article Case Study: New Horizon Communities

Case Study: New Horizon Communities

A Community-centric Approach to Recovery in Supportive Housing 

Challenges and Interventions

As the supportive housing operator, property owner, and property manager, New Horizon Communities provides supportive services and serves as a landlord to residents. There is a delicate balance between these roles, as staff must maintain safety for all residents and ensure compliance with resident leases while treating residents with compassion and understanding, and supporting residents on their recovery journeys. 

Recovery Housing Model

For example, residents have, at times, shared concerns about their neighbors’ possession and distribution of illegal substances. NHC operates on a recovery-based model, with the goal of facilitating a substance-free living environment for residents. Recovery housing promotes a culture of peer support and social connections with others who are in recovery from substance use. Given the communal nature of NHC sites, the presence of substances can present challenges to residents’ mental health and recovery. Understanding that recovery is not always a straight line, NHC works with residents every step of the way, including through a return to use, to provide support for their substance use disorder. In circumstances where there have been repeated and/or severe offenses, staff have had to dismiss participants from the program. 

Wraparound Supports

To meet additional needs, NHC staff work with community partners to provide holistic, wraparound support. Services include acupuncture, hair care, home-cooked meals, food banks, medication management, behavioral health peer mentorship, and more. Many of these services are donated to NHC residents and fill gaps in care, especially for those who might not otherwise qualify for certain services due to funding limitations or eligibility requirements. NHC also partners with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, which utilizes its mobile van to provide onsite services. They can determine eligibility for state and federal medical, cash, and food assistance programs, as well as process new applications, case reviews, changes, EBT card requests, and required documents.

Finally, NHC responded to growing needs among residents who age in place by partnering with mobile hospice services that can serve residents onsite, and local adult family homes and skilled nursing facilities to facilitate a transition from supportive housing when necessary.

Partnerships and Best Practices

New Horizon Communities utilizes a housing first approach. When referrals are made via coordinated entry, participants can tour the supportive housing sites, learn more about the program, and choose to enter the program or decline based on their personal preferences and needs. Participants in the program also have the option to participate in services, but service engagement is not a requirement of their tenancy. 

Additionally, NHC helps foster a supportive community through the use of peer mentors and partnerships with organizations that offer free services. For example, in a partnership with Home Depot and Altrusa, volunteers led a birdhouse-building activity with residents. This allowed participants to meet others in their community, engage in a holistic healing exercise, and feel a sense of belonging as they created something they could hang outside their tiny home. 

Other formal partnerships of NHC include local universities and healthcare providers who provide social work services, nursing interns, psychiatric services, recovery support, and more.  

Positive Outcomes & Other Benefits

Creative Solutions

Due to the highly collaborative nature of the program and its partners, New Horizon Communities’ participants can receive services they might not otherwise qualify for or afford. For example, after one resident arrived at NHC and appeared to avoid communicating with staff and other residents, staff realized the participant could only speak Spanish. Spanish-speaking staff were paired with the individual and identified that many of their needs, such as health insurance coverage, were going unmet due to eligibility restrictions. Braiding together donated resources, they were able to pay off the residents’ emergency bills, removing a large burden from the individual, and connected them with acupuncture, massage therapy, cooking classes, gardening, etc. Months later, they’ve reported that the resident has “come alive.” 

Positive Outcomes

New Horizon Communities staff have observed significant impacts on their program participants. For example, staff note that residents sleep a lot during the first two weeks of living in their tiny home. One individual reported sleeping for 12 hours straight when they first moved in – something they could not recall ever being able to do previously. When asked about this change, residents describe feeling a sense of safety now that they have a door that they can lock; they aren't concerned about being assaulted or having their belongings stolen. In turn, staff and supportive services partners have also witnessed improvement in participants’ overall health and well-being and their ability to engage in services after they have had adequate rest. 

Recent data shows that since entering the program

• 98% of residents have accessed SNAP benefits
• 28% increased their income
• 54% reported improvements in their physical health
• 64% stated their mental health improved
• 83% said their quality of life improved
• 92% said they felt welcomed and supported by the program

In 2024, two residents moved out into their own apartments, two residents reunited and moved in with family members, and two residents moved into adult family homes.

Lessons Learned

Prioritize Choice: Program participants at New Horizon Communities live in a recovery-based setting with voluntary supportive services. This environment works well for many, but it may not be everyone’s preference. For those who do enroll in the program, constant communication and collaboration are required to center participant choice and ensure alignment between the participants’ evolving needs and program capacity.

Housing With Services Heals: New Horizon Communities staff welcome participants who enter their program directly from encampments and other unsheltered situations with several barriers, including unaddressed co-occurring disorders. They have observed how even one full night of sleep improves engagement and well-being in their participants. The more plentiful and diverse the resources available, the greater the opportunity for participants to tailor their housing experience to their unique needs. 

There’s Power in Community: New Horizon Communities' tiny home sites are constructed around community centers and built to facilitate peer support and collaboration. Local organizations, agencies, and institutions are key partners in contributing to the holistic, wraparound care provided in NHC supportive housing programs. With many of the services being free, donated, and diverse, it is a testament to what is possible when a community unites to support its members.

This case study was written in partnership with the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH).