The Denver Housing to Health program leverages pay for success financing and other resources to provide supportive housing to people experiencing homelessness who have frequent interactions with the criminal legal system and emergency health care services. As part of the pay for success contract, the City of Denver will repay investors if the project meets its housing stability goals. This brief details the housing stability payment outcomes for the first 10 project quarters.

See our project page for more on Denver’s Housing to Health Pay for Success project.

Why This Matters

This project demonstrates the use of pay for success financing to scale supportive housing, an evidence-based intervention to end homelessness and break the cycle of criminal legal involvement and emergency health care utilization. After an upfront investment of more than $10 million for project funding, investors could see a return of about $1 million if the project meets expected outcomes and a maximum return of about $4 million if the project exceeds expected outcomes.

What We Found

The cumulative housing stability payment from the City of Denver is $1,360,513 for the first 10 project quarters (July 2022 to December 2024). As of December 2024:

• 119 participants met the housing stability payment requirements during the first 10 project quarters:
  • 105 participants were stably housed for one year or more, spending an average of 674 days in housing.
  • 14 participants had a planned exit, such as a move to a higher level of care or death, after spending an average of 151 days in housing.
• Just under half of the 119 participants had a jail stay during the first 10 project quarters; among those who returned to jail, their stay was an average of 40 days.
• Total days in stable housing for eligible participants, minus days spent in jail, was 70,676.

How We Did It

The housing stability payment calculation is specified in the Housing to Health pay for success agreement and evaluation design. The calculation uses data on jail stays and supportive housing entries and exits. Participants are considered to have met the housing stability payment requirement if they remained in housing for 365 or more days without an absence from housing of more than 120 days or if they had a planned exit at any time after entering housing. The total adjusted days in housing is equal to the number of days in housing minus the number of days in jail. The housing stability payment is calculated by multiplying the total adjusted days in housing by $19.25.