A proactive approach to addressing the root causes of homelessness and intervening before individuals or families become homeless is known as targeted prevention. The goal is to identify at-risk populations and provide them with early intervention and support services in order to prevent homelessness in the first place.
Homelessness has become a growing concern in our country in recent years, but a new study shows that efforts to prevent homelessness are effective. Individuals and families who received emergency financial assistance were 81% less likely to become homeless within six months and 73% less likely to become homeless within a year, according to the study. Furthermore, their estimates suggest that the benefits of homelessness prevention exceed the costs as communities get $2.47 back in benefits per net dollar spent on emergency financial assistance.
Homelessness has become a growing concern in our country in recent years, but a new study from the University of Notre Dame shows that efforts to prevent homelessness are effective.
In California, for example, the issue has reached such proportions that the mayors of several major cities have declared a state of emergency on homelessness. In response, California leaders have invested billions in homelessness programs, including some aimed at prevention.
Policymakers at all levels are struggling to make really hard decisions about how to allocate scarce resources to address this pervasive problem. However, this study demonstrates that you can actually target the intervention to those at risk, which moves the needle on homelessness sufficiently to justify the investment.
James Sullivan
However, due to the difficulty of targeting assistance to those most at risk of becoming homeless, prevention efforts have raised questions, even among organizations dedicated to addressing homelessness, about whether such programs are effective. Researchers at Notre Dame conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effect of emergency financial assistance (EFA) on families receiving support through the Santa Clara County Homelessness Prevention System, which is co-led by Destination: Home, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending homelessness in Silicon Valley, to test the impact of providing financial assistance to those at risk of losing their housing.
David Phillips, a research professor in the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) within Notre Dame’s economics department, and James Sullivan, a professor of economics and co-founder of LEO, found that people offered EFA were 81 percent less likely to become homeless within six months of enrollment and 73 percent less likely within 12 months, as reported in their study recently published by The Review of Economics and Statistics.
The study looked at people who were at risk of being evicted or becoming homeless and were given EFA between July 2019 and December 2020, with the average household receiving nearly $2,000. Recipients were chosen from a larger group of people who were eligible for the program based on their vulnerability to homelessness and a randomized system established by LEO and Destination: Home. This short-term financial assistance helped them pay for rent, utilities, and other housing-related expenses.
A common approach to combating homelessness is to provide shelter to those who are already homeless, but the researchers argued that once a family or individual becomes homeless, they face additional challenges, such as finding permanent housing, basic necessities, and health care. They are also more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system and to require frequent hospital visits. According to LEO’s research, a preventive approach focusing directly on helping those on the verge of homelessness can also be effective.
“Our estimates suggest that the benefits of homelessness prevention outweigh the costs,” the researchers wrote. They calculated that communities receive $2.47 in benefits for every net dollar spent on emergency financial assistance.
“Policymakers at all levels are struggling to make really hard decisions about how to allocate scarce resources to address this pervasive problem,” Sullivan said. “However, this study demonstrates that you can actually target the intervention to those at risk, which moves the needle on homelessness sufficiently to justify the investment.”
While homelessness prevention programs are not a cure-all for other problems associated with the most visible forms of homelessness, such as health and substance abuse issues, Phillips believes they are an effective way to help people.
“Every person who ends up homeless is a little different from the next, and the reasons they’re there are different, but it’s the kind of help they need at the moment they need it, before everything falls apart,” Phillips said.
