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Homelessness is a global challenge.

The United Nations Human Settlements Program estimates that 1.1 billion people live in inadequate housing, and the best data available suggest that more than 100 million people have no housing at all.

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Global Coronavirus Resources and Guidance For Homeless Services

OVERVIEW To support your efforts in protecting people experiencing homelessness from the coronavirus and in response preparations, we have collected some guidance and resources from around the world. The coronavirus guidance points to the establishment of links to local health departments, increased communication, and a focus on preparedness. We recognize that these resources are heavily sourced from the United States, so if...

Voice of Experience: Engaging People with Lived Experience of Poverty in Consultations

Bee Lee Soh

John Stapleton

In 2017, anti-poverty activist Bee Lee Soh and Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton were selected, from among 400 nominations, to participate on the federal government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Poverty. The committee provided input and helped inform Canada’s first-ever National Poverty Reduction Strategy. Soh and Stapleton were the only two individuals from Toronto, among the 17-member advisory committee....

State of Homelessness in Countries with Developed Economies

Homelessness is a complex issue, with varied and sometimes conflicting definitions. It is an issue sitting at the intersection of public health, housing affordability, domestic violence, mental illness, substance misuse, urbanization, racial and gender discrimination, infrastructure, and unemployment. The interplay between these elements is expressed in a host of ways depending upon local context. Levels of homelessness rise...

Health Care While Homeless: Barriers, Facilitators, and the Lived Experiences of Homeless Individuals Accessing Health Care in a Canadian Regional Municipality

This qualitative descriptive study through the lens of a transformative framework was used to identify barriers and facilitators to accessing health care as perceived by people experiencing homelessness in the regional municipality of Niagara, Canada. The barriers discovered included affordability, challenges finding primary care, the inadequacy of the psychiatric model, inappropriate management, lack of trust in health care...

A Data-based Re-design of Housing Supports and Services for Aging Adults who Experience Homelessness

Dennis Culhane

Steve Metraux

Randall Kuhn

This report examines health services use and population dynamics among the aging homeless population in Los Angeles. Evidence suggests that adverse health outcomes lead to homelessness, and the conditions related to homelessness lead to or exacerbate a range of health problems. In addition, the barriers to accessing preventative and primary care while homeless lead to receipt of healthcare only when morbidities are more acute...

Missed Opportunities: Pathways from Foster Care to Youth Homelessness in America

This resource provides foundational evidence for understanding the scale, scope, and urgency of youth homelessness in America and ways of addressing it.

The Role of Local Businesses in Addressing Multidimensional Needs of Homeless Populations

Wonhyung Lee

Kristin M. Ferguson

This article proposes a theoretical framework that links the versatile roles that local businesses can play in addressing various dimensions of human needs. This theoretical framework is illustrated through two models in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, which focus on the role of business improvement districts (BIDs) and a social enterprise intervention (SEI), respectively. These models demonstrate that the business...

Sustainability of Supportive Housing for Families in the Child Welfare System: The State of Services Integration and Systems Change in Participating Communities as a Federal Demonstration Ends

Martha R. Burt

The Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing, funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services was designed to explore the effects of providing housing and intensive services to high-need families in the child welfare system. Demonstration sites created new service delivery structures to accomplish set goals worked more intensively than ever with partner agencies and changed agency policies...

Housing, Homelessness and Mental Health: Towards Systems Change

Nicola Brackertz

Alex Wilkinson

Jim Davison

This research progresses the priority areas identified by the National Mental Health Commission and provides evidence about the systemic issues and policy levers to provide housing and services for people with lived experience with mental ill health.

Improving mental health services for homeless youth in downtown Montreal, Canada: Partnership between a local network and ACCESS Esprits ouverts (Open Minds), a National Services Transformation Research Initiative

Amal Abdel‐Baki

Diane Aubin

Raphaël Morisseau‐Guillot

This research sheds more light on the mental health and access to health services regarding youth experiencing homelessness in Montreal, Canada.

