Building Public Will: The Battle for Affordable—and Supportive—Housing

Despite their documented successes, permanent supportive housing programs have not received adequate funding at federal or state levels. Building public will to fund permanent supportive housing, therefore, becomes the order of the day. Drawing on the work of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless (RICH), the authors describe how RICH, housing advocates, activists representing the homeless and formerly homeless, and other allies forged an inclusive, multiconstituency network. This coalition went on to reverse state cuts in the highly effective Neighborhood Opportunities Program, which had built more than 1,000 units of well-received affordable housing including permanent supportive housing units.