What Are Tenancy Support Services?
Tenancy support services focus on housing stability. They help individuals get and stay in stable housing by connecting them with services that address needs like financial assistance, legal assistance and mental health.
States that offer tenancy support services through Medicaid are demonstrating cost savings while promoting better health outcomes. Read about how this model is working here.
Financial
Tenancy Support Workers can help individuals with money advice, budgeting, debt management and other financial issues. They are based within the housing management team but report directly to the Deputy Chief Executive.
UnitedHealthcare recognizes the link between health outcomes and housing stability, so it offers tenancy support services through Medicaid funding. These services are a compassionate approach to understand the complex issues that tenants face, while helping them stabilize their housing. They provide housing search assistance, eviction prevention and other interventions to help individuals stay in their homes.
Tenant Support Specialists conduct proactive outreach to connect NYC tenants with city programs, legal assistance and community resources. They do so through door knocking, phone and text banking, holding office hours at community organizations, hosting tabling events and conducting online engagement.
Legal
In a perfect real estate world, landlords would always treat tenants fairly, repairs would be made quickly and at reasonable cost and apartments would stay safe, clean and in good condition. But that’s not the case, and many tenants have a lot of legal disputes with their landlords that they need help with.
There are several legal ndis accommodation sydney services that offer free or low cost assistance to people with landlord-tenant problems. Metropolitan Council on Housing: A longtime NYC nonprofit fighting for safe and affordable housing, it has a free phone line and walk-in legal clinics, as well as a wealth of detailed information about landlordtenant laws online.
Community Action for Safe Apartments – Provides tenant advocacy, landlord watch, renter education and leadership development. Fifth Avenue Committee – Serves South Brooklyn and provides housing, legal and social service advocacy, homeownership and financial literacy programs. Riseboro – Services include housing and legal advocacy, third party mediation, community financial literacy and public benefits advocacy.
Mental Health
For people who have a mental health condition, finding and maintaining stable housing can be difficult. Evictions can wreak havoc on one’s mental and physical health, leading to higher utilization of healthcare services. When tenancy support services are provided in combination with housing, health outcomes improve, and care costs are lower.
The goal of tenancy support services is to help individuals stay housed by providing assistance with housing-related issues, such as budgeting and understanding landlord expectations and responsibilities. Services also focus on preventing evictions and connecting tenants to community resources.
UnitedHealthcare recognizes the connection between housing stability and health outcomes, so we are working to position community-based organizations to offer tenancy support services through Medicaid funding. This is critical for the populations we serve, many of whom have disabilities and are at-risk for or experiencing chronic homelessness. Increasing access to these supports will allow them to stabilize in housing, reduce the use of high-cost emergency care, and live a more fulfilling life.
Housing
Tenancy support services help individuals obtain and maintain housing, which reduces emergency care visits and costs. However, many community-based organizations lack the capacity and capabilities to partner with Medicaid on this type of funding. The UnitedHealthcare Community & State team is working to make these services more accessible to members by providing capacity building, like licensing and credentialing, to these organizations.
Often, the first step in stabilizing housing is a move from a shelter or other family living situation to an apartment with an independent lease. These programs can offer individualized case management to address health and safety issues in the new home. Ideally, these providers can provide assistance with moving and assist with locating and applying for financial, social, legal and behavioral health resources.
In addition to these direct supports, New York City offers resources for tenants experiencing landlord harassment and other housing-related issues through its Tenant Resource Portal. Using a series of questions, tenants can be connected with city-wide resources to address their specific needs.