Governor Patrick remains centre stage for the third day this week in SIBNews…
Patrick Unveils Plan To Aid Homeless People At Framingham Event
Danielle Ameden – Milford Daily News
When Jim Cuddy joined the South Middlesex Opportunity Council as executive director back in 1985, homeless shelters were a new concept.
He never imagined he’d be among the leaders still working to put roofs over people’s heads 30 years later.
“Over time – that much time – it’s easy to get discouraged, and to see a problem not go away, to see a social injustice not go away…that’s why this day is important,” Cuddy said Monday, celebrating Gov. Deval Patrick’s announcement of a new state program that promises to end chronic individual homelessness. “This day marks an event that will help us make this problem go away, once and for all.”
A large crowd of state and local community leaders and partners from the public and private sector gathered at SMOC’s headquarters on Bishop Street to hail the new Pay for Success initiative.
Leveraging $3.5 million in philanthropic funding and private capital investments, the new model will serve up to 800 of the state’s estimated 1,500 chronically homeless individuals.
“This is about how we share – all of us – the responsibility for solving a problem that is about all of us,” Patrick said.
“It’s about ending this notion that the homeless are somebody else’s problem, somebody else’s family, somebody else’s relative but in fact members of our community, and then we have to have a solution which isn’t just about getting them out of the cold on a terrible day like this, but helping them get back up and stay on their feet and I’m proud to be a part of that,” he said, earning a standing ovation from the crowd.
The state says the Pay for Success program will provide 500 permanent units of stable, supportive housing. One benefit will be lower costs for emergency resources, such as shelter and Medicaid payments.
Funding for the contract or social impact bond comes from Santander Bank N.A., the Corporation for Supportive Housing and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.
If successful, the initiative will generate up to $6 million that the state would use to repay investors, who are taking a risk by providing the up-front financing.
The state only pays the money back if the program succeeds in providing stable housing for one year for chronically homeless individuals.
Patrick said it’s a simple premise: “Have government pay for what works.”
State Seeks ‘Social Bonds’ To Aid Homeless
Wicked Local Taunton
A plan that calls for using charitable donations and private-sector investment to ease chronic homelessness in Massachusetts was unveiled Monday by Gov. Deval Patrick, but some local advocates for the homeless say it’s not enough.
The “Pay for Success” initiative aims to create 500 units of housing for up to 800 homeless people over the next six years.
The program will leverage $1 million in philanthropic funding and $2.5 million in private capital from Santander Bank, the Corporation for Supportive Housing and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, state officials said.
“It is critical that we reduce the reliance on emergency services and provide individuals safe and stable housing that will help strengthen our communities and last for generations to come,” Patrick said in a statement announcing the program.
Under Pay for Success contracts, also known as social impact bonds, investors provide upfront funding and are repaid only if an outside evaluator finds the program has achieved a goal that benefits society and saves taxpayer dollars.
The maximum return on investment would be just over 5.3%.
Fact Sheet: Improving Outcomes For Our Nation’s Foster Youth
White House
As part of its support for stable homes and strong support structures for foster children, the White House is announcing today new steps that the Administration and our partners are taking to help support the foster youth in our nation’s care.
Pay for Success: The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a leading nonprofit organization focused on evidence and impact in social service systems, has been selected as a winner in the federal Social Innovation Fund’s inaugural Pay for Success grant competition. Today, NCCD and the SIF announce the release of an RFP offering support to communities to help them assess feasibility of using Pay for Success to scale promising interventions aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems by responsibly preventing entry into the foster care system, reducing cross-over between foster care and juvenile justice systems, and safely reducing the length of system involvement for youth in these systems.