Family Options Study: Short-Term Impacts of Housing and Services Interventions for Homeless Families

Gubits, Daniel; Shinn, Marybeth; Bell, Stephen H.; Wood, Michelle; Dastrup, Samuel; Solari, Claudia D.; Brown, Scott R.; Brown, Steven S.; Dunton, Lauren; Lin, Winston T.; McInnis, Debi; Rodriguez, Jason D.; Savidge, Galen; Spellman, Brooke E

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3055272

Cited by 37 publications

(73 citation statements)

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“…Our data suggest that higher levels of social support are protective against being unsheltered, but aren’t sufficient to avoid homelessness. This cluster may represent a group of individuals who may benefit from rapid rehousing programs or housing vouchers in order to prevent the progression to chronic homelessness (Gubits et al, 2015; "Rapid Re-Housing: Creating Programs that Work," 2009). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis

Lee

Guzman

Ponath

et al. 2016

Social Science & Medicine

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Adults aged 50 and older make up half of individuals experiencing homelessness and have high rates of morbidity and mortality. They may have different life trajectories and reside in different environments than do younger homeless adults. Although the environmental risks associated with homelessness are substantial, the environments in which older homeless individuals live have not been well characterized. We classified living environments and identified associated factors in a sample of older homeless adults. From July 2013 to June 2014, we recruited a community-based sample of 350 homeless men and women aged fifty and older in Oakland, California. We administered structured interviews including assessments of health, history of homelessness, social support, and life course. Participants used a recall procedure to describe where they stayed in the prior six months. We performed cluster analysis to classify residential venues and used multinomial logistic regression to identify individual factors prior to the onset of homelessness as well as the duration of unstable housing associated with living in them. We generated four residential groups describing those who were unsheltered (n=162), cohabited unstably with friends and family (n=57), resided in multiple institutional settings (shelters, jails, transitional housing) (n=88), or lived primarily in rental housing (recently homeless) (n=43). Compared to those who were unsheltered, having social support when last stably housed was significantly associated with cohabiting and institution use. Cohabiters and renters were significantly more likely to be women and have experienced a shorter duration of homelessness. Cohabiters were significantly more likely than unsheltered participants to have experienced abuse prior to losing stable housing. Pre-homeless social support appears to protect against street homelessness while low levels of social support may increase the risk for becoming homeless immediately after losing rental housing. Our findings may enable targeted interventions for those with different manifestations of homelessness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis

Lee

Guzman

Ponath

et al. 2016

Social Science & Medicine

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“…In that study, priority offers of permanent housing subsidies, typically a housing choice voucher without additional services, led to large reductions in homelessness and improvements in housing stability, family preservation, and adult well-being, along with reduced employment, but had very few effects on child outcomes, notably reductions in school mobility and absenteeism, relative to usual care. Temporary “rapid rehousing” subsidies also reduced absences relative to usual care; service-rich transitional housing had no effects on children beyond chance (Gubits et al 2015). The Family Options study did not find effects of any intervention on children’s mental health, which were prominent effects here, and could not examine associations with time, since there was just one assessment 20 months after families entered shelter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal Impact of a Family Critical Time Intervention on Children in High‐Risk Families Experiencing Homelessness: A Randomized Trial

Shinn

Samuels

Fischer

et al. 2015

American J of Comm Psychol

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A randomized trial compared effects of a Family Critical Time Intervention (FCTI) to usual care for children in 200 newly homeless families in which mothers had diagnosable mental illness or substance problems. Adapted from an evidence-based practice to prevent chronic homelessness for adults with mental illnesses, FCTI combines housing and structured, time-limited case management to connect families leaving shelter with community services. Families were followed at five time points over 24 months. Data on 311 children—99 ages 1.5–5 years, 113 ages 6–10 years, and 99 ages 11–16 years—included mother-, teacher-, and child-reports of mental health, school experiences, and psychosocial well-being. Analyses used hierarchical linear modeling to investigate intervention effects and changes in child functioning over time. Referral to FCTI reduced internalizing and externalizing problems in preschool-aged children and externalizing for adolescents 11–16. The intervention led to declines in self-reported school troubles for children 6–10 and 11–16. Both experimental and control children in all age groups showed reductions in symptoms over time. Although experimental results were scattered, they suggest that FCTI has the potential to improve mental health and school outcomes for children experiencing homelessness.

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“…Families with at least one child age 15 or younger were recruited from emergency shelters in Alameda County, California, after stays of at least seven days, between September 2010 and January 2012 as part of the Family Options Study (see Gubits, Spellman, Dunton, Brown, & Wood, 2013 for a full description of methods). Table 1 shows the characteristics of the 258 families at the time they were recruited.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…OR = odds ratio. Outcome variables are limited to less than 984 days after study entry. a As part of the Family Options study, families were randomly assigned to housing and service interventions (Gubits et al, 2013). The models in this table control for intervention assignment.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Intersections of family homelessness, CPS involvement, and race in Alameda County, California

Rodriguez

Shinn

2016

Child Abuse & Neglect

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The homelessness and child protective services (CPS) systems are closely linked. This study examines the patterns and sequence of families’ involvement with homeless shelters and CPS, as well as whether involvement in each system predicts involvement in the other using linked administrative records for 258 families recruited in emergency shelters in Alameda County, California. More than half of families were reported to CPS at some point, but less than one fifth ever had a report substantiated. Reports that were uninvestigated or unfounded increased in the months leading up to shelter entry and spiked immediately afterward, but substantiations and child removals increased only later. Shelter use before study entry was associated with CPS referrals and investigations after study entry, although not with substantiated cases or child removals. However, CPS involvement before study entry was not associated with returns to shelter after study entry. These results imply that an unsubstantiated report of neglect or abuse may serve as an early warning signal for homelessness and that preventive strategies aiming to affect both homeless and child protective systems should focus on reducing homelessness. CPS workers should evaluate families’ housing needs and attempt to link families to appropriate resources. Black families were disproportionately referred to CPS after shelter entry after controlling for other family characteristics, but race was not associated with substantiations of neglect or abuse or with child removals. Findings lend modest support to human decision-making and institutional explanations of racial disproportionalities in CPS involvement, especially for reporters outside of the CPS system.

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Family Options Study: Short-Term Impacts of Housing and Services Interventions for Homeless Families

Cited by 37 publications

References 0 publications

Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis

Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis

Longitudinal Impact of a Family Critical Time Intervention on Children in High‐Risk Families Experiencing Homelessness: A Randomized Trial

Intersections of family homelessness, CPS involvement, and race in Alameda County, California

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