Rapid Re-Housing Progressive Engagement Guide

July 31, 2015  |  Toolkits and Training Materials

The Road Home in Salt Lake City, Utah utilizes a progressive engagement model of rapid re-housing. Progressive engagement refers to a strategy of providing a small amount of assistance to everyone entering the homelessness system.

For most households, a small amount of assistance is enough to stabilize, but for those who need more, more assistance is provided. This flexible, individualized approach maximizes resources by only providing the most assistance to the households who truly need it. This approach is supported by research that household characteristics such as income, employment, substance use, etc., cannot predict what level of assistance a household will need.

Initially all households are rapidly re-housed and provided a small amount of assistance, such as one month of rental assistance and a security deposit. After a household is in housing, a deeper assessment can be conducted. The Road Home evaluates households at the beginning of each month to determine if they will require assistance for another month. Extensions are never provided for more than one month. Households are informed as early as possible about their financial assistance.

To determine if a household will need another month’s assistance, the case manager will have a conversation about housing stability with the client. The Stability Conversation Guide covers the types of housing stability related questions this conversation will focus on. This guide is not scored. After this conversation, the case manager will make a recommendation to the program administrators regarding ending or continuing assistance. The decision is based on if the household will return to homelessness if not provided with further assistance. The program administrator will make the final determination regarding continued assistance.