Sport, Homelessness, and Capability: Voices from the Street

Grant Jarvie

Susan Ahrens

To what extent does soccer increase the capability of the homeless and those living on the street? This study addresses this question by focusing on the ways in which the Homeless World Cup and Street Soccer (Scotland) have impacted the lives of some individuals. Primary source data obtained from a series of interviews are situated within Sen’s capability approach to social choice theory. The implications of the study...

2016 Advocates Guide

The Advocates’ Guide: An Educational Primer on Federal Programs and Resources Related to Affordable Housing and Community Development, is a guide to affordable housing with useful resources and practical know-how written by leading experts in the affordable housing and community development field with a singular purpose—to educate advocates and affordable housing providers of all kinds about the programs and policies that...

Pathways Into Homelessness Among LGBTQ2S Adults

This article examines entries into homelessness among adults who identify as LGBTQ2S (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit). Twenty LGBTQ2S adults who were currently or formerly homeless participated in one qualitative interview. Results demonstrated that the participants listed both structural (i.e., discrimination) and intrapersonal (i.e., substance use) variables related to their homelessness. In...

Effects of Housing First approaches on health and well-being of adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

A policy approach aiming to end homelessness across Europe and North America, the ’Housing First’ (HF) model, provides rapid housing, not conditional on abstinence from substance use. This paper aims to systematically review the evidence from randomized controlled trials for the effects of HF on health and wellbeing as homelessness is associated with poor health.

It shouldn’t be this hard: Systemic, situational, and intrapersonal barriers to exiting homelessness among homeless young adults

Katie Sample

Kristin M. Ferguson

This qualitative study explores homeless young adults’ perceptions of the systemic, situational, and intrapersonal barriers they encounter across multiple systems in trying to exit homelessness and the ways these barriers are interrelated. Thirty-one homeless young adults (ages 18–26) in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona were recruited for in-depth interviews from two resource centers serving homeless youth. Findings indicate that...

At the Intersections: A Collaborative Resource on LGBTQ Youth Homelessness

Homelessness is one of the most pressing issues facing a disproportionate number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the United States. This second edition of At the Intersections reveals what has changed in the past three years regarding the understanding of LGBTQ youth homelessness in the United States. True Colors United aims to use this information to make more informed choices...

Homelessness Among Youth Who Identify as LGBTQ+: A Systematic Review

Edward McCann

Michael Brown

The purpose of this journal article was to explore homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning plus (LGBTQ+) youth and to identify their support and care requirements. A search of relevant electronic databases was carried out and included the dates August 2008- August 2018 and limited to academic journals and peer-reviewed empirical studies written in English. Included studies specifically...

Improving Homeless Point-In-Time Counts: Uncovering the Marginally Housed

Curtis Smith

Ernesto Castañeda-Tinoco

This article discusses improvements made to the methodology of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) point-in-time (PIT) homeless census. HUD’s PIT results are presented to Congress as official data for policy consideration. The PIT methodology, however, focuses on visible street homeless individuals and those in shelters while neglecting the “marginally housed” or less visible homeless who live in automobiles or...

The Homelessness Monitor: England 2019

The homelessness monitor is a longitudinal study providing an independent analysis of the homelessness impacts of recent economic and policy developments across the United Kingdom. Separate reports are produced for each of the UK nations. This eighth annual report provides an updated account of how homelessness stands in England in 2019, or as close to 2019 as data availability allows. It also highlights emerging trends and...

Rapid Re-Housing in the City of Chicago: 2014 to 2017

This report presents a comprehensive review of Rapid Re-housing model (RRH). RRH has emerged as one of the major and cost-effective strategies for addressing homelessness in the United States. Federal agencies have demonstrated support for RRH in meaningful ways: two federally funded programs, the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) and the Rapid Rehousing for Homeless Families Demonstration Program (...

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