Positive Psychological Characteristics As Moderators of Shelter Use Among Homeless Families with Behavioral Health Disorders: New Insight and Opportunities for Intervention

Background and Purpose:  Research on personal characteristics that impact the frequency and duration of shelter use has been largely limited to examinations of psychopathologies, like substance abuse and mental illness, which contribute to increased frequency and duration of homelessness.  Positive psychological traits like hope and resilience are associated with reduced shelter use among homeless families and increased treatment rates among adults with substance abuse and mental health disorders, and therefore may be uniquely important for understanding shelter use patterns among those with behavioral health disorders.  This study is the first to examine the ability of positive psychological attributes to moderate the impact of substance abuse and mental health disorders on homelessness, and may suggest opportunities to enhance traits that facilitate long-term housing stability.

Methods: This study focuses on families seeking shelter through New York City’s Department of Homeless Services, the nation’s largest municipal shelter provider.  The head of household of approximately 700 families completed a survey that included questions about substance abuse and mental illness as well as validated measures of hope and resilience; survey results were matched to administrative data to model subsequent shelter use.  Tobit models including interactions between each of the positive psychological characteristics and indicators of mental health and substance abuse are used to model cumulative shelter use. 

Results: Multivariate regressions suggest that increased levels of hope and resilience are associated with reduced shelter use for all homeless families, and are especially important for those with substance abuse disorders.  On a 5-point resilience scale, a one-point increase is associated with a reduction of 41 days in shelter, and an additional 35 day reduction for those with substance abuse disorders.  A one-point increase on the 8-point hope scale is associated with a 47 day reduction in shelter use, and an additional 20 day reduction for those with a substance abuse disorder.  In addition, including interactions between positive psychological and psychopathological characteristics results in a meaningful increase in the amount of variance in shelter use explained by the models.

Conclusions and Implications: These findings suggest specific interventions to reduce shelter use, especially for those with behavioral health barriers to stable permanent housing.  There is burgeoning evidence that low-cost, low-burden interventions incorporated into existing case management can significantly enhance positive psychological capital.  Interventions that have increased earnings and lowered prison recidivism rates through enhanced hope and resilience may be similarly effective at reducing shelter utilization.