Norman is not experimenting. We are applying models that have already been proven — in cities our size, with populations like ours, facing the same challenges. The evidence is in.
New Path Community Housing is Idaho's first single-site Permanent Supportive Housing program — a Housing First model serving Ada County's most chronically homeless residents. Independently evaluated by Idaho Policy Institute at Boise State University, the results are clear: house people first, and everything else improves. Emergency room visits drop. Arrests fall. Quality of life rises — dramatically.
Source: New Path Community Housing Annual Evaluation 2023 — Idaho Policy Institute, Boise State University · Read the Full Report →
Finland's Housing First revolution eliminated rough sleeping almost entirely. Permanent housing — with no preconditions — paired with wraparound services. Norman is applying the same principles at the local level.
Medicine Hat (population ~65,000 — nearly identical to Norman) ended chronic homelessness in 2015 using Housing First, a real-time by-name registry, and dedicated municipal funding. If they can do it, Norman can do it.
Houston's coordinated system — real-time data, rapid rehousing, and unified NGO collaboration — cut homelessness by nearly two-thirds. The same coordinated entry model is at the core of Norman's plan.
Hennepin County's Homeless to Housing (H2H) program serves single adults and families with personalized case management to overcome barriers and secure sustainable housing. Once housed, people stay housed — 96% retention answers the biggest skeptic question of all.
Source: Hennepin County H2H Program · Read More →
HUD's official publication Evidence Matters (Spring/Summer 2023) reviewed decades of research and concluded that Housing First works — decisively. The federal government has staked its homelessness strategy on this model. Norman's $8M vote is how we bring it home.
Source: HUD Evidence Matters Spring/Summer 2023 · Read the HUD Report →
The nation's leading homelessness research nonprofit has reviewed the full body of evidence: Housing First works for everyone — families, individuals, veterans, survivors of domestic violence. Housed people stay housed, costs drop, and lives improve. This is not theory. This is the established science of ending homelessness.
Source: National Alliance to End Homelessness · Read the Research →
Humanity is measured not by how we treat those with everything, but by how we care for those with nothing.