Austin's Rapid Rehousing Program, Explained

The Rapid Rehousing Program in Austin, Texas, provides people exiting homelessness with rent support for up to two years, tapering the amount down over time. A community group called Vocal-TX is bringing people in the program together to elevate their voices and propose improvements.

A pilot program in New Mexico shows promise in helping stabilize families at risk of homelessness by giving them subsidized housing combined with social services like therapy and addiction treatment. Keeping Families Together prevented numerous children from entering foster care and reduced repeat cases of abuse and neglect, and is cost-effective. But it's unclear if it will continue with state funding, bringing instability once again to many participants.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has worked with countless non-profits to try to decrease homelessness in the city. Finally, one solution is showing positive effects. Supportive housing is a type of affordable housing that includes job training programs, access to healthcare, and financial literacy education, all with the aim of keeping residents housed. Within New York, 1,400 units of supportive housing are currently funded, and 2,803 units are in the development process.

Between 2004 and 2014, San Francisco’s mayor attempted to rid the city of chronic homelessness with a ten-year plan. Despite dramatic successes in moving thousands of homeless from the streets, the homeless population numbers remain the same and chronic homelessness may never be eradicated. In reexamining the problems from the ten-year plan, the current administration has new ideas to decrease their number of homeless.

The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas and its subsidiary Building Health act as safety nets for uninsured people experiencing homelessness by expanding the definition of healthcare to also include housing, serving about 85,000 people a year. By providing wraparound care and services from help finding housing to legal assistance and education, the groups’ combined efforts helped shrink the rate of uninsured, unhoused people from 16% in 2020 to about 12% now.

The Healthy Opportunities pilot program uses Medicaid dollars to address non-medical needs like food access, transportation and housing. Since launching in 2022, the program has assisted nearly 30,000 people in 33 of the state’s 100 counties. Research shows the state is spending about $85 less in medical costs per month for each participant, and lawmakers are currently weighing whether to expand the program.

The Denver Basic Income Project gave no-strings-attached funding to people experiencing homelessness, with some participants receiving $1,000 per month, some receiving a lump sum of $6,500 followed by $500 monthly payments, and some receiving $50 per month. After one year, almost half of the participants had found stable housing, and research showed that the program likely saved the city nearly half a million dollars in costs for services like ambulance rides and shelter stays.

Various efforts to reduce veteran homelessness have worked together over the years to cut the number of unhoused veterans almost in half since 2019. One such effort is the VA Housing First model, which prioritizes finding permanent, supportive housing without conditions like sobriety. In 2023 alone, the VA placed more than 46,500 veterans into permanent housing.

The Hilda L. Solis Care First Village provides temporary housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles with the goal of transitioning them into permanent housing. Residents get a private room with a TV and a shower and share other facilities like kitchens and laundry rooms.

In Minnesota, Hennepin County is using a housing-first approach, working with individuals on their specific needs, and focusing on the most vulnerable populations first to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness in the county.