Homelessness Prevention: The Effect of a Shallow Rent Subsidy Program on Housing Outcomes among People with HIV or AIDS

Abstract

This paper presents results of an evaluation of Project Independence (PI), a shallow rent subsidy program with services coordination support for very low income people with HIV or AIDS who live in Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area. By providing a small rental subsidy to eligible individuals and their families who are already stably housed, the philosophy of the program is to prevent homelessness before it starts. The housing outcomes of 185 PI clients were compared to those of 218 people who were not enrolled in the program but were presumed eligible for it, controlling for sociodemographic, HIV disease, and behavioral health characteristics. Using survival analysis techniques, non-program participants were found to be more likely to leave their rental housing at any given point in time compared to PI program participants. After one year of follow-up, while 99% of PI clients remained stably housed in their program-subsidized rental unit, only 32% of comparison group clients were still in rental housing. At two years, 96% of PI participants remained independently housed, compared to only 10% of non-participants. The success of the program suggests that Project Independence should be replicated and evaluated in other jurisdictions where a relatively high incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS is combined with a lack of affordable housing for low income households.