Rhode Island § 42-160-2 - Rhode Island Pay for Success Act

§ 42-160-2. Legislative findings.

The general assembly hereby finds and declares as follows:

(1) Pay-for-success contracts are executed detailing the outcomes, associated repayment, and evaluation process to be conducted by a third party. The proceeds are disbursed to a nonprofit organization(s) that will execute the intervention delivering services and other resources, such as housing, to the target population. An independent evaluator monitors the outcomes of the intervention to determine if success was met. If the intervention improves financial and social outcomes in accordance with established metrics, the government, as outcome payor, pays back the investors with interest using a portion of the savings accrued from the successful outcomes. If the evaluator determines that success was not met, meaning there is no improvement in financial or social outcomes, the investors lose money.

(2) In 2016 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded funding to the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness to pursue a pay for success social impact bond in Rhode Island focusing on housing and supportive services for persons experiencing homelessness who are high utilizers of the healthcare and justice systems. The pilot program will leverage eight hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($875,000) in outcome payment funding from the HUD/DOJ grant as well as the intervention and independent evaluation process described in the grant agreement.