Generous support from the Open Society Foundations and Capital One are behind recent grants designed to help communities plan and implement the evidence-based Frequent User Systems Engagement (FUSE) supportive housing model.
The four communities selected to receive FUSE program funding and other resources are listed below. (You can click on the individual grantees to see why each community is looking to FUSE as a solution to address the needs of frequent users/utilizers.)
•Shelter House, Iowa
•Carrfour Supportive Housing Inc. - Miami Dade County
•Clark County Department of Social Services, Nevada
•Hudson County Division of Housing and Community Development, New Jersey
States and communities spend billions of dollars each year on services that bounce vulnerable people around between shelters, hospitals, jails/prisons, treatment programs, foster care and homelessness in the streets. The successful FUSE model works to solve this costly and ineffective revolving door by providing supportive housing stability and access to services, including healthcare and behavioral health, to individuals identified as frequent users/utilizers.
FUSE helps communities break the cycle of homelessness and trauma among individuals with complex medical and behavioral health challenges who are often the highest users of emergency rooms, jails, shelters, clinics and other costly crisis service systems. FUSE increases housing stability and reduces the use of multiple crisis services - which means a more effective targeting of public dollars, lower costs and better outcomes for everyone involved.
While CSH helps each community adapt the FUSE model to suit unique local contexts and conditions, the core of FUSE consists of three essential pillars. To learn more about this program, download the Blueprint for FUSE.