From the street to stable housing

Homelessness is one of our biggest and most complex challenges. It touches every part of the community: our parks, our police stations, our hospital waiting rooms. And it afflicts the most vulnerable among us – especially those with disabling health conditions.

United Way of Anchorage is leading a collaboration called Home for Good to break the cycle and permanently move 150 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness from the street to stable housing.

The nine-month Home for Good pilot project aims to house 45 people and prepare for the full scale-up by March 2020. As of Oct. 9, 13 people are already housed and receiving intensive case management services.

For a dive into Home for Good visit the President’s Blog.

Home for Good relies on two basic principles: Housing First and permanent supportive housing.

“Housing First” is the principle that a home off the street and out of shelters is the first step to a better life. That’s because a home provides stability that allows a person the breathing room to work on addictions, mental illness, and any other disabling part of his or her life.

Permanent supportive housing combines housing assistance with support services to stably house chronically homeless people. It involves intensive case management for tenants to help deal with their challenges, and thus be able to maintain housing and maintain progress toward a better life.

Anchorage received a major boost to efforts to alleviate chronic homelessness and reduce community costs through a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Justice for a Pay for Success Permanent Supportive Housing Demonstration.

Pay for Success is the innovative financing model that leverages philanthropic and private dollars to provide assistance up front, with the government paying after they generate results. Pay for Success provides flexibility for state and local governments to implement evidence-based solutions, to test promising innovations, and to scale programs that work based on measurable results.

The pilot uses no public money. The Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority provided $1.1 million to cover the pilot.