Fact: “It costs substantially less money to house someone in stable, supportive housing than it does to keep that person homeless and stuck in the "revolving door of high-cost crisis care and emergency housing."
The Problem: Housing
Currently in our community there are few affordable housing options available for those who are ready to move on and away from a life of homelessness. The lack of affordable housing is not a problem that is unique to Fairfield County, but one that is amplified by the county's disproportionately higher housing costs.
Further, even where housing options exist, for many struggling with challenges like addiction or mental illness, successful transitions into permanent housing arrangements are impossible without access to reliable support services.
The Solution: Housing .jpg)
Permanent Supported Housing
Permanent Supported Housing is affordable housing that is linked with services — designed to address the health (physical and emotional) and employment issues which are central to the causes of homelessness — that help residents become and remain more self-sufficient.
Critically, Permanent Supported Housing has been proven to work, even effectively breaking the cycle of homelessness for the chronically homeless (those who have been homeless for long periods of time and who repeatedly cycle through hospitals, jails, streets, and shelters).
It has been demonstrated through extensive research that providing homeless individuals with affordable permanent homes – linked with supportive services - costs no more (and most frequently as much as 50% less) than the emergency shelter-based model of care that exists today - while steadily reducing the total number of homeless individuals!
Based on this understanding SFH has advanced its vision from being a provider of emergency shelter services to being an active community leader in the development of affordable supported housing.
SFH Making it Happen:
SFH has been leading the way in creating desperately needed supported housing — forging a partnership between community organizations including community housing developers (Mutual Housing Association), social service providers (St. Luke’s Lifeworks, Laurel House), treatment providers (Optimus Healthcare, F.S. Dubois Mental Health Center) and government agencies (Stamford Community Development, CT Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services) to take advantage of the relatively “soft” housing market in Fairfield County and identify depressed but affordable properties that can be converted into housing for the homeless.
SFH has already completed two successful supported housing projects that house 12 formerly homeless individuals, with a third project under development that will provide 16 new units.