The Housing Support Teams (HST) Initiative was implemented as a pilot program in 2007, with the purpose of providing housing support coordination services to homeless individuals placed in supportive housing environments.  The HSTs were designed to provide non-clinical services like discharge planning coordination, assistance with housing searches, budget counseling, and assistance in obtaining necessary personal identification and documentation.  They were designed to fill the gaps in services to currently homeless individuals that are so critical to rehousing them successfully. 

 

Three North Carolina counties (Buncombe, Durham and Guilford) are currently being served by HSTs.  The results of the program to date are impressive: chronically homeless men and women are accessing permanent housing and the supportive services they need to remain stable, and communities as a whole are saving money.  To learn about the details of the program and its initial results, please read the Jordan Institute Report below. 

 

The HST pilot program was originally funded by the Department of Health and Human Services out of the Mental Health Trust Fund--this was and continues to be the only state money dedicated to ending homelessness. The Trust Fund has since been dispersed to Local Management Entities to pay for local mental health services, leaving the HSTs with an uncertain funding future. 

 

We know that HSTs are working, to save both lives and scarce resources.  Please join our advocacy effort so that they can continue to do so in the pilot counties and in those counties that will be home to the program in the future.

 

UPDATE: As of September 2009, Housing Support Teams will be funded for the next 3 years through the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP).  Thank you to everyone who joined in this advocacy effort to save these vital services.

 

Read the Sign-on Letter to the General Assembly
 

Document	Description	Download
The Cost Effectiveness of Housing Support Teams: The Experiences of Persons Enrolled In the First Three Months	Report by the Jordan Institute for Families compares the cost of services that participants received prior to enrollment to costs post-enrollment	View pdf
Ending Homelessness is Cost Effective: Initial Results from North Carolina’s Housing Support Teams	A 2-page brief based on the Jordan Institute Report	View pdf