Outcomes of a Group Intensive Peer-Support Model of Case Management for Supported Housing

Objective: Community-based intensive case management may be more intense than necessary and may be socially isolating for persons living in supported housing. This study evaluated a group intensive peer-support (GIPS) model of case management that was implemented in a supported-housing program for homeless veterans with a broad range of psychiatric, substance use, and general medical problems. Group meetings led by case managers are the default mode of case management support, and individual intensive case management is provided only when clinically necessary. Methods: GIPS was implemented by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program at one demonstration site in April 2010. The study used administrative data to compare outcomes, service delivery, and timing of housing acquisition among clients of the demonstration site one year before (N=102) and after (N=167) GIPS implementation and among clients of other HUD-VASH sites across the country before (N=9,659) and after (N=21,318) implementation of GIPS at the demonstration site. Results: After adjustment for differences in baseline characteristics, the analyses found that GIPS implementation was associated with a greater increase in social integration ratings, a greater number of case manager services, and faster acquisition of Section 8 housing vouchers after program admission compared with outcomes at the same site before GIPS implementation and at the other sites before and after implementation. Conclusions: GIPS may be a viable service model of supported housing that represents a recovery-oriented approach that can be scaled up to address homelessness. (Psychiatric Services 63:1186-1194, 2012; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201200100)