Supportive Housing Week: Building Stability Beyond the Front Door
August 24–28, 2026 | Supportive Housing Week
A safe, affordable home can change a person’s life. But for many individuals and families, having a place to live is only the beginning.
During Supportive Housing Week, LifeSTEPS is proud to recognize the residents, housing providers, partners, and service teams working together to make housing more than a place to live. It becomes a foundation for health, stability, and opportunity.
Supportive housing combines affordable housing with services tailored to the needs of residents. These services can help people remain housed, strengthen their independence, connect with resources, and address challenges that can make housing stability difficult.
Affordable Housing and Supportive Housing: What’s the Difference?
Affordable housing provides an important foundation: a safe and stable home with rent that is affordable to people with limited or moderate incomes. However, owners and asset managers consistently achieve the strongest resident outcomes, highest housing stability rates, and better protection of Net Operating Income (NOI) when generalized resident services are integrated into the housing model, helping residents address challenges before they result in lease violations, crises, turnover, or costly interventions.
Supportive housing takes that foundation a step further by connecting residents with comprehensive individualized services that help address the challenges vulnerable residents may face while maintaining housing stability. For many residents, supportive housing serves individuals who were formerly homeless or facing life with a disability, adding another layer of barriers and challenges related to trauma, disrupted support systems, health needs, income instability, and navigating complex social, health and housing systems. These services can include case management, health care coordination, financial literacy support, employment support, life skills, resource navigation, and connections to community resources.
At LifeSTEPS, we help residents thrive. Through individualized support and early intervention, we promote housing stability, improve quality of life, and foster greater independence. The result is stronger resident outcomes, more resilient communities, improved resident retention and lease compliance, and protection of long-term property performance.
How LifeSTEPS Supports Residents
LifeSTEPS partners with affordable housing developers, healthcare providers, public agencies, and property management teams to deliver resident-centered supportive services that strengthen housing stability and quality of life. Guided by a Housing First philosophy and evidence-based practices, our teams help residents overcome barriers, access critical resources, and maintain successful tenancy. With intensive case managers embedded onsite, LifeSTEPS provides timely intervention, trusted support, and proactive problem-solving that benefit both residents and the communities in which they live.
Our services may include:
- Intensive Case Management (ICM): Individualized support for residents who need more intensive assistance navigating housing, health, financial, and client-driven personal goals.
- Supportive Services: Case management, education, resource navigation, financial coaching, employment support, life skills, and other services that help residents remain successfully housed.
- Enhanced Care Management (ECM): Health-focused care coordination through CalAIM for eligible Medi-Cal members who may benefit from additional support navigating medical, behavioral health, and social services.
- Community Supports (CS): CalAIM services that address health-related social needs and can help eligible Medi-Cal members access services that support housing stability and overall well-being.
These programs may have different eligibility requirements, funding sources, and documentation standards. But they share an important goal: helping people achieve greater stability and independence.
Supportive Services and CalAIM: Different Programs, Shared Goals
Supportive Services and CalAIM are not the same program, but they can work together to create a more complete network of support.
Supportive Services focus on the everyday challenges that can put housing at risk. A resident may need help creating a budget, finding employment, applying for benefits, understanding a lease, accessing food resources, or developing skills for independent living. LifeSTEPS staff help residents identify their goals and connect them with the tools and resources they need.
CalAIM, California’s Medi-Cal transformation initiative, focuses on addressing health-related social needs. Through Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports, eligible Medi-Cal members can receive additional assistance coordinating medical, behavioral health, and social services. These services recognize that factors outside of a doctor’s office, including housing instability, can have a significant impact on health.
When these resources work together, residents can receive support that addresses both the practical and health-related barriers that can affect their stability.
The Power of Partnership
Supportive housing works because it is a community effort.
LifeSTEPS is grateful to partner with housing organizations and property management companies that share our commitment to resident well-being, including:
Acts Community Development Corporation
Affordable Housing CDC, Inc.
Alameda County Health, Housing and Homelessness Services
AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc.
Aperto Property Management
Asset Living
Cirrus Asset Management, Inc.
Community Housing Works
Community Resident Services, Inc.
Community Revitalization & Development Corp
ConAm
CRP Affordable
DANCO
DKD Property Management Company
Domus Development
Domus Management Company
EAH Housing
East LA Community Corporation
Eden Housing Development
Eden Housing Management
Foundation for Affordable Housing
Housing Authority of County San Joaquin
Foundation for Affordable Housing
Housing Authority of County San Joaquin
Housing Authority of the City of Alameda
Housing Authority of the City of Livermore
John Stewart Company
Kingdom Development
Las Palmas Foundation
Los Angeles Department of Homeless Services and Housing
Meta Housing Corporation
MidPen Property Management Corporation
MidPen Resident Services Corporation
These partnerships allow service providers, housing professionals, and residents to work together toward a common goal: helping people not only obtain housing but have the support they need to remain successfully housed.
The Impact of Supportive Housing Services
In 2025, LifeSTEPS served 1,233 households through supportive housing services and had 1,033 individuals enrolled in Enhanced Care Management and/or Community Supports.
The impact extends beyond the number of people served. When residents have access to the right support at the right time, they may be better equipped to address challenges before they become crises.
California data also demonstrate the potential impact of Community Supports. The California Department of Health Care Services reports that members who accessed the “Housing Trio” of Community Supports; Housing Transition Navigation Services, Housing Deposits, and Housing Tenancy and Sustaining Services, experienced reduced inpatient and emergency department use in the six months following receipt of services.
