Rapid Re-housing

Definition and Overview

• Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) is a short- to medium-term supportive housing intervention that provides financial assistance and/or housing-focused  services for households experiencing homelessness to quickly exit homelessness by securing permanent housing in the community.
• Program participants have access to rental assistance (rather than a housing voucher) and flexible supportive services. It is best practice for RRH assistance to be provided through the progressive engagement model. Progressive engagement models start with smaller amounts of assistance to participants as opposed to offering the maximum amount. The services and assistance amounts are tailored to the household and can increase or decrease over the course of participation in order to support the participant and keep them housed.
• While the goal is to move households to independence within 24 months (based on the household’s individual needs), there are generally no fixed or hard deadlines or requirements in place, unless specified by a particular funding source.
• Service providers outreach to program participants to provide services and support. Supportive services are focused on clearing barriers and gaining or maintaining permanent housing.
• Program participants work with private landlords willing to accept rental assistance. Tenants have formal lease agreements guaranteeing the rights and responsibilities of tenancy.
• One goal of RRH is for program participants to increase their income (either through benefits acquisition or employment) to a degree that assistance is no longer needed and program participants are able to cover 100% of their housing costs. Program participants can “transition in place,” which is one of the main differences between RRH and Transitional Housing programs, which require a participant to exit the Transitional Housing and move to a new unit. 
• Note that housing developments cannot currently be underwritten with an expectation of income through RRH programs. RRH program participants have the flexibility to move from unit to unit as assistance is tied to the household rather than a specific unit or building.
• Staffing best practices include a target staff-to-participant ratio of no less than one case manager to every 15 households (i.e., a 1:15 case management ratio). As with all programs, staffing structure and model should center lived experiences of homelessness and related systems. RRH programs may consider hiring nurses, clinicians, and other clinical or specialty professionals, but only if the program cannot secure the staffing through existing medical programs or partnerships as these positions can often be funded through Medicaid or other insurance or services funding.

Program Parameters

Rapid Re-Housing, Eviction Prevention, and Homelessness Prevention deliver similar activities and strategies. Efforts to implement Rapid Re-Housing, Eviction Prevention, and Homelessness Prevention are listed after the Rapid Re-Housing section. 

Expected Outcomes

Outcomes typically focus on permanent housing outcomes, including exits to permanent housing, housing stability and retention, and length of time between program enrollment and housing obtained. Other outcomes may relate to reduced recidivism to homelessness, incarceration, or hospitalization; overcoming barriers to housing; increased income (including benefits acquisition); decreasing homelessness risk factors; and achieving personal goals.

Program Parameters for Eviction Prevention, Homelessness Prevention, AND Rapid Re-Housing

Eviction Prevention, Homelessness Prevention, and Rapid Re-Housing deliver similar activities and strategies, and the exact intervention depends on the program’s model. Common activities and parameters for the program models include:  

