSH, the Institute depends on the generosity and commitment of local sponsors for support. Sponsors for the 2017 Institute included: Premier Sponsors Anthem, Indiana Family and Social Services’ Division of Mental Health and Addiction; Supportive Housing Partners Cinnaire and CareSource; Community Builders MDWise, Kuhl & Grant, LLP, PNC and Ice Miller; Friends of the Institute Butler Human Services, Old National Bank (ONB), and Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (FHLBI).

The Indiana Supportive Housing Institute is an important element of the Indiana Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative (IPSHI), which was launched by IHCDA and CSH in 2008 to further the strategy to end long-term and recurring homelessness. The focus is on funding lasting solutions instead of stop-gap programs.

Since the initiative began, seven classes of teams have graduated, resulting in over 1,400 permanent supportive housing units added or under development in the state. This has helped to contribute to a significant (38%) reduction in chronic homelessness in Indiana.

 

 

 

Connecting housing, services and employment are integral to creating stable lives, and CSH is steadily increasing focus and activities around employment opportunities for people in need of, or currently residing in, supportive housing. We invited our partners from the National Initiatives Team at Heartland Alliance, one of the leading anti-poverty organizations in the country, to blog about what they see as important efforts to coordinate services on behalf of job seekers experiencing homelessness.

How WIOA & HUD Combined State Planning Can Benefit Homeless Jobseekers

By Caitlin C. Schnur, Coordinator, National Initiatives on Poverty & Economic Opportunity, Heartland Alliance

At the National Center on Employment & Homelessness, and initiative of Heartland Alliance’s National Initiatives on Poverty & Economic Opportunity, we believe employment in quality jobs is key to preventing and ending homelessness—yet we know millions of homeless jobseekers face significant barriers to employment success. Fortunately, there’s growing awareness and accountability in the homeless services system around increasing employment and economic opportunity for people experiencing homelessness. At the same time, under the recently passed Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the public workforce system aims to increase employment opportunities for jobseekers facing barriers, including homeless jobseekers. There’s clearly a shared goal here—and as we highlight in our new WIOA Planning & Implementation Toolkit, there’s also a unique opportunity for these systems to work together: WIOA and HUD combined state planning.

As CSH underscores in its materials focused on quality supportive housing, coordinated assessment, and housing access, public systems are better at solving big problems like homelessness and chronic unemployment when they work together. Combined state planning is an opportunity for systems to do just that. Under WIOA, states can develop statewide plans that guide their public workforce system in coordination with other systems and partners. At a minimum, states have to develop joint plans with core WIOA programs, such as adult education and literacy programs. States can choose to develop Combined State Plans with other partners, including employment and training activities carried out by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That includes the Community Development Block Grant Program and the Continuum of Care Program, among others. By sharing capacity, knowledge, and resources via combined state planning, the public workforce and the homeless services system can tackle poverty by helping to ensure that a greater share of homeless  jobseekers have access to workforce services and supports.

If done thoughtfully, WIOA and HUD combined state planning efforts can maximize resources and help more homeless jobseekers succeed in employment. For example, coordination between the public workforce and homeless services systems can help states and communities identify and implement a robust menu of employment and support services for homeless jobseekers. To increase the likelihood that homeless jobseekers can access workforce development services and other supports, combined state planning efforts can also help establish effective, cross-system referral processes. Finally, WIOA and HUD combined state planning can spur innovative system coordination ideas such as the inclusion of employment supports in coordinated access and assessment processes, co-location of homeless and workforce services, and the use of employment navigators, among others. These efforts increase the likelihood that homeless jobseekers can access and receive the appropriate workforce services that will help them succeed in employment.

Combined state planning with the public workforce will help the homeless services system meet its employment goals – and help homeless jobseekers meet theirs. As seen in the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness and the HEARTH Act’s performance measures, the homeless services system is becoming increasingly aware that employment is key to ending homelessness—and increasingly accountable for helping people experiencing homelessness succeed in work. Many people identify unemployment as a leading cause of their homelessness and rank paid employment alongside healthcare and housing as a primary need. City leaders also agree that unemployment is a leading cause of homelessness in their communities. What’s more, the long-term success of rapid rehousing interventions across the country depends on families having reliable and sufficient earnings. By coordinating with the public workforce system, the homeless services system will be better-equipped to meet its employment goals—and the needs and goals of people experiencing homelessness.

Major revisions to America’s public laws happen rarely, and WIOA and HUD combined state planning is a unique opportunity to spur coordination between the public workforce and homeless services system on behalf of homeless jobseekers. We know that public systems are better at solving big problems when they collaborate. By leveraging this opportunity and working together, stakeholders in both systems can open doors to employment for people experiencing homelessness now and in the future.

Like what you read?

Explore the new WIOA Planning & Implementation Toolkit from Heartland Alliance’s National Initiatives on Poverty & Economic Opportunity (NI).

Read through NI’s Working to End Homelessness Toolkit.

Visit NI’s blog for more information about employment and homelessness. 

 

CSH congratulates all of the nominees for a local CSH Supportive Housing Award bestowed recently during the 2015 San Diego Housing Federation Ruby’s dinner. This year’s nominees are: Citronica II, the 25 Cities San Diego Design Team, and the Chula Vista (CA) Housing Initiative. We are pleased to announce the winner is…the Chula Vista Housing Initiative, a partnership of the city, county, and local housing and service providers creating pathways from homelessness for some of the most clinically and socially vulnerable people in the community. See the photos of many smiling people from the San Diego Award’s celebration. CSH recently presented the award to the Chula Vista City Council.

Deb De Santis is the President & CEO of CSH

As supportive housing has grown to be recognized as an effective intervention for vulnerable populations, so has the need for knowledge dissemination. For several years we have surveyed the supportive housing industry about the challenges and opportunities we were confronting. What we heard time and time again was the overwhelming need for trainings to help stakeholders stay current on best practices and be made aware of developing trends. It is with this in mind that CSH is rolling out our newly created Supportive Housing Training Center.

The Training Center will serve as a platform to provide trainings hosted by CSH, supplying others with important information, expert advice and the tools necessary to create effective housing solutions.

The Training Center is a bold effort to significantly expand the supportive housing industry’s capacity and capabilities, with the ultimate goal being the creation of quality supportive housing across the country.

Stakeholders will be able to access a robust offering of site-based strategies as well as remote and on-line training capabilities.

Now that the Training Center is up and running, we hope you will avail yourself of the offerings and encourage others to do so as well.  We also welcome your thoughts and feedback as we continue to refine the content, always striving to provide the most relevant information and tools to the supportive housing community.

CSH is proud to present the Supportive Housing Training Center, offering practical, interactive training solutions that empower people to learn about, create, and provide high-quality supportive housing in their communities. Its purpose is clear: to enable people from all backgrounds to practice and master the skills necessary to produce supportive housing and improve the lives of vulnerable people in our society.