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Supportive Housing Standards & Funding Alignment

Project Purpose: To establish supportive housing standards starting with site-based supportive housing settings financed by Minnesota Housing (and its funding partners), with a future goal to address funding alignment aimed at strengthening the supportive housing infrastructure statewide.

Phase One: Develop Supportive Housing Standards (2021-2022)
The Supportive Housing Alliance has embarked on a work plan to carry out the following key tasks:
  1. Define “operating” and “service” activities to establish common vocabulary among funders and stakeholders;
  2. Engage stakeholders to establish a minimum package of services and operating standards that must be provided to qualify a project as supportive housing. These standards will include:
    • Minimum staff qualifications and training
    • Required service sets for supportive housing and minimum level of service activities and project operating requirements
    • Outcomes & Performance Benchmarks
  3. All work must be done in a manner that intentionally and actively antiracist and aimed at eliminating racial and ethnic disparities both in services as well as performance This includes, but is not limited to, anti-oppressive and culturally responsive services for people with disabilities and LGBTQIA2S+ communities.
  4. People with lived experience are key stakeholders that will be engaged in all phases of the standards development

In fall 2021, North Star Policy Consulting worked with the Supportive Housing Alliance to establish supportive housing standards for site-based supportive housing settings. The standards were based on the results of an existing literature review and feedback from stakeholder engagement, with input from a work group made up of representatives from the Supportive Housing Alliance. A copy of North Star Policy’s final report can be found here.

(click here to view the completed Supportive Housing Standards)
Phase Two: Funding Alignment
The Supportive Housing Alliance will work on a new funding alignment methodology that will commit services and operating funding at the same time as housing development financing is committed by Minnesota Housing.  This funding methodology will:
  • Set consistent rates
  • Fund required levels of operating functions to meet the new minimum operating requirements expected to qualify a project as supportive housing
  • Fund required levels of services to meet the new minimum services requirements expected to qualify a project as supportive housing
  • Evaluate existing service funding to determine how it might be repurposed as part of implementing the new methodology