Housing Plus Services


The importance of integrating services with housing in order to help low income people achieve housing stability is now widely recognized. The variations in types of existing housing and service initiatives have produced an increasingly complex language with multiple meanings and overlapping definitions, with terms that are used loosely and interchangeably. Clarity is needed for a succinct, detailed analysis of housing and services initiatives. Further, the proliferation of housing plus services programs in recent years has happened with few tested models and standards for service delivery. 

The National Low Income Housing Coalition proposes Housing Plus Services as an umbrella term that captures the phenomenon of combined housing and service initiatives. Housing Plus Services refers to permanent affordable housing that incorporates various levels of services with housing, with services provided, preferably, by trained staff for whom service delivery, not property management, is their primary responsibility. To guide practice in Housing Plus Services programs, the National Low Income Housing Coalition proposes a basic set of Principles that we encourage low income housing providers who operate Housing Plus Services programs to adopt. 

The Housing Plus Services Policy Committee of NLIHC has also developed a Typology of existing Housing Plus Services programs, analyzed by the dimensions of: target population; goals and outcomes; services provided; and general requirements and restrictions. 

The purpose of the Housing First Network, coordinated by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is to facilitate communication among those interested in developing, implementing, understanding or refining a housing first approach in their community.   

A housing first approach is based on the following two premises: Re-housing people experiencing homelessness should be the primary goal of our work with individuals and families.

By providing housing assistance and follow-up case management services after a family or individual is housed, we can significantly reduce the time people spend in homelessness.

Housing First Network

Recommended Reading in Housing Plus Services

The Child Welfare League of America's Child Welfare journal.  The September / October 2004 edition addresses the intersection of housing and child welfare and includes an article, Housing Plus Services: Supporting Vulnerable Families in Permanent Housing, written by Carol Cohen, Elizabeth Mulroy, Tanya Tull, Catherine White and Sheila Crowley, all of the Housing Plus Services Committee.

Cohen,C.S., Phillips,M.H., Mendez,M.A., & Ordonez,R.  (2000).  Sustaining strong communities in a world of devolution: Empowerment-based social services in housing settings.  In R. Perez-Koenig & B.D. Rock (Eds.), Social Work in the Era of Devolution:  Toward a Just Practice.  New York:  Fordham University Press.  Full text.
This paper is based on studies of Phipps House and their Community Development Corporation in the South Bronx, focusing on the integration of social services in housing programs. In particular, it explores how the devolution of the welfare state in the United States has affected the manner in which social services need to be conceptualized and delivered in housing settings in order to support tenants and community. It builds on the previous publication: Cohen, C.S. & Phillips, M.H. (1997). Building Community: Principles for Social Work Practice in Housing Settings. Social Work. 42 (5). 471-481, in which the authors identified principles for service delivery that can be applied to other housing sites in deteriorated neighborhoods. In light of socio-political changes over the last few years, this current work provides a review and expansion of these principles. 

Granruth, Laura Brierton & Smith, Carla Hett.  (March 2001).  Low Income Housing and Services Program:  Towards a New Perspective.  Washington, DC:  National Low Income Housing Coalition.  Full text. 
This paper, written by two NLIHC interns, provides a historical perspective.  It contains earlier versions of the Housing Plus Services typology and principles.