Frequently Asked Questions

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, March 2021: Permanent supportive housing is an intervention that combines affordable housing with voluntary support services to address the needs of chronically homeless people. The services are designed to build independent living and tenancy skills and connect people with community-based health care, treatment, and employment services.

Investments in permanent supportive housing have helped decrease the number of chronically homeless individuals nationally by eight percent since 2007. In addition to ending homelessness for people who are chronically homeless, research has demonstrated that permanent supportive housing can also increase housing stability and improve health.

 A cost-effective solution, permanent supportive housing has been shown to lower public costs associated with the use of crisis services such as shelters, hospitals, jails, and prisons.

CHP aims to house people experiencing chronic homelessness. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness: Chronic homelessness is used to describe people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year—or repeatedly—while struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability.

People experiencing chronic homelessness typically have complex and long-term health conditions, such as mental illness, substance use disorders, physical disabilities, or other medical conditions. Once they become homeless — regardless of what immediately caused them to lose their housing — it is difficult for them to get back into housing and they can face long or repeated episodes of homelessness.

Most likely, potential residents will come from temporary shelters such as Camp Hope and the Union Gospel Mission or transitional housing such as Yakima Neighborhood Health Services Hauff Resource Center, or other temporary housing programs.

According to the National Alliance on Ending Homelessness, numerous studies, many conducted recently, have sought to document the costs and benefits of supportive housing in the U.S. The majority have documented how PSH reduces the use of publicly funded crisis services, including jails, hospitalizations, and emergency departments.

A chronically homeless person costs the taxpayer an average of $35,578 per year. Costs on average are reduced by 49.5% when they are placed in supportive housing. Supportive housing costs on average $12,800, making the net savings roughly $4,800 per year.

CHP residents will be selected by a committee chosen by Justice Housing Yakima (JHY) board members.

Applicants must:

• Be experiencing chronic homelessness
• Have been referred by and working with a case manager
• Have documented monthly income including SSI, SSDI, unemployment, etc.
• Be able to commit to living in accordance with CHP policies and code of conduct, and participate in cooperative self-governance
• Agree to volunteer 10 hours each month in CHV upkeep and operations

Here are a few of the conduct expectations at CHP:

• CHP and its residents will treat others with respect regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or economic status.
• Residents will not act violently toward others or themselves.
• Residents will not use, purchase, sell, or produce illegal drugs on the property, and will not consume alcohol or marijuana in the common areas unless approved by the Village in advance.
• Residents will keep the area in and around their residences clean and orderly, and not store any personal items outside their home or in common areas, except those so designated (bike storage, for example).
• Residents will respect the rights and property of other village members and those of the neighbors around CHP.

Violations of the code of conduct may result in removal from CHP.

Property Value

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition: A review of literature by the Urban Studies Program at San Francisco State University shows that 13/14 studies that examined the impact of proximity to affordable housing on property values have found no significant negative effect. Furthermore, research shows that affordable housing, in some cases, can improve property value. HUD’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) database showed that producing affordable housing in distressed neighborhoods positively impacts the surrounding area in terms of modest property value gains and increased safety.

A study by Trulia was conducted in 2016 to show the little to no impact affordable housing has on property values. They noted that, “In the nation’s 20 least affordable markets, our analysis of 3,083 low-income housing projects from 1996 to 2006 found no significant effect on home values located near a low-income housing project, with a few exceptions.”

Crime Rate

Many fears around affordable housing increasing the neighborhood’s crime rates are based on emotional fear rather than factual arguments. Research shows that when affordable units occur in small quantities (typically 50 units or less), there is no impact on neighborhood crime. Additionally, a study by the Minneapolis Center for Urban and Regional Affairs found that the number of calls made to the police significantly declined from properties that converted to affordable housing.