Leaving permanent supportive housing: a scoping review of Moving On Initiative participant outcomes

Homeless services systems are now employing Moving On Initiatives (MOIs) to assist formerly homeless residents of permanent supportive housing programs with the transition from these highly supportive programs to affordable housing without the embedded supports. There remains a dearth of evidence on the effectiveness of these initiatives in regard to post-move housing retention and other participant outcomes, and no review of MOI evaluation outcomes has been conducted to date. To address this gap, a scoping review was used to map and summarize the existing literature on MOI participant outcomes and discuss outstanding gaps in this body of literature. Overall, the early evidence on this emerging approach is promising as this review finds high rates of post-move housing retention and other positive participant outcomes in the few sources located that describe MOI outcomes. However, large-scale studies of MOIs with longer follow-up periods are needed to assess the long-term effectiveness and outcomes of these initiatives.