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Publication Date: 2016
Researchers, policy-makers, and political leaders in Canada and the US are championing the ‘Housing First’ (HF) intervention as a solution to homelessness. HF supplies people experiencing both homelessness and challenges around mental health with housing and a range of supports that can include case-coordination, psychiatry, and primary care. While HF’s impact on the housing status of individual participants has received considerable scientific a...
Publication Date: 2015
The importance of program implementation in achieving desired outcomes is well-documented, but there remains a need for concrete guidance on how to achieve fidelity to evidence-based models within dynamic local contexts. Housing First (HF), an evidence-based model for people experiencing homelessness and mental illness, provides an important test-case for such guidance; it targets a uniquely underserved subpopulation with complex needs, and is de...
Publication Date: 2015
Objectives
Although Housing First (HF) is a popular evidence-based intervention for persons experiencing homelessness and mental illness, research exploring its sustainability over time is scant. This mixed methods study captures practitioners’ perspectives on key shifts in implementation of Housing First in a large urban center, and factors affecting fidelity to the model over time.
Methods
This study uses fidelity assessments, at baseline an...
Publication Date: 2014
Background
Research on discrimination in healthcare settings has primarily focused on health implications of race-based discrimination among ethno-racial minority groups. Little is known about discrimination experiences of other marginalized populations, particularly groups facing multiple disadvantages who may be subjected to other/multiple forms of discrimination. Objectives: (1) To examine the prevalence of perceived discrimination due to home...
Publication Date: 2014
The housing first (HF) model for individuals experiencing homelessness and mental illness differs by design from traditional models that require consumers to achieve “housing readiness” by meeting program or treatment prerequisites in transitional housing settings prior to permanent housing placement. Given a growing body of evidence for its favorable outcomes and cost effectiveness, HF is increasingly seen as an alternative to and argument again...
Organization: Mental Health Commission of Canada
Publication Date: 2014
This report documents the final results of the At Home/Chez Soi Toronto site’s research demonstration project, which examined Housing First as a means of ending homelessness for people who are living with mental illness with a particular focus on those from ethnoracial backgrounds. The project followed 575 participants for two years and compared Housing First to available local services.
Also available on the Mental Health Commission of Canada we...
Publication Date: 2014
This study explores factors contributing to delays and relocations during the implementation of the Housing First model in Toronto, Ontario. While interruptions in housing tenure are expected en route to recovery and housing stability, consumer and service provider views on finding and keeping housing remain largely unknown. In-person interviews and focus groups were conducted with 48 study participants, including 23 case managers or housing work...
Publication Date: 2014
Objectives Hope is widely embraced as an important factor in the recovery process. The role of housing in inspiring hope and facilitating recovery has been explored with homeless populations but is not well understood. This study explores perspectives on hopes for recovery and the role of housing on these hopes from the perspective of homeless adults experiencing mental illness participating in a multisite Housing First randomised controlled tri...
Organization: National Healthcare for the Homeless Council
Publication Date: 2003
Clinicians working with homeless individuals who have substance use disorders understand the critical need – and dire lack of – appropriate, accessible, and effective treatment for those in their care. And, much of the scientific research on what effective treatment for substance related disorders looks like is not directly applicable to persons without homes. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council convened interested clinicians and re...
Publication Date: 2002
In substance abuse treatment, a gap exists between scientific research and clinical practice that is not common to other fields of medicine. This gap between research and practice is a concern shared in the Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) field as well, a concern which led to the formation of the "Translating Research Into Practice” subcommittee. This report represents the subcommittee’s first endeavor, a summary of peer-reviewed publ...
Publication Date: 2012
The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence, distribution and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among homeless adults using eight Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) clinics nationally. (Authors)
Publication Date: 2012
Homeless women have both a higher rate of pregnancy and a higher proportion of unintended pregnancies than other American women. The authors sought to learn about contraception services offered by providers of health care to homeless women and barriers to provision of long-acting, reversible contraception in these settings. A survey of the 31 member organizations in the national Health Care for the Homeless Practice-Based Research Network was con...
Publication Date: 2010
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) designed the Services in Supportive Housing (SSH) program to help prevent or reduce chronic homelessness. Funded and managed by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), the program’s 62 grantees work in 25 states and the District of Columbia. SSH Grantees provide individuals and families who have experienced chronic homelessness the services and treatment they need to sta...
Organization: Services in Supportive Housing Technical Assistance Center
Publication Date: 2010
The Services in Supportive Housing (SSH) Annual Report describes the program and its activities through the end of September 2009. The objective of the SSH program is to increase housing stability and level of functioning for consumers. This report provides important preliminary data on effective methods for preventing or reducing chronic homelessness. (Authors)
Services in Supportive Housing grantees served 1,076 consumers from October 2007 thro...
Publication Date: 2008
For almost two decades, the US Health Care for the Homeless Program (HCH) has funded clinics across the country for homeless populations. Between October and December 2003, for the first time ever, a nationally representative sample of the almost 200 HCH clinics with a response rate of approximately 71% (the HCH User Visit Survey) was created to examine the health status of its users ( n= 1017). This study employed the HCH User Visit Survey’s c...
Organization: SAMHSA
Publication Date: 2009
In Toronto, an innovative program is helping people who are homeless or living in poverty to find new community connections - in the garden. The Fred Victor Centre Garden Group tends to a community garden plot. Together, the group harvests well-being and teamwork as well as flowers and produce. The HRC’s Suzanne Zerger spoke with providers Audrey Alfred-Duggan of Fred Victor Centre and Fiona Husband of Street Health to learn more about tips for c...
Organization: SAMHSA
Publication Date: 2009
Daniel Malone’s research shows that a criminal background does not predict success or failure of housing retention. Mr. Malone is Director of Housing Programs for the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) in Seattle, Washington. His paper, “Assessing Criminal History as a Predictor of Future Housing Success for Homeless Adults with Behavioral Health Disorders,” was published in the journal "Psychiatric Services" in February 2009.
Q: What did y...
Publication Date: 2008
Young adults (ages 18-24) are especially vulnerable to homelessness in the United States, and those experiencing homelessness exhibit high prevalence for many kinds of abuse and negative health outcomes. This article reviews common behavioral health issues facing homeless youth and assesses collective wisdom on effective treatments and services for this vulnerable population. On the whole, the research remains focused on individual-level risk and...
Organization: Homelessness Resource Center (HRC)
Publication Date: 2009
People who are homeless are more than three times as likely to smoke than those who are housed. Aside from the risks associated with homelessness and life on the streets, this is a dangerous health disparity. Sometimes it is easy to see smoking as a relatively harmless coping mechanism. HRC’s Suzanne Zerger takes a look at the research and promising practices to help people who are homeless to kick this habit.
For decades, about 7 in 10 adults wh...