![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
In what became a major inflection point, the lives of many homeless persons were dramatically changed in early 2020 as cities used newly appropriated Federal funds to pay for hotel rooms to ‘de-densify’ crowded shelters. From a research perspective, tracking the effects of this unprecedented mass movement of thousands of homeless men and women into empty hotels constituted a natural experiment in how they would adjust to a life of comparative luxury (having a private room and bathroom, clean linens, microwave ovens and mini refrigerators, etc.). Researchers and advocates quickly saw the potential of turning a crisis into an opportunity, i.e., to convert hotels into permanent studio apartments and gradually empty the shelters and encampments that 580,000 Americans annually call ‘home’. Meanwhile, supportive housing for formerly homeless persons with disabilities required major alterations in service delivery to ensure the safety of front-line staff as well as residents.
In this atmosphere of crisis and opportunity, some intrepid social work researchers were able to conduct studies with clear implications for policy change. This symposium has two goals: 1) to feature multi-method policy-relevant research findings on the impact of these changes; and, 2) to reflect on the challenges of conducting research in difficult conditions and how these can be met. The first paper, which includes in-depth interviews with 30 housing-precarious individuals attending a soup kitchen in New York City, has a focus on access to behavioral health services for mental problems and substance use. The second paper involves a large sample (n=563) of formerly homeless persons residing in supportive housing in Los Angeles. Six monthly interviews were conducted using smartphones. Challenges of recruitment, follow-up and staff illnesses had to be reckoned with a tight timeline by the funder. The third paper reports on changes in the lives of 20 formerly homeless New Yorkers residing in a midtown hotel. These changes brought immediate benefits and afforded the opportunity to plan for the future. The fourth paper is situated in Canada and used mixed methods including a survey of 701 providers and follow-up qualitative interviews with 30 providers to examine the impact of service delivery on front-line work during the pandemic.
Taken together, these papers are complementary in examining diverse circumstances and locations. All four studies focus on the potential to re-shape policies affecting homeless and precariously housed adults. A discussant with long-standing experience in research and advocacy on homelessness will lead a discussion with the presenters and the audience on ethical and logistical ways of conducting research intended to influence policy in a time of crisis.