Pay for Success model to support Permanent Supportive Housing for the reentry population
WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 2, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Each year, men and women exiting the prison system face a multitude of challenges including finding employment and a home to call their own. As a result, many are at extreme risk of falling into homelessness. Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an $8.7 million demonstration to address homelessness and reduce recidivism among the justice-involved population. Read the funding notice published today.
HUD’s Pay for Success Permanent Supportive Housing Demonstration, funded by DOJ and implemented through a HUD/DOJ partnership, will test cost-effective ways to help persons cycling between the criminal justice and homeless service systems. In addition, this demonstration will offer a new source of financing to support Permanent Supportive Housing for the reentry population.
As HUD celebrates its 50th anniversary, HUD Secretary Julián Castro is focused on advancing policies that create opportunities for all Americans, including preventing and ending homelessness for all populations.
“Having the opportunity to find a job and a place to call home is a core value in our society,” said HUD Secretary Julián Castro. “Unfortunately, too often individuals that committed minor crimes are falling into homelessness because they don’t have the opportunity for a second chance. These grants will allow us to develop model of success that can help us stop the cycle of dependency and reduce the costs associated with recidivism and homelessness.”
“The Department of Justice is committed to giving formerly-incarcerated individuals the tools they need to become productive members of society,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “Providing meaningful support through housing opportunities, prevention programs and other critical services is vital to our ongoing efforts to reduce recidivism, promote public safety, and foster positive results in communities across the country.”
Pay for Success (PFS) strategies are public-private arrangements that help government test or expand innovative programs while paying only for those activities that achieve agreed-upon target outcomes. In addition, PFS grants will implement a Housing First model for the reentry population who experience homelessness and are frequent users of homelessness, health care and other crisis services.
In 2010, President Obama and 19 federal agencies and offices that form the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) launched the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness. Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness serves as a roadmap for how the federal government will work with state and local communities to confront the root causes of homelessness, including individuals who are in and out of a variety of crisis services such as jails and prisons. Permanent Supportive Housing lowers public costs by stopping the revolving door between crisis services like those provided in prisons, jails, emergency rooms, and homeless assistance programs.
Established in 2011, the Federal Interagency Reentry Council represents 20 federal agencies, working to:
- Make communities safer by reducing recidivism and victimization;
- Assist those who return from prison and jail in becoming productive citizens; and
- Save taxpayer dollars by lowering the direct and collateral costs of incarceration.
The Reentry Council is based on the recognition that many federal agencies and local communities have a major stake in prisoner reentry. A chief focus of the Reentry Council is to remove federal barriers to successful reentry, so that motivated individuals – who have served their time and paid their debts – are able to compete for a job, attain stable housing, support their children and their families, and contribute to their communities. Reentry Council agencies are taking concrete steps to reduce recidivism and high correctional costs while improving public health, child welfare, employment, education, housing and other key reintegration outcomes.
###
HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov.
You can also connect with HUD on social media and follow Secretary Castro on
Twitter and Facebook or sign up for news alerts on HUD’s Email List.
Shantae Goodloe
202-708-0685
http://www.hud.gov/news/index.cfm
