Supportive Housing for the Disabled Reentry Population: The District of Columbia Frequent Users Service Enhancement Pilot

• NCJ Number: 237150
• Author(s): Jocelyn Fontaine; Douglas Gilchrist-Scott; Aaron Horvath
• Date Published: December 2011
• Length: 78 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2009-SU-B9-0006
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA); Justice Grants Admin, Executive Office of the Mayor, District of Columbia; Open Society Foundation
• Corporate Author: The Urban Institute
• Sale Source: The Urban Institute
• Publication Format: Document; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After describing the District of Columbia Frequent Users Service Enhancement (FUSE) Pilot Program, this report presents the findings and recommendations of an evaluation of the program.

Abstract

The FUSE Pilot Program is a permanent supportive housing program for high-risk and high-need individuals with mental illness who have extensive histories of cycling between systems in the District of Columbia. The goals of FUSE include the creation of 50 units of permanent supportive housing for the "frequent-user" population discharged from the District of Columbia Department of Corrections (jail); to improve coordination across systems that serve the frequent-user population; to document decreased recidivism rates and increased housing for frequent users; and to demonstrate cost savings in the District of Columbia's corrections, human services, and mental health services agencies. FUSE began operations in October 2010. Over the past year of program implementation, the program has had some successes and challenges in meeting its goals. It has not reached its goal of creating 50 units of permanent supportive housing for frequent users leaving the jail, but it has succeeded in improving coordination across the systems that serve frequent users. Program shortcomings are attributable to a variety of reasons, such as the administrative mechanism used to identify frequent users, the challenge of facilitating the reentry process, and the lack of available housing vouchers dedicated to the program. Over the next few months, the program intends to continue enrolling frequent users into the remaining available supportive housing units. It intends to seek additional partners and/or resources for the remaining housing units and continue program operations in the city. The evaluation collected and analyzed data from relevant agencies in exploring the program's preliminary impact on short-term, individual-level outcomes. Administrative data were use to document the outcomes of the first 15 program participants. 9 tables, 7 figures, 44 references, and appended charge classification categories, diagnostic criteria, and comprehensive participant information