Two grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), made in concert with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Ford Foundation provided partial funding for the creation and operating expenses of the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). A third grant supported an evaluation of CSH. In all, CSH raised $95.2 million from public and private sources from 1991–1999.

Supportive housing is permanent housing that combines health and social services for homeless people suffering from chronic health problems, mental and physical disabilities, and/or substance abuse problems.

Key Results

• CSH made grants and loans that supported the development of 9,648 units of supportive housing, and leveraged more than $169 million in corporate investments to produce another 3,838 units.
• CSH also provided technical assistance and grants to strengthen the organizational capacity of local organizations.
• It has documented, evaluated, and disseminated information about effective program models and strategies through reports, manuals and other products.

The Evaluation
An initial evaluation (ID# PC332) co-funded by Pew, found that CSH had become a respected and influential player in the field.

Pew and The Rockefeller Foundation co-funded a second phase of the evaluation, while RWJF funded an assessment of the feasibility of conducting a cost study of supportive housing (ID# 027390).

In addition, under its Building Health Systems for People with Chronic Illnesses national program, RWJF funded CSH to develop a unique and replicable model for the delivery and financing of integrated services (see Grant Results on ID# 027072).

Funding
RWJF supported the project with two grants to the Corporation for Supportive Housing totaling $8 million, and a $148,002 grant to Holt, Wexler, and Merchant for the evaluation.