Our Impact
The Pathways Housing First model has been implemented in over 100 cities across 20 countries, supporting more than 100,000 individuals worldwide and demonstrating an 88% housing retention rate across programs.
US Veterans
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During 2024 alone the Veterans Association housed 48,000 veterans using the Pathways Housing First model. In the 10 years since the launch of the Veterans Housing First program, called HUD-VASH, homelessness among US Veterans dropped by 56%. The VA began working with the Pathways Housing First Institute in 2010 to introduce the model to an initial cohort of VA Medical Centers in 14 US cities. Pathways provided training, technical assistance, and conducted site visits to assess fidelity to the model.
In the initial 14 VA pilot program pilot, of the 700 veterans housed, 94% were chronically homeless and 78% had been diagnosed with substance use or mental health issues and yet, they achieved an 84% housing retention rate. These findings led the VA to adopt the housing first model nationally in 2012. Pathways later wrote the Housing First manual for the VA and today continues to provide training and consultation contributing to the remarkable national reduction in veterans experiencing homelessness.
Ireland
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Pathways Institute has played an integral role in Ireland's nationwide implementation of the Housing First model. The institute was engaged in the strategic planning for the program and sources of funding, wrote the Housing First manual for Ireland, and continues to provide support and consultation to the programs of Housing First Ireland.
In March of 2022 Ireland launched their national, inter-government approach to Housing First. This was made possible through the collaboration of the Ministeries of Housing and Health. Housing across all nine regions of Ireland is provided by the national social housing program as well as through private landlords. Case management is provided by local NGOs and health services are coordinated with the national health service. After two years of this three-year national pilot, (as of 11/24) the Housing First programs have housed 1049 tenants and 85% of those tenants remain permanently housed.
The City of Milwaukee
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The city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA saw a 92% reduction in unsheltered homelessness and a 46.3% reduction of the overall homeless population after just 5 years of adopting the Housing First Model and expanding it to a community-wide approach. The Pathways Institute introduced Housing First to the city and county of Milwaukee and has provided consultation since 2015 when the model was first adopted.
The success in Milwaukee can be attributed to 5 factors: 1) assuring that there was strong county and municipal leadership to address chronic homelessness; 2) choosing the right intervention for the right population (Housing First for chronically homeless); 3) securing the resources to implement the model correctly (housing choice vouchers and intensive case management support); 4) including the wider community to actively participate and contribute to the Housing First program (police, district attorney, judges, business community, philanthropy, and others other providers), and they also bolstered and coordinated outreach services across medical, social services, and police departments; and 5) the HF Initiative set goals and was held/held themselves accountable to the community for meeting these goals. Within the first three years of implementing the housing first model Milwaukee County Housing Division was able to provide housing and services to over 750 citizens experiencing homelessness.
Before adopting the Housing First model Milwaukee recorded 327 people experiencing homelessness during their annual Point-in-time (PIT) count. After 3 years their PIT count was just 17 people, the lowest number for a city that size in the United States.
The State of Georgia
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The State of Georgia adopted a statewide Housing First approach to meet the terms of the Olmstead Supreme Court Decision. The decision required the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health to provide housing and services that enable people with psychiatric disabilities living in institutions (psychiatric hospitals, jails, and homelessness) to live in community settings should they choose to do so.
The Pathways Institute in partnership with Step Up, with funding for support services from the Sister’s Foundation, and housing vouchers from the State of Georgia launched a pilot Housing First program to begin to address their Olmstead mandates. Pathways provided sThe institute provided training for policy makers and providers in the use of the housing first model, facilitated its statewide implementation and performed a monthly community of practice call to address any challenges or issues in terms of the program.
As of 2024, the Georgia Housing Voucher Program has housed 2,550 Georgians with SPMI.
Canada
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At the time of the study, most participants had experienced homelessness for approximately five years, with a longer history of social or physical disadvantage. Participants were split into two groups, those who received Housing First (HF) services and those who received treatment as usual (TAU). During the two year study Housing First participants spent 73% of the time in stable housing, compared to only 32% for TAU participants. Individuals with substance abuse maintained housing at the comparable levels to the overall sample.
The study determined that Housing First is unequivocally more effective in housing individuals than treatment first models. Housing first participants showed significantly greater housing stability and improvements in quality of life.
The Housing First program proved less costly for taxpayers than the cost of someone remaining homeless on the streets for a year. The model is adaptable to diverse populations, including youth, survivors of domestic violence, and people of indigenous origin and can be successfully operated in urban and rural environments. The programs that had the most positive outcomes were also the programs that operated most closely with the Pathways Housing First program fidelity standards.
Donate to the Pathways Institute
Help us bring Housing First across the country and around the globe.
Your donation enables us to work with organizations that otherwise could not access Housing First training and implementation support.
If you would like to make a donation by check, please make it payable to Pathways Housing First Institute and mail it to:
Pathways Housing First Institute
P.O. Box 3351
Santa Monica, CA 90408
Pathways Housing First Institute is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. EIN: 82-5337449.