CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-us.org, 203 470 9979
NEW REPORT: The Fight for Social Housing Must Include Supportive Services to Meet the Needs of the National Housing Crisis
Read Op-Ed Underscoring Report Demands Here
Social Housing + Support Services = a Solution That Actually Works
NEW YORK — Today, the Action Lab and VOCAL-US released a joint report, “The Way Home: Supportive Social Housing,” which underscores the need to build in supportive services and accessibility planning into social housing models from day one—not as an afterthought.
The United States is facing a homeless crisis driven by the high cost of living, low wages alongside the lack of access to housing and care for those struggling with disabilities, including substance use and mental health needs. The progressive movement is turning to social housing as a critical and transformative tool, but without considering supportive services and approaches, the movement could leave many behind.
As the report lays out, Supportive Social Housing works because it:
- Addresses housing crisis AND homelessness/mental health crises simultaneously
- Keeps housing permanently affordable under community control
- Provides voluntary services that help people stay housed
- Saves taxpayer money through reduced emergency service costs
“This report points to an important opportunity: if we plan earlier and more holistically, we can prevent crises before they become far more costly and damaging. Supportive social housing offers a promising framework—one that combines stable, affordable homes with coordinated services to meet people where they are. It’s an approach grounded in the idea that early, intentional investment leads to stronger outcomes for individuals and communities. If we’re serious about reducing homelessness at scale, this is a model policymakers should be leaning into now,” said Ryan Moser, Vice President of Strategy & External Affairs at CSH.
“I was living on the street, but the Arthur Street Hotel helped me get my ID, they helped me to get my birth certificate, social security and the medical services that I needed,” said Sandra Scott, a formerly homeless leader with VOCAL-KY. “A lot of people on the streets can obtain an apartment but don’t know how to maintain an apartment. Arthur Street Hotel has the outreach and the supportive systems people need for their safety.”
“Cities across the country are wasting money on ineffective strategies that fail to meet the needs of our most vulnerable community members,” said Jeremy Saunders, Co-Executive Director of VOCAL-NY. “Policymakers must invest in housing that also offers supportive services in order to help those who fall through the cracks because of unmet mental health issues, substance use, and chronic homelessness.”
BACKGROUND:
About The Action Lab:
The Action Lab is a strategy center for social movements that sparks political and personal liberation. We provide rigorous and joyful spaces for organizers, leaders and artists to learn, to create, and to strengthen our capacity to win. We strive to build a powerful culture that lifts us out of the immediate and enables us to envision and realize our way to a just future.
About VOCAL-US:
VOCAL-US is a national organization dedicated to ending AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness, and the next chapter for Voices of Communities Activists and Leaders. VOCAL-US embodies years of work of VOCAL-NY, in addition to new fights taken on by VOCAL-KY and VOCAL-TX, by harnessing advocacy by directly-impacted people to a national scale.
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