The Rhode Island Pay for Success (PFS) Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Pilot Program* is a new initiative that aims to provide essential supportive services to Rhode Island residents who have a history of chronic homelessness and complex life circumstances, and to facilitate their placement into housing units. The program’s guiding purpose is to enable these individuals to maintain stable housing over the longest term.

 

PFS PSH is unique in that it is the first program in Rhode Island to utilize an innovative financing model, called Pay for Success, in which public dollars are expended only to the extent that pre-determined public policy outcomes are achieved. In such models, private investors provide the upfront capital needed to launch and run the program. If program outcomes are achieved, government repays the private investment, plus a modest return. If outcomes are not achieved, private investors take the loss.

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The idea behind the Pay for Success model is to:

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• Elevate accountability with regards to how public dollars are spent;

• Shift the financial risk of new programs from public funds to private investors, and;

• Shift the focus of service providers, payors, and policy makers alike to whether programs are having the intended impact.

 

The Pay for Success model also puts “data” squarely at the center of social programs, both in terms of how programs are designed and how their outcomes are measured.

 

PFS PSH in Rhode Island is expected to serve 175-200 individuals identified as high utilizers of Medicaid, the Department of Corrections (DOC), and/or homeless services based on data from the relevant State agencies. At least100 individuals who enroll will have a history of high DOC involvement.

 

The program leverages permanent supportive housing, an evidence-based intervention that combines housing assistance with robust, voluntary supportive services tailored to each person’s unique needs, to help individuals remain stably housed. Permanent supportive housing has consistently been demonstrated to help people with multiple barriers to finding and maintaining housing achieve housing stability. It is also a cost-effective solution, shown to lower public costs associated with the use of crisis services like shelters, hospitals, jails, and prisons.  

 

Success for PFS PSH in Rhode Island is defined as the extent to which individuals enrolled in the program achieve the following outcomes, as measured by an independent evaluator:

 

• Find and maintain stable housing

• Decrease preventable Emergency Room visits

• Increase the days spent in the community, as opposed to days spent incarcerated

 

PFS PSH service delivery began in September 2023. Program outcomes will be reported here as they begin to be achieved – please stay tuned!

 

And please keep reading for more information about this groundbreaking new initiative.