Supportive services must be integrated with housing in order to help low income people achieve housing stability. Those who are transitioning out of homelessness are often the greatest beneficiaries of this integrated approach.

“Housing Plus Services” is an umbrella term coined by the National Low Income Housing Coalition to captures the phenomenon of combined housing and service initiatives. Housing Plus Services refers to permanent affordable housing that incorporates various levels of services with housing, with services provided, preferably, by trained staff for whom service delivery, not property management, is their primary responsibility.

Our work in the broad Housing Plus Services subject area includes our support for programs at the intersection of housing and services that support the ability of the lowest income people, included those with service or accessibility needs, to have affordable housing, live where their choose, increase their earned income, and participate in decisions about their housing.

NLIHC supports: 

  • The highest possible funding for special population housing and other programs, including McKinney-Vento, Section 811, Section 202, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) Program, and healthy housing.
  • Permanent housing programs that prevent and end homelessness.
  • Policies that provide affordable housing options necessary to comply with the Olmstead decision.
  • The rights of residents and other low income community members to benefit from federal investment in local housing programs.
  • Enactment of Section 3 program reforms.
  • Updates to the funding formula for HOPWA.
  • Healthy housing legislation.

For more information about NLIHC’s Housing Plus Services work, please contact Elayne Weiss, Policy Analyst, at [email protected] or 202-662-1530 x 243. Members of the media should contact Renee Willis, Vice President for Field and Communications, at 202.662.1530 x247 or [email protected].

Housing Plus Services Resources

HUD Posts Two New Proposed Rules on FSS and PHA Capital Funds

HUD posted two new proposed regulations on the EO 12866 Regulatory Review web page of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), an arm of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). One proposed rule would implement changes to the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program as required by…

Senator Kamala Harris Introduces “Ending Homelessness Act of 2019”

Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced the “Ending Homelessness Act of 2019” (S. 2613) on October 16. Co-sponsored by Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the bill would…

House Subcommittees Hold Hearing on Veteran Homelessness

The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittees on Economic Opportunity and Health held a hearing on January 18 to examine the issue of veterans’ homelessness. The hearing included two separate panels, one for local service providers and another for officials from HUD, the Department of…