Pay-for-Success Update: SIF Grantees Open PFS Competitions, New Projects in Ohio and Massachusetts

Pay-for-success appears to be continuing its steady forward momentum. Recent developments over the past month include:


Social Innovation Fund Pay-for-Success Competitions: 
Most of the eight intermediaries funded through the Social Innovation Fund’s pay-for-success grants have opened their competitions for technical assistance subgrants. Links to the organizational grant pages are below. Additional background information about SIF’s pay-for-success program can be found in SIRC’s November report.


Supportive Housing for the Homeless Project in Massachusetts: 
On December 8, the state of Massachusetts announced a new pay-for-success project that will provide 500 units of supportive housing for up to 800 of the state’s estimated 1,500 chronically homeless. The project will fund housing services by members of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, which will be implementing an intervention called the Home & Healthy for Good model. According to a report released by the Alliance in June, the model is expected to reduce annual medical, housing, and incarceration costs for program recipients by an estimated $9,118 per person.

According to a state press release, the project will leverage $3.5 million in philanthropic and other private funding. Funders include the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, and Santander Bank.

Repayments by the state will be based on the number of homeless individuals who stay in supportive housing for at least a year. The maximum return to investors will be 5.33 percent, but total payments could reach $6 million, including the cost of evaluations and intermediaries.

This is the latest of at least three pay-for-success projects in Massachusetts being operated under its $50 million Social Innovation Financing Trust Fund. In January, the state announced a $27 million juvenile justice project. In August, it announced a $15 million adult basic education project intended to increase employment and postsecondary degree attainment for 16,000 adults.


Foster Care Project in Cuyahoga County, Ohio: 
On December 3, Cuyahoga County announced a 5-year, $4-5 million pay-for-success program to reduce time spent in out-of-home care by foster children. The initiative will fund housing placement and mental health services for mothers who have been in homeless shelters. Up front funding to FrontLine Services, which is providing the services, will come from The Reinvestment Fund, The George Gund Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland and Nonprofit Finance Fund. The county will repay the investors $75 for each day of reduced out-of-home care.


White House Regional Pay-for-Success Summits: 
The White House is cohosting regional pay-for-success learning summits with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Two have been held so far, one in Connecticut and another in Chicago. A third is scheduled to be held in Salt Lake City in January.

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