The Effectiveness of Permanent Supportive Housing in Maine

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The Effectiveness of Permanent Supportive Housing in Maine

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Affordable housing availability for Maine’s homeless citizens with disabilities continues to be a significant issue for the State of Maine.

In 2005 the State of Maine, through Maine State Housing Authority, participated in the Taking HealthCare Home initiative sponsored by the Corporation for Supportive Housing through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. This project provided an opportunity to review the current permanent supportive housing options in Maine as well as to examine the cost of permanent supportive housing as compared to the cost of a life lived in homelessness.

In 2007 and 2009 two reports were published detailing the cost of services and housing for a sample of citizens in Maine who had a major disability and were homeless prior to entering a permanent supportive housing program. Both reports showed favorable results when people were offered a permanent home of their own in which to seek stability and recovery. Many parties involved in the development and maintenance of Maine’s housing stock were interested in whether those cost savings continued once a person entered their second year of stable housing.

This report represents the results of a review of the costs associated with the second year of permanent supportive housing for people with disabilities who were formerly homeless.

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