A record 7,078 families, including 12,500 homeless children, placed into permanent homes in 2004

June 28, 2005 – Commissioner Linda Gibbs today released the performance ratings of the non-profit and for-profit agencies providing shelter and re-housing services to homeless families with children. Introduced by the Bloomberg Administration in 2003, the Performance Investment Program (PIP) ties the performance of facilities to payment rates and has been a critical part of increasing the number of families moving from shelter to permanent housing. Commissioner Gibbs today announced that during the calendar year 2004 performance period, a record 7,078 families, including an estimated 12,500 homeless children, were placed into permanent housing, up 67 percent from pre-PIP calendar year 2002 levels and 11 percent from calendar year 2003 performance. Over $5 million of incentive funds will be added to the budgets of high performing providers as a result. Executive directors and shelter directors from the 16 facilities that received top performance ratings joined the commissioner for today’s announcement.

“By introducing accountability to shelter service delivery, we have been able to achieve better than ever results for homeless families while making taxpayer dollars work harder,” stated Commissioner Linda Gibbs. “We’ve had another record breaking year of helping homeless families find homes of their own. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the innovation and hard work of the frontline shelter staff honored here today.”

The calendar year 2004 performance period marked the second year of the Performance Investment Program, with scores increasing system-wide by 6 percent. This year, 12 percent of all shelter facilities achieved excellent ratings; 41 percent received very good and good ratings, 20 percent received satisfactory ratings; 25 percent need improvement; and 2 percent were deemed unsatisfactory. Facilities that achieved excellent and very good ratings will receive an average of $94,000 in incentive funds each, facilities with good ratings an average of $82,000, facilities with satisfactory ratings an average of $35,000, and those in the need improvement and unsatisfactory categories will lose an average of $58,000 per site. Facilities in these final two categories will receive corrective action plans and technical support in improving their performance.

“At the end of the day our most important work is helping homeless parents and children find housing and leave homelessness behind,” stated Deputy Commissioner for Family Services Roger Newman. “We are investing in the providers and practices that bring stability and permanency to homeless families in the most effective and efficient ways.”

Family Providers with Excellent Ratings, PIP 2004

Performance Scores and Trends

The PIP scores reflect the performance of providers in two areas. First, each facility is assigned an annual target for the number of families it should assist into permanent housing, which is a percentage of the system-wide annual target. Scores are based on the percent of targets achieved. Second, each provider receives a Results Card score, which measures, for example, whether rental assistance applications were submitted accurately and on time, whether clients who were eligible for public assistance received it, the number of long-term shelter stayers, and whether aftercare assessment forms were completed once families left shelter. The housing target achievement rate and the Result Card scores can each increase or decrease the provider’s base rate by 5 percent with a total adjustment of +/- 10 percent.

The PIP results highlight a series of trends.

• 91 percent of non-profit run shelters, 51 percent of for-profit run shelters, and 41 percent of for-profit scatter-site providers received satisfactory or higher ratings.

• Scatters site facilities, as a group, received the lowest performance scores. The program, which was established in 2000 as an emergency measure to ensure shelter to the then-swelling ranks of homeless families, has been reduced by 61 percent over the past two years. 811 units remain in use and DHS expects to phase out the program by December 2005.

“As we continue to pursue Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of reducing family homelessness by two-thirds over five years, we will begin to determine criteria for shelter down-sizing. While it will not be the only measure that matters, performance results will certainly be considered significantly,” stated Commissioner Gibbs.