Pathways to Housing is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1992 by Dr. Sam Tsemberis.[1][2] It is the mission of Pathways to Housing to transform individual lives by ending homelessness and supporting recovery.
The organization is the originator of the Housing First model of addressing homelessness among people with severe psychiatric disabilities and substance use disorders. As an innovative model, Housing First has been nationally successful at addressing homelessness largely due to its focus on consumer choice.[3] Consumers choose the neighborhoods they want to live in, how their apartments are furnished, and all other decisions regarding the use of their new homes. Consumers also determine the frequency, duration, and intensity of the support and treatment services they receive. Consumers feel secure knowing housing will be held for them during relapse, psychiatric crisis or short incarcerations. Most importantly though, consumers know they have a voice and often attend Tenant Advisory Council meetings, which provides a forum for input into the program and solicits ideas for changes to meet new needs[4].
Using this consumer-driven approach, Pathways to Housing has achieved remarkable success in housing retention for its target population. In one federally funded longitudinal random assignment study, 80% of the participants assigned to Pathways to Housing were in stable housing after 12 months compared to 24% for the three-step Continuum of Care programs.[5] Today, Pathways to Housing serves approximately 700 individuals living in supported scattered-site apartments throughout New York City; Westchester County, New York; the District of Columbia, Burlington, Vermont and Philadelphia.
Pathways to Housing has an annual operating budget of $15M and is funded by grants from city, state and federal government, individual contributions, foundation grants and corporate support.[6]
In 2010, Pathways to Housing set up a mobile video exhibit at nine locations in New York City where there were over 36,000 homeless people in 2009.[7] The exhibit featured an image of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in downtown Manhattan projected on to a building. Words also projected asked passersby to send a text message to help get him off the streets. A text message sent triggered a new video loop in which the man gets up and walks in the door of his new apartment. The idea is to convey visually the organization’s approach to combatting homelessness, which emphasizes getting people who are homeless into housing first and then tackling issues like mental health and addiction.[8][9][10]
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