A new paper from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities -Supportive Housing Helps Vulnerable People Live and Thrive in the Community - highlights the impact of supportive housing as a housing intervention model. According to the authors, supportive housing is cost-effective, helps to improve health care, and reduces recidivism.

People who live in supportive housing are less likely to use costly systems such as hospitals and prisons. Individuals with a history of incarcerations were less likely to be incarcerated a year after receiving supportive housing. Also, those living with HIV/AIDs had a lower risk of death and disease progression when housed in supportive housing.

To expand supportive housing, the authors suggest the following recommendations, which include: 

• Prioritizing current supportive housing to individuals who need it
• Allocating the savings generated from implementing supportive housing to create additional rental assistance 
• Providing additional rental assistance and development resources, and 
• Utilizing Medicaid services for supportive housing services.

Click here to read the paper.