Supportive Housing VS Affordable Housing

I've witnessed this firsthand as a case manager the challenges around housing - both in finding housing and keeping people in their homes. That can range from older adults who simply do not have enough support to stay in the home to mental health clients that need extra guidance and oversight to remain in the home.

Many people think the answer to homelessness is "affordable housing" but research shows what is more effective is "supportive housing".

1. People with disabilities in supportive housing reduce their use of costly systems, especially emergency health care and corrections.
2. Over 75% of homeless people have a mental illness or other serious disabilities. Supportive housing can help people receive more appropriate health care and may improve their health.
3. Seniors trying to stay in the community as they age, homeless youth, and families trying to keep their children out of foster care, likely also benefit from supportive housing.

Supportive housing is created from rental assistance, services, and in some cases, development funding. We can bring and expand this model to Arvada to ensure we are supporting all our neighbors! Read on to learn about the three aspects of supportive housing:

Rental Assistance

Rent assistance helps cover the gap between what low-income households can afford and the market-rate rents. There are two kinds

• Tenant-based is with a privately owned place and the assistance moves with them
• Project-based is within a specific unit and the assistance stays with the place, not the person.

Services

Supportive services can come from a variety of places from local to federal level funds and grants. This is often distributed to government offices like human service departments and local nonprofits. They provide ongoing care such as:

• Case management by way of a social worker
• Medication support to ensure mentally ill people are taking the right medications
• Food assistance ranging from shopping to getting them food stamps

These supportive services ensure the person is safe and healthy in the home to prevent a possible loss of the home. This part is essential for newly housed families and individuals because often these people do not have organic supports in their life and need help in adjusting to their new home and life.

Development

There are a few ways tenants can secure housing, through private market housing or sometimes through the housing providers themselves that own the property. The housing providers that own their own property often find it easier to blend supportive services into the property than through private developments and housing. Private developers that do offer lower-income units often get grants or subsidies to offset how much they need to borrow for the project. Currently, there is a greater need for housing than grants or subsidies provided at all governmental levels. We need to continue to partner, incentivize, and prioritize housing units to ensure we have enough availability to house those families and individuals most in need.

I hope you found this article helpful and learned a little bit about affordable and supportive housing.

Reach out to me if you ever have questions or thoughts at Lisa@lisaforarvada.com