Our Recommendation
The Other Side Village is a promising homelessness organization that has a very clear articulated ultimate outcome goal. The organization states that it is trying to solve social isolation, hopelessness, and disconnection. It argues that placing someone in an apartment without rebuilding community, purpose, and self-belief may stabilize them temporarily without changing anything lasting.
That is their Theory of Change, stated as a testable hypothesis, and the intervention follows it faithfully: a permanent home, a six-to-twelve-month Prep School, peer self-governance, on-site work, and a community that votes on its own membership. The organization also publishes outcome statistics, including housing stability and health at one year, which most homeless service providers never do.
The Other Side Village's Fierce Certification score is 80/100 points based on our criteria:
✔ Has Ultimate Outcome Goals (20 pts)
✔ Measures Intermediate Outcomes (15 pts)
✔ Measures Ultimate Outcomes (20 pts)
☐ Measures Intermediate and/or Ultimate Counterfactual (0 pts)
✔ Shows Continual Learning & Adaptation (25 pts)
The Social Problem
Chronically homeless people living in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a disabling condition who have been living outside for a year or more, many of them for far longer. Village leadership notes that many residents had been on the streets nine, ten, twenty years or more.
The consequences divide into two sets of problems that are usually discussed as one. The first is what most homelessness policy measures: no income, no identification, cycling through shelters and jail, heavy use of ambulances and emergency rooms, and the public cost of all of it. The second is what actually kills people and what the Village claims to target: premature death decades early, untreated illness and injury, untreated mental illness compounded by the trauma of the street itself, exposure in Utah winters, and very high rates of assault and robbery.
Underneath both sits the layer the organization argues is primary and most others treat as downstream: the loss of dignity, belonging, hope, and any meaningful role. Its claim is that an intervention which restores the housing without restoring the rest produces stabilization rather than transformation.
The Solution
A permanent, master-planned, peer-governed, therapeutic-community neighborhood. The organization describes itself as a community that helps individuals move beyond chronic homelessness through permanent housing, personal accountability, meaningful work, and authentic human connection.
Entry. Applicants must meet the federal chronic homelessness definition, have lived in the Salt Lake City metro for at least a year, complete an assessment and background check, and not be registered sex offenders or convicted of aggravated arson. They then complete the Village Prep School, described as a preliminary stabilization program focused on mental health stabilization, accountability, and life skills, running six months to a year. Admission is democratic: community members vote applicants into Prep School, and vote again before they enter the Village.
The home. A cottage of roughly 400 square feet with bedroom, living space, full bathroom, kitchen, and front porch, fully furnished with appliances and stocked with food and toiletries on arrival. Tenure can be permanent.
The covenants. Pay rent on time. Abide by civil law. Follow community rules, similar to a homeowners association. Stay engaged.
The four pillars of the model. Prep School, supportive community described as the method of healing, holistic support including social services and mental health resources, and purposeful engagement through work and service where residents rediscover self-worth and independence.
Enterprises. Residents work in Village social enterprises, including The Other Side Donuts, with the stated goal that enterprise profit eventually funds operations without donations or grants.
Mapped against a Theory of Change, every activity maps to a link: housing removes the emergency, Prep School builds the habits, self-governance and work rebuild agency and purpose, and the community rebuilds belonging. The chain is coherent and the intervention follows it.
Key Outputs
- 60 completed housing units in Phase I, on a 39-acre site planned for 430 permanent homes plus enterprises and community amenity buildings
- First residents moved in December 2024. 14 residents reported in late summer 2025, with roughly 60 cottages complete by October 2025.
- Prep School running six to twelve months as the mandatory entry point. A four-story modular apartment building now houses roughly 30 Prep School participants at the 600 East campus, as of September 2026
- 30 homes built by high school and technical college construction programs across the Wasatch Front, through a Village Homebuilders Alliance of roughly 35 builders, schools, and partners
- Funding: donations from corporations, foundations, and individuals plus several million dollars in state funding, on leased city land.
- Enterprises including The Other Side Donuts intended to move operations toward self-sustainability
Key Intermediate Outcomes
Intermediate outcomes with measurement:
- Engagement and progression: 85% of people who enter the stabilization and Village Prep program continue advancing through the program.
- Work attachment: 100% of Village residents are employed or in vocational training, reflecting effective attachment to meaningful daily structure.
- Income increase: the Village residents have a 412 percent increase in annual income after one year that pays for their housing.
- Sobriety: 94% maintain sobriety after completing Prep School
Key Ultimate Outcomes
Ninety-two percent of formerly chronically homeless residents were maintaining housing after one year. The figure is real; and it is early with first move-ins in December 2024 and 14 residents reported by late summer 2025. The one-year cohort is small enough that a single departure moves the percentage several points. We would want to see this figure again at fifty residents and at a hundred.
Physical and mental health is measured. An 80 percent average improvement in physical and mental health indicators after one year for Village residents. The health figure is the weakest of the published results. An eighty percent average improvement in physical and mental health indicators does not specify the indicators, the instrument, or the baseline, and we could not locate a methodology. We count it because health is measured at all, which is more than many providers do.
Continual Learning & Adaptation
Pilot before scale. Phase I is 60 homes on a site planned for 430. The organization is building, populating, and reporting on a first cohort before committing to the full build, and the state's incremental funding is structured the same way.
Iteration in delivery. The Prep School grew from a concept into a formal six-to-twelve-month program with its own campus and, as of September 2026, a purpose-built four-story modular residence. Construction moved from conventional building to modular and to partnerships with high school and technical college programs, with 30 homes built by students, which is a genuine cost innovation. Enterprises have diversified toward the stated goal of operating without donations.
Further Reading
- The Other Side Village homepage and impact tiles, source of the 94 percent sobriety, 100 percent employment, 80 percent health stabilization, 412 percent income growth, 85 percent Prep School retention, 60 housing units, and 92 percent housing stability. theothersidevillage.com
- The Other Side Village, Human First Model, source of the statement that the organization is solving social isolation, hopelessness, and disconnection rather than just homelessness. theothersidevillage.com/human-first-model
- The Other Side Village, Building The Village, source of the 430-home plan, the 39-acre site, and the phased construction timeline. theothersidevillage.com/building-the-village
- The Other Side Village, Eligibility and How to Apply, source of the chronic homelessness definition, residency requirement, exclusions, and covenants. theothersidevillage.com/how-to-apply
- The Other Side Village, Our 9 Beliefs, Village Enterprises, Leadership Institute, and Frequently Asked Questions. theothersidevillage.com/about-the-village
- Shared Financial Information page, hosted on The Other Side Academy site. theothersideacademy.com/financial-information
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