Denver Pay-for-Performance Housing Program Delivers Promising Early Results
Walter Boyd addresses an audience at a City & County of Denver press conference on June 28, 2022. Flanked by U.S. House Rep. Diana DeGette (left) and Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock (right), Boyd spoke about experiencing homelessness before he gained entry into a supportive housing program fueled by a unique public-private partnership.

Sep. 13, 2024

Denver Pay-for-Performance Housing Program Delivers Promising Results

Since 2022, Denver’s SIPPRA program has secured 29,459 days of housing for participants.

At Gary Community Ventures, we believe in the power of innovative, performance-driven solutions to address critical social challenges. That’s why we’re a proud investor in Denver’s Housing to Health (H2H) pilot program, a groundbreaking initiative designed to provide supportive housing to individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. This program, which utilizes a pay-for-success model, is already showing promising results, both for participants and our city.

How It Works

Launched in 2022, the H2H program was created to target those at the intersection of chronic homelessness, the criminal justice system, and emergency healthcare. It operates on a pay-for-success model, where investors like Gary Community Ventures, Northern Trust, Colorado Access Foundation and The Denver Foundation fund the program and its services upfront, and the city pays only if outcomes — such as reduced ER visits and jail days — are met. 

H2H has been buoyed by a trio of stalwart service providers, including the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, which provides housing services, WellPower, which offers mental health support, and Denver Health, which addresses the physical healthcare element of the program. Supported by the federal Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA) initiative, this collaboration demonstrates the power of cross-sector partnerships in driving sustainable impact.

Report: H2H Program An Early Success

According to an independent report by the Urban Institute, in its first six quarters, Denver’s H2H program has successfully provided 29,459 days of stable housing, significantly improving the lives of its participants. This first independent program evaluation, and reported program success, has triggered a payment of $567,085 to its investors, providing a strong initial signal of the model’s viability.

Catherine Toner, Managing Director of Impact Investing at Gary Community Ventures, emphasized the potential to scale these results:

“These early returns from the SIPPRA program, which is working to address one of the biggest problems facing our city, prove that giving tested service providers the ability to implement evidence-based approaches pays off — not just for our city, but for us as investors. Our organization was founded on the idea that taking calculated risks and testing innovative structures have the power to generate tangible, replicable financial and public value. These first H2H results reinforce that idea.”

The H2H program’s impact extends beyond just housing; it aims to measurably reduce the need for emergency healthcare and incarceration, generating long-term savings for the public. With an 80% housing retention rate after six months, the program is a testament to the power of collaboration between public, private, and nonprofit sectors.As this program continues, it stands as a model for other cities grappling with similar challenges, demonstrating how this collaboration can further the effectiveness of supportive housing combined with comprehensive healthcare services.

For more information about the program and its early results, visit the Denver Housing Stability Department’s official announcement.

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