Service-Enriched Housing
We provide easily adaptable frameworks for the addition of Services Coordinators for rental housing and for neighborhoods.
Developing a Common Language
A variety of terms have emerged to describe an array of permanent housing types that are linked in a variety of ways to social services and other support for residents.
The terms used are not only often confusing, but they also may have conflicting meanings in different communities and among funders, government entities, and practitioners.
Without a common language to communicate, narrow interpretations of housing linked to services have challenged and often impeded the access to housing for homeless families and individuals, particularly those without “special needs.”
The term “service-enriched housing” is generally used to describe rental housing for the low-income population at-large, not necessarily targeted to those who are at risk or with special needs—but linking with and/or providing directly crisis intervention, referrals to outside resources and services, and facilitating an environment conducive to health and wellbeing.
Service-enriched housing provides a viable alternative to more costly permanent supportive housing models currently being developed primarily for individuals and families considered to be “chronically homeless.“
The Key Components:
Crisis intervention
Resource referrals
Monitoring of residents with “special needs”
Resident participation in the decision-making process
The essential new component is the addition of a Services Coordinator.
In addition to crisis intervention and resource and referral services, the services coordinator helps to develop and support a leadership group, which represents all residents and helps to plan and implement services, programs and activities. This promotes both “agency” and feelings of home ownership.
Addition of a Services Coordinator
A social services support system can be incorporated into the ongoing operation and management of rental housing through a variety of single entity or collaborative models.
A Services Coordinator may be present full-time at one property, and only available by appointment at another— unless a crisis occurs that requires intervention.
Programs and support may be focused on employment and training opportunities at one property or on after-school programs for children for another.
An inner-city property housing low-income families with multiple socioeconomic needs might benefit from a more service-intensive approach with many different community-based organizations involved, while in another the residents might choose to focus on social and/or enrichment activities.
These efforts focusing on quality of life do not preclude individualized “services coordination” for specific resident needs.
The more cost-effective service-enriched housing model expands housing options for, but not limited to, the following:
at risk and vulnerable families with children
transition-aged youth
individuals considered high risk and/or with special needs
individuals in recovery or formerly incarcerated