HUD System Performance Measures: Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act mandates that Continuums of Care (CoCs) evaluate their efforts to address homelessness. To meet this requirement, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has established seven System Performance Measures. CoCs are required to report on these measures annually to demonstrate their effectiveness in addressing homelessness. These metrics serve as vital tools for monitoring local efforts and provide insights to inform system improvement. HUD uses the data provided by CoCs to evaluate their performance and determine the allocation of funding. This blog is the final installment in a series delving into Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s performance on these measures and their significance for the local community. 

In this blog post, we offer an overview and present data on System Performance Measure Seven: Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing. 

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The HUD System Performance Measures provide a comprehensive assessment of local efforts to prevent and end homelessness. The measures not only track reductions in homelessness but also evaluate how effective the coordinated homeless services system is in ensuring homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.

System Performance Measures include:

1. Length of Time Persons Remain Homeless
2. Returns to Homelessness Within 24 months
3. Number of Homeless Persons
4. Employment and Income Growth for CoC funded projects
5. Number of People Who Become Homeless for the First Time
6. Prevention and Housing Placement for Persons Defined by Category 3
7. Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing

This blog series has provided a deep dive into each measure, explained what is being measured, who is included in the measures, and each measure’s desired outcomes. Previous blogs have focused on Length of Time Homeless, Returns to Homelessness Within 24 Months, Number of Homeless Persons, Employment and Income Growth for CoC Funded Projects, and Number of People Who Became Homeless for the First Time . This blog will focus on the seventh measure: Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing. Charlotte-Mecklenburg is not required to report on measure six: Prevention and Housing Placement for Persons Defined by Category 3.

FOCUS ON MEASURE 7: SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT IN OR RETENTION OF PERMANENT HOUSING

Measure 7: HUD System Performance Measure Successful Placement in or Retention of Permanent Housing evaluates the success of Continuums of Care (CoCs) in placing individuals experiencing homelessness into permanent housing and ensuring their retention in that housing. It consists of three metrics: Successful Placement from Street Outreach (7a.1), Successful Placement in Permanent Housing (7b.1), and Successful Exit or Retention of Permanent Housing (7b.2).

Successful Placement from Street Outreach (7a.1) examines the change in the number of persons who exit street outreach programs to a positive destination. In the case of street outreach, exiting the program to anywhere except a place not meant for habitation, hospital or other non-residential psychiatric facility, jail, or a residential project or halfway house with no homeless criteria. The desired outcome is to increase the number of successful exits from street outreach.

Successful Placement in Permanent Housing (7b.1) examines the change in the number of people who exit to permanent housing destinations from emergency shelter (ES), safe haven (SH), transitional housing (TH), rapid rehousing RRH), or other permanent housing (PH; without moving in). The desired outcome is to increase the number of people who exit to permanent housing.

Successful Exit or Retention of Permanent Housing (7b.2) evaluates how many people housed in permanent housing projects (excluding RRH) either exited to a permanent destination or stayed in housing. The desired outcome is to increase the rate at which people retain their permanent housing.

These measures track the percentage of individuals who successfully transition from homelessness to permanent housing and remain housed, reflecting the effectiveness of CoC programs in providing stable housing solutions.

For federal fiscal year, FY 22 (October 1, 2021-September 30, 2022) in Charlotte-Mecklenburg:

Of the 335 people who exited a street outreach program in FY22, 120 or 33% exited to a positive destination. In FY21, 62% (239) of the 388 persons who exited street outreach programs exited to a positive destination. It is important to note that during FY21, over 90 people who were living in a large encampment were transitioned from a place not meant for habitation to a positive destination impacting the high percentage of positive exits we see in FY21.

Among persons the 4049 persons who exited emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, or a permanent housing program with no move-in date in FY 22, 33% (1355) exited to a permanent housing destination. In FY21, 37% (1270) of the 3421 persons who exited emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, or a permanent housing program with no move-in date exited to a permanent housing destination. In FY 22, more people exited to permanent destinations but more people were also served by these project types which impacts the overall percentage of exits to permanent destinations.

Of the 1517 people housed in permanent housing (excluding RRH), 96% (1452) either remained in their housing or exited to a permanent housing destination from being housed in a permanent housing program. In FY21, of the 1036 people housed in permanent housing (excluding RRH), 97% (1003) either remained in their housing or exited to a permanent housing destination from being housed in a permanent housing program.

Measure 7b.2 data suggests that permanent housing is an effective intervention to ensure housing retention and permanent housing post program exit. However, measures 7a.1 and 7b.1 indicate a need for additional efforts to ensure people enrolled in street outreach, emergency shelter, safe haven, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, or a permanent housing program with no move-in date exit these program types to a positive and/or permanent destination. Both capacity and resource availability impact these two measures. Street outreach capacity directly impacts the number of people street outreach programs are able to serve and resource availability impacts the ability for street outreach programs to facilitate positive program exits. Likewise, the availability of affordable housing and subsidy availability, subsidy type, and the implementation of low barrier eligibility criteria impact an individual’s ability to access permanent housing resources and thus exit to a permanent housing destination.