Pima County Receives Award for Housing First Program

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The Pima County Housing First program, administered by the Department of Justice, has been recognized by the National Association of Counties (NACo) with a 2024 Best in Category Award for Criminal Justice and Public Safety.

Pima County Justice Services received an award from the National Association of Counties for its “Pima County Housing First” (PCHF) program.

The awards, presented July 14 at NACo’s annual conference and exposition in Hillsborough County, Florida, recognize innovative, effective county government programs that improve services to residents.

Pima County launched the Housing First program in 2019, which is designed to address chronic homelessness for individuals impacted by the justice system and living with co-occurring conditions

The goals of the program include providing safe and stable housing with comprehensive supports for individuals (and their families) exiting prison, integrating mental health and substance abuse treatment, and ultimately breaking the cycle of incarceration for participants, while improving community safety and reducing costs.

“It took a group of community partners to make this successful,” said Kate Vesely, director of the Department of Justice.

“We knew there was a problem, but it took a high level of collaboration and innovation to create this kind of programming. The Housing First model is a national best practice standard that we’ve been happy to apply from a criminal justice perspective.”

Program partners include the city of Tucson and Old Pueblo Community Services, whose staff “has worked in the field with people who now have jobs, custody of their children and are making a meaningful impact in the community,” Vesely said.

Since its launch in 2019, approximately 500 people have registered for the program

In addition to other programs that provide temporary housing and a pathway to permanent housing, the Pima County Housing First program also includes criminal justice case managers who work with the individual to meet court standards and resolve any outstanding cases.

From July 1, 2024, the program will be fully funded by grants and community partners.

“I think NACo recognized us not only for the exceptional results of the program, but also for our innovation in finding a more diversified financing portfolio, making it more sustainable,” Vesely said.

Each year, the NACo Achievement Awards recognize outstanding programming in 18 categories that reflect the broad, comprehensive services that counties provide

Categories include children and youth, criminal justice and public safety, libraries, management, information technology, health, community engagement and more. Launched in 1970, the program is designed to celebrate innovation in county government. Each nominated program is judged on its own merits and not based on other applications.

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