PFS Guidance: Briefs and Reports
Pay for Success and the Crisis Intervention Team Model
Policymakers and community stakeholders across the United States are increasingly recognizing the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model as a valuable approach for improving law enforcement interactions with people with mental health issues. While initial costs of implementing CIT models are low, creative solutions are needed to fund longer-term enhancements. Pay for success (PFS) has strong potential as a means of funding the components that will allow CIT models to achieve their full potential.
Using Pay for Success in Criminal Justice Projects
Federal, state, and local jurisdictions across the country are recognizing pay for success (PFS) as a tool for financing and tackling criminal justice issues in their communities. In fact, the criminal justice space may be uniquely well-suited to PFS, addressing such issues as workforce development for system-involved individuals, opioid misuse treatment, and child welfare.
Why Governments and Investors Choose Pay for Success
Pay for success (PFS) has merits that make it appealing to many stakeholders: it can save governments money, shift the risk of ineffective programs to third-party funders, provide multiyear funding for service providers, and generate a modest return for investors. But these benefits are paired with significant challenges, such as long planning periods and investor returns that may not be commensurate with the risk.
Procuring for Success
Pay for success (PFS) is designed to alter the way governments contract for services by encouraging a shift away from paying for activities to paying for outcomes. This shift may also affect how governments define the services they need, select providers, and establish the business terms that define provider relationships (i.e., the procurement process). This brief provides government stakeholders interested in PFS with important lessons on how a strong procurement process can improve PFS projects.
Ending Family Homelessness
The number of American families that are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless or housing insecure remains stubbornly high. The problem persists, not due to lack of solutions, but for two primary reasons: political will and artificial budget divisions. The pay for success (PFS) model for financing public services offers an opportunity for state and local governments to help overcome these hurdles. This paper considers this potential.