Session: The Power of Numbers and Narratives: Using Multiple Methods to Understand and Interrupt Cycles of Homelessness (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Researchers and policy makers are often tasked with the challenge of how to reduce the incidence and impact of homelessness. Upstream targeted homelessness prevention, reducing the length of shelter stays, protecting the health and wellbeing of people in shelter, and providing adequate supports to prevent reoccurrence of homelessness are important tools used to interrupt the cycle of homelessness. This panel examines national and local data through quantitative and qualitative methods to explore and discuss opportunities to improve residential stability across cycles of housing instability and homelessness.

The paper from Sell and colleagues leverages administrative records integrated across homelessness, juvenile justice, child welfare, and education systems to predict entrance into shelter among families with children. The authors find several geographic, structural, and demographic predictors of homelessness that can be used to place school-based homelessness prevention interventions targeting communities and students at high-risk of homelessness. Mullan and colleagues similarly use administrative data to assess how the COVID-19 affected both duration of shelter use and the demographic and program-level risk factors that affect shelter use duration. Pre-pandemic shelter entrants exited homelessness more quickly than those who entered during the pandemic, and circumstances of shelter entry, head of household race and educational attainment, among other demographic characteristics, were found to be significant predictors of shelter use duration. Treglia and colleagues use national administrative data to assess the risk factors of COVID-19 infection among homeless service users. Shelter users were at higher risk of infection than those using transitional or permanent supportive housing, and those using adult-only systems were at higher risk than those accessing other homeless service systems. Older, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native adults had the highest risk of infection. Tran Smith and colleagues conducted interviews with 28 individuals who had recently exited homelessness and entered permanent supportive housing to assess the impact of the neighborhoods in which they were placed on their health and well-being. They find that people experiencing homelessness were quick to accept placements to exit homelessness but that PSH location - particularly regarding access to social supports, amenities, and services that facilitated safety and sobriety – was critical to improving mental health and overall well-being.