Investing in the Future of Supportive Housing: Measuring the Return on Investment at Common Ground

Since 1990, Common Ground has been providing supportive housing to homeless, disabled, elderly and low-income individuals in New York City and in other parts of the country. Under the supportive housing model, disadvantaged individuals are provided permanent, affordable housing as well as a variety of different support services, ranging from counseling to job training. Common Ground, like many other supportive housing providers, face high levels of demand for its apartment units, and the question arises whether Common Ground can address this problem by increasing the share of tenants who move out. Both Common Ground and their funders, namely the Robin Hood Foundation, are interested in identifying the key incentives and disincentives that explain today’s relatively low turnover rate of around 7%. The focus of this project is specifically on the special-needs population living within Common Ground’s two largest buildings: the Times Square and Prince George buildings.

Like other supportive housing providers in New York City, Common Ground sees that there is considerable demand for its apartments. This Capstone project addresses the question of whether Common Ground can serve a larger number of homeless individuals by increasing the turnover rate among its formerly homeless tenants, specifically those who are living in the Prince George and Times Square buildings.

The analysis consisted of two components: first, a quantitative analysis of the formerly homeless tenants – based on the Management Index and a newly developed Social Functioning Questionnaire – to identify potential move-out candidates; and second, a qualitative analysis of the disincentives that exist, so as to better understand the factors contributing to the low turnover rates.