Supportive housing

Supportive housing is one branch of the Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program. It provides a holistic and intensive case management approach aimed at assisting individuals in securing and maintaining safe, affordable housing. It also integrates critical support services related to behavioral health care, employment, public benefits, physical health care, and more.

Want to become a supportive housing provider? Learn how.

Visit the Wellpoint provider website.

Overview

The primary goal of supportive housing services is to empower individuals seeking housing to achieve stable and independent living by recognizing the various life factors that contribute to housing instability and tailoring coordinated support to meet their unique needs and objectives. Additionally, our program strives to reduce homelessness in Washington State and lower the costs associated with accessing high-quality behavioral health care, ultimately leading to healthier lives for our participants.

Supportive housing services are grounded in evidence-based practices derived from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) principles of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) model. This model is founded on seven core principles that research has shown to yield the most effective long-term housing stability outcomes for those receiving housing support services:

Choice of housing
Separation of housing and services
Decent, safe, and affordable options
Housing integration
Rights of tenancy
Access to housing
Flexible, voluntary services

Other FCS opportunities

Supportive housing case management services provide essential resources for those seeking assistance in achieving housing stability. These services can be particularly effective when combined with additional programs such as mental and physical health care, substance use disorder services, public benefits, housing subsidies, voucher programs, and more.

The Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program offers additional opportunities for individuals enrolled in supportive housing that eligible participants may consider alongside these case management services including:

Supported employment
Transition Assistance Program (TAP)
Apple Health and Homes (AHAH) housing
AHAH Rental Assistance Program (AHAH-RAP)

Transition Assistance Program (TAP)

Unemployment, job insecurity, homelessness, and unstable housing contribute to poor health. Homelessness is traumatic and cyclical, putting people at greater risk for developing physical and mental health conditions, including substance use disorders.

Enrollees of FCS supportive housing services often face financial obstacles to obtaining and maintaining safe, quality, affordable places to call home-especially when transitioning out of inpatient settings

Program goals

Support supportive housing enrollees as they take steps to achieve their personalized housing goals.
Lower barriers to securing housing stability by covering fees including but not limited to IDs, application fees, move-in costs, and more.

Eligibility criteria

Individuals are eligible to access TAP funding, so long as they:

Are receiving FCS-eligible Medicaid
Are authorized for Supportive Housing services
Are seeking to transition into the housing of their choice
Identify as having a behavioral health treatment need

TAP resources

Contact

Maureen Maples, FCS housing subsidies program manager for TAP

Apple Health and Homes

Apple Health and Homes (AHAH) is a multi-agency effort that pairs healthcare services with housing resources for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. AHAH aligns housing resources (capital financing and rental/operations assistance) with supportive services through the FCS program.

HCA has contracted with Wellpoint to be the coordinating entity that confirms eligibility for participants in conjunction with local FCS providers across the state.

HCA’s role is:

Administration of eligibility determinations for services
Enrollment in AHAH's CSS benefit
Coordination of permanent supportive housing units for eligible individuals

Eligibility

FCS is a targeted Medicaid benefit designed to meet the needs of individuals with significant barriers to finding stable housing and employment.

Participants must be:

Medicaid-eligible
Meet certain age requirements
Meet specific medical risk factors including chronic homelessness, complex behavioral health and co-occurring substance use needs among others, as well as a disability or other long-term care needs.

FCS does not pay for rent, rental subsidies, wages, or wage enhancements.

AHAH eligibility uses a subset of existing eligibility criteria used by Supportive Housing benefit. Enrollment in Supportive Housing requires individuals to meet several risk factors and medical necessity requirements.

While AHAH uses the Supportive Housing program’s eligibility criteria as a blueprint, AHAH’s eligibility criteria are more restrictive, based on two risk factors: frequent turnover of in-home caregivers, and individuals who have a predictive risk score of 1.5 or higher.

Resources

Contact

Elizabeth Pitts, AHAH program manager

Apple Health and Homes rental assistance

The AHAH Rental Assistance Program provides project- or tenant-based rental subsidies. The legislature appropriated funds to provide rental assistance for persons enrolled in the AHAH program.

The Department of Commerce will pay rent each month on behalf of AHAH program participants deemed eligible for the program. Referrals will be received from Wellpoint, the program’s coordinating entity, signaling that the participant has located housing with the assistance of the local Supportive Housing service provider.

Prior to payment of rent, landlords will be contacted for confirmation and to gather information necessary to pay rents each month. The Department of Commerce is developing a data platform that will track real-time allocations of rent funds to each of the state’s ten behavioral health regions, the amounts spent in each region, and the amount of uncommitted funds in each region.