Dr. Sam Tsemberis founded Pathways to Housing in 1992, an organization based on the belief that housing is a basic right for all people in 1992. He currently serves as the Executive Director. Pathways developed the Housing First approach that provides immediate access to permanent independent apartments to individuals who are homeless and who have psychiatric disabilities and substance use disorders. In October 2005, The American Psychiatric Association Institute on Psychiatric Services awarded its prestigious Gold Award in the area of community mental health to Pathways to Housing. In April 2006 the National Alliance to End Homelessness awarded Dr. Tsemberis its prestigious Macy Award for Individual Achievement in the battle to end homelessness.

Dr. Tsemberis is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry of the New York University Medical Center, has served as principal investigator for federally funded studies of homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. He has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. He is currently providing training and technical assistance to agencies across the country implementing the Housing First model.

Areas of expertise
homelessness, housing, mental illness

Selected recent publications

Greenwood R, Schaefer-McDaniel N, Winkel G, Tsemberis S. (2005) Decreasing psychiatric symptoms by increasing choice in services for adults with histories of homelessness. American J Community Psychology 36(3/4):223-38.

Pathways to Housing Inc New York. (2005) 2005 APA Gold Award: Providing housing first and recovery services for homeless adults with severe mental illness. Psychiatric Services 56:1303-5.

Tsemberis S. (2004) Housing first. Encyclopedia of Homelessness. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, V1, 277-80.