Giving Compass' Take:

• Third Capital Partners details a Pay for Success (PFS) project in Los Angeles County, centered around addressing homelessness in the community with supportive housing.

• What can such outcomes-oriented initiatives teach others in the sector about focusing on results for systems change? How might the PFS model be replicated in other cities?

• Here's why PFS may help make bail reform a reality.

On October 3 [2017], Los Angeles County announced the launch of the County’s first Pay for Success (PFS) project: “The Just-in-Reach Supportive Housing Program.” Unlocking a new type of system change in the largest county in the nation was no small feat and was made possible only through committed leadership and coordination at the LA County Board of Supervisors, CEO’s Office, multiple County agencies and service providers, and California-focused philanthropic partners.

The LA experience has taught us two important lessons as we seek to shift Pay for Success programs from demonstration projects to scale:

  • Plan for systems-wide change while implementing individual pilots. LA County approached Pay for Success as part of a broader commitment from the Board of Supervisors and CEO’s Office to shift government funding to outcomes. The County took a deliberate, cross-agency approach to understanding the system-wide requirements for outcomes-oriented service delivery and contracting. The result: the development of the county-wide "PFS Blueprint" providing a road map for agencies across the County seeking the development of both demonstration pilots as well as a broader systems re-orientation towards outcomes.
  • Leverage success stories and incentivize future outcomes-oriented work at broader scale. LA County’s first PFS project ignited an outcomes-focused approach to organizing service delivery within the Department of Health Services (DHS). DHS case managers now look daily at data showing their progress on increasing housing stability for the homeless and have developed improved systems for communication and referrals with the County jail and court system.

Outcomes-oriented contracting directly impacts individuals in need and ensures that taxpayer dollars are spent on services that deliver an opportunity for the most vulnerable. For this revolution to drive systemic change, PFS demonstration projects, like “Just-in-Reach,” need to be developed alongside replicable blueprints, processes and incentives for other agencies to follow suit.

Read the full article about LA County's first pay for success contract by Caroline Whistler at Third Sector Capital Partners.