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Our Model <br />Pathways to Housing was founded by Dr. Sam Tsemberis in 1992, and is widely credited as <br />being the originator of the Housing First model of addressing homelessness among people with <br />psychiatric disabilities. <br />The Housing First model is simple: provide housing first, and then combine that housing with <br />supportive treatment services in the areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, <br />education, and employment. Housing is provided in apartments scattered throughout a <br />community. This "scattered site" model fosters a sense of home and self - determination, and it <br />helps speed the reintegration of Pathways clients into the community. <br />The Pathways model has been remarkably successful in addressing chronic homelessness. Since <br />its founding, Pathways has housed more than 600 people in New York alone, and the program <br />maintains an 85% retention rate even amongst those individuals not considered "housing ready" <br />by other programs. <br />In addition to its New York headquarters, Pathways to Housing now has program offices in <br />Washington DC, Philadelphia and Vermont, and the Pathways Housing First model has been <br />replicated in more than 40 cities across the United States, as well as in Canada, Japan, the <br />Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal. <br />In 2009, Pathways to Housing received three prestigious federal stimulus grants from the <br />Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to build new programs <br />in new communities. SAMHSA is the agency charged with improving rehabilitative services to <br />reduce the impacts of substance abuse and mental illnesses. <br />Testimonials <br />"Some people think when you give housing away that you're actually enabling people as opposed <br />to helping them get better. Our experience has been that the offer of housing first, and then <br />treatment, actually has more effective results in reducing addiction and mental health symptoms, <br />than trying to do it the other way. The other way works for some people, but it hasn't worked for <br />the people who are chronically homeless." <br />— Sam Tsemberis Founder & CEO <br />85AA -56 <br />