Key Components of Quality Supportive Housing Christy Respress Pathways to Housing DC

Who does Pathways to Housing DC serve? We serve over 2,300 people each year experiencing/at risk for homelessness 481 in Housing First, scattered site (ACT, Case Mgmt, Veterans ICM) 1,250 in street outreach 600 people in our Urgent Care Clinic

Everyone is unique! Measuring effectiveness also means not losing sight of the uniqueness of each person we serve. What works for one person doesn’t work for everyone. That’s why measuring who is NOT making it in your program is just as important as measuring who is. One of our goals at Pathways DC in our strategic plan is trying to create solutions for the 10-15% of folks not successful in housing after multiple attempts. Drilling down into the why’s. are there other services to be offered? More training for staff? Different program model adjustments?

Quality: what’s in our control vs. out of our control Burnout is huge in our work. One way to help minimize is look at the things in our control vs. out of our control. E.g., in control: training for staff- what topics. Out of control: may have requirements from contracts. Find ways to connect the two. In control: finding a unit. Out of control: how long it takes landlord to fix repairs or housing authorities to inspect

Lots of fidelity tools. How do I begin to measure effectiveness? May begin by doing a baseline assessment and determining a few things you want to start measuring. At Pathways, we already do the ACT fidelity, which measures things such as assertive engagement, team approach, caseload size, etc. We decided recently to look more closely at some of the housing related quality measurements. We knew that some of them will point to things in our control to change and others will uncover systemic challenges. That then gives us opportunity to advocate with data!

Pathways Housing First Fidelity Scale- examples of outcomes tracked Housing Choice. Program participants choose the location and other features of their housing. 2a. Housing Availability (Intake to move-in). Extent to which program helps participants move quickly into permanent housing units of their choosing 2b. Housing Availability (Voucher/subsidy availability to move-in). Extent to which program helps participants move quickly into permanent housing units of their choosing 10. Commitment to Re-House. Extent to which the program offers participants who have lost their housing access to a new housing unit

Tracking how long each step of the process takes is really critical to meet fidelity, but also to affect systems change Ex.: assigned to voucher app to match to inspection and lease up

Dashboard examples cont’d 10. Commitment to Re-House. Extent to which the program offers participants who have lost t their housing access to a new housing unit. 11. Services Continue Through Housing Loss. Extent to which program participants continue receiving services even if they lose housing. 19. Absence of Coercion. Extent to which the program does not engage in coercive activities towards participants.

Thank you! Contact Info: Christy Respress Executive Director Pathways to Housing DC crespress@pathwaysdc.org www.pathwaystohousingdc.org