Saturday, 15 January 2005 - 10:00 AM

This presentation is part of: Services for Homeless Persons

Do Longer Stays in a Homeless Center Produce Better Outcomes? An Event History Analysis of Lengths of Stay and Time Elapsed Between Stays in a Midwestern Homeless Center

PURPOSE: The contemporary experience of homelessness in the U.S. is significantly shaped by the sociodemographic characteristics of age, race/ethnicity, gender, and urbanicity (Crane 1998; Tan & Ryan 2001; Tessler, Rosenheck & Gamache 2001), as well as the issues of addiction, family stability, battering, mental illness, and physical health (Dordick 2002; Kelly, Mitchell & Smith 1990; Mowbray & Bybee 1996). Many agencies that provide services to homeless adults and children operate under the assumption that longer lengths of stays lead to better outcomes for the homeless individuals and families (Morlock 2002). Given the multi-problem nature of many homeless individuals and families, longer lengths of time, it is argued, are needed to address the chronic issues that lead to homelessness. This study examines the (a) influence of sociodemographics and social problems on the length of stays in a Midwestern homeless center and (b) tests the hypothesis that longer stays lead to better outcomes.

DATA and METHOD: Data are drawn from five years of information collected by the homeless center regarding sociodemographics, social problems, and lengths of stays of homeless individuals using the services of the center. The sample consists of more than 3,000 individual homeless adults and more than 5,000 stays at the center. Event history analysis is used to examine the influence of sociodemographics and social problems on the length of stay and the influence of those same variables and the length of stay on the length of time between stays.

RESULTS: Significant differences in length of stays at the center were found for age, number of children, education, stay number, and reason for leaving. With regard to social problems both mental illness and enrollment in center programs predicted longer lengths of stay, while addiction issues predicted shorter stays. Likewise a number of factors influenced the length of time between stays including age, race/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, number of children and length of previous stay. Results confirm that longer stays are associated with longer periods of time between stays at the center.

IMPLICATIONS: For agencies seeking to provide longer stays for homeless adults and children in order to allow for longer periods of stability and a longer time to address the issues of homelessness, organizational culture may play an important role in decreasing the likelihood that an individual or family will leave prematurely. Agency policies should be examined in light of the findings of this study to determine the role that they may play as barriers to longer stays. Finally, this evidence suggests that longer support services are more productive for homeless adults and children and has implications for federal, state, and local funding of homeless service providers.

See more of Services for Homeless Persons
See more of Oral and Poster

See more of Celebrating a Decade of SSWR (January 13 - 16, 2005)