Permanent Supportive Housing Resources

Decades of evidence have proven that Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is one of the most powerful solutions to address homelessness and housing insecurity. ​Yet, a lack of resources to support the operation of PSH has undermined state efforts to deliver on the needs of California communities, limiting the industry’s ability to expand the supply to meet the scale of need and eroding trust in the effectiveness of the model. NPH​’s PSH Working Group research in partnership with the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley makes clear that resources are critical for keeping people housed, supporting resident well-being, and increasing resident engagement.

NPH’s PSH Working Group has undergone a five-year process to enhance the sustainability of the PSH model while retaining fidelity to an evidence-based Housing First model. The result of this work is our Permanent Supportive Housing Working Group Compendium: Research, Resources, and Recommendations.

The Compendium is a toolkit for the field drawing on the collective experience of NPH members who develop, own, and operate over 30,000 supportive homes. It includes:

• Key findings from the first-of-its-kind cost study on the true cost of operating supportive housing, conducted in partnership with the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley
• Peer-informed best practices for operators, including staffing recommendations, crisis response frameworks, Housing First implementation guidance, and template MOUs
• Breakthrough policy wins informed by practitioner data, including more than doubling HCD’s supportive services funding caps
• A forward-looking policy agenda with recommendations for future advocacy at each level of government