As the nation continues to grapple with homelessness driven by severe shortages of affordable housing and coordinated services, the State of Michigan is advancing critical efforts to improve the quality of supportive housing. A proven solution to addressing homelessness for those with complex needs, supportive housing pairs safe, affordable, and stable housing with support services. 

But the success of supportive housing is fundamentally dependent on sustainable, scalable service funding. Today, Michigan providers, like many supportive housing providers across the country, are navigating a fragile patchwork of revenue streams: time-limited grants, developer fees, limited state resources, and highly competitive federal funding such as the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) funds. 

While Medicaid cannot close the entire funding gap, it is a critical piece of the puzzle for building a resilient, accountable, and performance-driven supportive housing services system. Over the past year, Third Sector and Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) have actively collaborated to build the operational capacity of Michigan’s long-term supportive housing network. Together, they have equipped providers to deliver high-quality, Medicaid billable services (once contracted with Community Mental Health providers) that directly improve behavioral health outcomes and housing stability, while reinforcing strong standards for documentation, billing integrity, and outcomes tracking.