Supportive Services 

• Housing search and placement: Services or activities necessary to assist program participants in locating, obtaining, and retaining suitable permanent housing, including (i) assessment of housing barriers, needs, and preferences; (ii) development of an action plan for locating or maintaining housing; (iii) housing search; (iv) outreach to and negotiation with owners; (v) assistance with submitting rental applications and and other lease-up assistance, such as understanding leases; (vi) assessment of housing for compliance with unit requirements, such as habitability; (vii) assistance with obtaining utilities and moving arrangements and assistance; and (viii) tenant counseling.
  Housing navigation and landlord mediation. Assists program participants in obtaining housing by helping them navigate housing applications, screening criteria, and relationships with landlords that aim to increase exits to permanent housing with ongoing support. This staff capacity may provide services to landlords to de-escalate any challenges that arise with program participants, with the goal of avoiding evictions or exits to homelessness. This can also include providing services and life skills for program participants to equip them with understanding tenant responsibilities and other skills that may be needed to achieve long-term housing stability.
• Housing stability case management and tenancy support services: Efforts to assess, arrange, coordinate, and monitor the delivery of individualized services to facilitate housing stability for a participant who resides in permanent housing or to assist a participant in overcoming or mitigating immediate barriers to obtaining housing, including tenant screening barriers. This may include (i) using the centralized or coordinated assessment system to evaluate individuals and families applying for or receiving homelessness prevention or rapid re-housing assistance; (ii) conducting the initial evaluation, including verifying and documenting eligibility, as well as conducting the ongoing re-assessments for ensuring program participants’ continued eligibility and adjusting assistance; (iii) counseling; (iv) developing, securing, and coordinating services to enroll eligible individuals and families into economic security programs and other eligible public benefits; (v) monitoring and evaluating participant progress; (vi) providing information and referrals to other providers; (vii) developing an individualized housing and service plan, including planning a path to permanent housing stability; (viii) linkages to education, job skills training, and employment support; and (ix) conducting re-evaluations.
  • After move-in, case management best practice is home-based as much as possible and is focused on stabilizing the participant in housing by identifying supports, employment or other income, housing retention barriers, and conflict resolution that may lead to tenancy problems.
  • Case management is participant-driven, voluntary, progressive, strengths-based and focused on housing attainment and retention.
  • Activities may also include in-reach, outreach, engagement, and other on-going tenancy support services, including (i) acquiring necessary furnishings and household goods; (ii) tenancy rights and responsibilities education and support; (iii) eviction prevention supports; (iv) transportation assistance related to housing stability; (v) independent living skills coaching; (vi) de-escalation support; (vii) support groups; (viii) end-of-life planning; and (ix) re-engagement and relocation support.
• Mediation: Mediation between the participant and the owner or person(s) with whom the participant is living, provided that the mediation is necessary to prevent the participant from losing permanent housing in which the program participant currently resides.
• Legal services: Legal services necessary to resolve a legal problem that prohibits the participant from obtaining permanent housing or will likely result in the participant losing the permanent housing in which the program participant currently resides. This may include strategies that prevent evictions from reaching courts and formal legal proceedings and other alternatives to formal eviction hearings.
• Credit repair: Credit counseling and other services necessary to assist program participants with critical skills related to household budgeting, managing money, accessing a free personal credit report, and resolving personal credit problems. 
• Services for behavioral health, mental health, substance use disorders, and medical care: Includes a continuum of behavioral health services and treatment, as well as coordination of access to healthcare-related services including primary care, substance use treatment, mental health care, vision and dental care, and emergency, crisis, and inpatient services. 
• Other supportive services: Includes but is not limited to other supportive services such as:
  • Childcare: Efforts to establish and operate childcare or provide childcare vouchers for children from families experiencing homelessness, and provide meals, snacks, and comprehensive and coordinated developmental activities.
  • Education services: Efforts to improve knowledge and basic educational skills. Services  include instruction or training in consumer education, health education, substance use prevention, literacy, English as a Second Language, General Educational Development (GED), and others, such as the provision of books, supplies, and instructional material. 
  • Food: Efforts to provide meals or groceries to program participants.
  • Educational, vocational, and work-based learning opportunities: Efforts to connect program participants to educational, vocational, and work-based learning opportunities that resolve the household’s homelessness as quickly as possible and/or stabilize permanent housing.
  • Recovery care and related residential programs: Efforts to connect program participants to community resources that offer recovery care and related residential programs, including the cost of transportation to those services.

Operations

• Grant Activities: Efforts focused on administering a specific grant or funding source may improve effective operations, as well as effective program implementation. Such efforts include planning and executing program activities, such as (i) general program or grant management, oversight, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation; (ii) salaries, wages, and related costs related to preparing program budgets; developing systems for ensuring compliance with grant requirements; developing interagency agreements; and preparing reports and other required documents or activities; (iii) accounting or other services; and (iv) other reasonable and necessary goods and services required to implement the grant program, such as evaluating program results against stated objectives, occupancy costs, and training on program requirements. 

Rent and Financial Assistance

• Short-term and medium-term rental assistance: Up to 24 months of rental assistance during any 3-year period. This assistance may be short-term rental assistance, medium-term rental assistance, payment of rental arrears, or any combination of this assistance.
  • Short-term rental assistance is assistance for up to three months of rent
  • Medium-term rental assistance is assistance for more than three months but not more than 24 months of rent
  • Payment of rental arrears consists of a one-time payment for up to six months of rent in arrears, including any late fees on those arrears
  • Rental assistance may be tenant-based or project-based
• Financial assistance: Efforts to obtain or maintain permanent housing, such as rental application fees, security deposits, last month's rent, utility deposits, utility payments, and moving costs.