The Partnership to End Homelessness is excited to announce a $250,000 investment from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation to double our support for this important project. Together, we are working to leverage ongoing federal funding to support our nonprofit partners providing Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH).
In April 2022, DC is expected to launch a new Medicaid Benefit that could result in an additional $20+ million in annual federal resources for PSH services in DC.
The new benefit will allow nonprofit providers to bill Medicaid for PSH services. The additional federal funding that will be leveraged through this investment will result in higher reimbursement rates for nonprofit providers, meaning the ability to improve retention of talented, experienced staff and build internal capacity to meet new quality and outcome metrics.
PSH is a proven model for ending chronic homelessness and an effective tool that works by pairing housing with wrap-around support services. PSH services are voluntary, flexible, and individualized to help people achieve their personal goals, such as stabilizing and improving their physical and mental health, gaining employment, reconnecting with family, and participating in the community. These supports help people experiencing chronic homelessness obtain affordable housing and remain permanently housed.
To learn more about Permanent Support Housing, check out our blog post featuring former Leadership Council member, Waldon Adams.
Image courtesy of Open Arms Housing, one of our PSH provider partners
In DC there are currently around 4,000 clients in the PSH program. Across the city, nonprofits provide supports for clients in the PSH program including housing navigation, housing stability and the basics of landlord-tenant relationships, connection to employment and training, navigation through public systems, and connection to community resources. Services can also provide clients with tools to cope with mental health, addiction, trauma, physical health problems, and other issues they might be experiencing that jeopardize housing stability.
Opportunity for Impact
In order to make this transition to billing Medicaid, nonprofits will need to adopt new practices, quality control checks, and new or updated internal systems related to human resources, accounting, and compliance functions.
Through the Partnership to End Homelessness, The Community Foundation is uniquely positioned to leverage and align private sector resources to support PSH providers to increase capacity and begin billing Medicaid. This could include technical assistance and coaching from consultants with expertise and experience with Medicaid billing and enrollment, or one-time technology investments to set-up necessary systems and tracking to bill Medicaid.
Advancing Racial Equity Goals
Ensuring all PSH providers, big and small, are able to make the transition to Medicaid billing is an important part of our goal to increase racial equity in the homeless service system. Smaller organizations, many led by Black and Brown leaders, are often the organizations that don’t have additional support and resources to increase capacity. By investing across the system and ensuring all providers have access to capacity building resources, it is our goal to ensure that all organizations will have the support they need to make the transition to Medicaid billing and benefit from federal funding and higher reimbursement rates for services.
Advancing Public-Private Solutions to End Homelessness in DC
The Partnership to End Homelessness was created to leverage private philanthropy, in alignment with Homeward DC, the city’s Plan to End Homelessness, to create sustained investment in the homeless services system.
The Partnership is working with partners at the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) to coordinate these funds and support PSH providers and the system as a whole to make the necessary investments to access ongoing federal funds.
How Can You Help?
Join the Partnership to End Homelessness and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation in our efforts to leverage federal funding and increase the capacity of our nonprofit providers. We are bringing together private funders in order to bridge the gap between opportunity and impact. Contributing to this project can make a significant impact in ensuring support and stability for our neighbors in Permanent Supportive Housing.
For more information, please contact Jennifer Olney, Community Investment Officer, Partnership to End Homelessness, at jolney@thecommunityfoundation.org.