Housing First Program
Permanent Supportive Housing
With funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Friends for Neighborhood Progress, Inc. (FFNP) initiated a Housing First Program in 2006 based on a national model developed by Pathways for Housing and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. The model is relatively simple: use HUD and other grant funds to provide subsidized permanent supportive housing to the people that need it the most - chronically homeless, disabled individuals and families who are literally living on the streets or in emergency shelters. To date, Friends for Neighborhood Progress, Inc. has established eleven (11) scattered-site Housing First units that are providing permanent supportive housing to twelve (12) chronically homeless adults who are disabled (one of the units is a 2-bedroom apartment occupied by unrelated adults). Staff of the FFNP and partner agencies provide a wide range of supportive services including case management, outreach and referrals, primary health care, food and nutrition services, transportation, and other forms of assistance.
Need for Permanent Supportive Housing
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) most recent published Point-in-Time Survey for both sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations was conducted in January 2021. A total of 225 persons (adults and children) who were homeless completed the point-in-time survey; this was a decrease from the 299 persons who were surveyed in 2020. However, chronic homelessness increased in Maryland with a total of 1,337 persons who were chronically homeless identified statewide. According to DHCD, this represented a 30% increase in chronic homelessness as compared to 2018 figures. An “unsheltered count” was not conducted in 2020, but 50 persons (17% of the survey respondents) reported being unsheltered (living on the streets) during the 2019 PIT count. Providing permanent supportive housing through Housing First programs modeled on the low-barrier program established by Pathways to Housing in New York clearly remains the most successful program for helping people to move directly from the streets and woods into stable, safe, and sanitary housing enriched with case management and other services.
Criteria for Admission to the Housing First Program
The criteria for admission to the FFNP Housing First Permanent Supportive Housing Program are: 1) be chronically homeless in accordance with the HUD definition of chronic homelessness; and 2) be disabled with one or more physical or mental health disabling conditions that are evaluated and certified by a medical or mental health clinician. The overarching goal of the FFNP Housing First Permanent Supportive Housing Program is to keep people in their housing, provide case management and other services, and prevent recidivistic episodes of homelessness.