Evaluation of the Supportive Services Demonstration

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Office of Policy Research and Development is undertaking an evaluation of the Supportive Services Demonstration (SSD). SSD is a three-year demonstration designed to test the impact of housing-based supportive services on the healthcare utilization and housing stability of low-income adults aged 62 and over. The demonstration offered grant funding to multifamily property owners to implement the Integrated Wellness in Supportive Housing (IWISH) model over the three-year demonstration period. The IWISH model features a full-time on-site Resident Wellness Director (RWD) with a part-time Wellness Nurse (WN) at each property funded to implement IWISH. The RWD and WN work together to implement a formal strategy for coordinating services to help residents meet their long-term care needs. HUD designed the SSD as a cluster-randomized controlled trial to allow rigorous measurement of impacts. HUD published a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) in January 2016 for the demonstration, received more than 700 responses, and applied screening and ranking criteria described in the NOFA to identify 185 properties across seven states as eligible for random assignment. HUD assigned properties to three groups: a treatment group that received grant funding to hire the RWD and WN and implement the demonstration; an active control group that did not receive funding for implementation but received an incentive for participating in the evaluation; and a passive control group that received neither an implementation grant nor an incentive. The final demonstration sample is 124 HUD-assisted properties: 40 in the treatment group (also known as IWISH properties), 40 in the active control group, and 44 in the passive control group. All properties serve households headed by people aged 62 or over, either predominantly or exclusively. The properties are located in the following states: California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and South Carolina. Each state has treatment, active control, and passive control properties. The demonstration formally began October 1, 2017. The 40 IWISH properties began enrolling residents, conducting resident needs assessments, and developing individualized healthy aging plans in late March 2018. The demonstration ends in September 2020.

The latest form for Evaluation of the Supportive Services Demonstration expires 2023-08-31 and can be found here.

Initial Questionnaire

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Community and Social Services - Community and Regional Development