The two major individual emergency shelters in the South Shore of Massachusetts, operated by Father Bill’s & MainSpring (FBMS), used stay pattern analysis to identify and house frequent users of shelter resources. In 2004, the nightly bed occupancy at Father Bill’s Place in Quincy averaged 125 clients yet in 2007, after the creation of 40 Housing First units, this figure dropped to an average of 110 clients. The number of chronically homeless individuals counted during the annual point in time counts reduced 55% from 142 to 63 during this same time period. The street count dropped 44% from 252 to 139. This paper details the approach used to prioritize and select the individuals for housing.
