Homelessness

In 2006, the Corporation for Supportive Housing launched its Returning Home Initiative (RHI) with two goals: 1) to establish permanent supportive housing as an essential reentry component for formerly incarcerated persons with histories of homelessness, mental illness, and chronic health conditions; and 2) to promote local and national policy changes to integrate the corrections, housing, mental health, and human service systems. The Urban Institute assessed the process of system change stimulated by the RHI activities in three communities that received significant RHI investment and other jurisdictions. In addition, the report identifies challenges and lessons learned from the RHI to date.

This brief describes the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (ECHY), summarizes the research, and outlines future research questions of concern to policymakers.

Homeless people in HUD-funded shelters and transitional and permanent supportive housing programs often need benefits and services from welfare, health, mental health, and other mainstream systems to help them stabilize their lives. Many find it hard to access these systems, however. As HUD homeless-related resources have shifted from 60 to 33 percent going to services in the past five years, this study's central question was how communities have compensated. We found that communities evolved smoothing, expanding, and changing mechanisms to reduce access barriers and that highly organized communities were most successful. But federal program regulations limit what local communities can accomplish.

This report addresses two questions: 1) What happens to homeless families who "graduate" from HUD-funded transitional housing (TH)? and 2) What factors affect housing, employment, and children's well-being after TH? Project sites included Cleveland/Cuyahoga County, Detroit, Houston/Harris County, San Diego City and County, and Seattle/King County. 195 families were interviewed as they left TH, with 179 (92 percent) completing 12 month follow-up interviews. Certain aspects of TH programs and the way that mothers used them affected mothers' education and employment immediately after TH and employment 12 months later. Having a housing voucher at TH exit was the strongest predictor of stable housing during the year following TH, but had no effect on employment outcomes.

In 2006, the Corporation for Supportive Housing launched its Returning Home Initiative (RHI) with two goals: 1) to establish permanent supportive housing as an essential reentry component for formerly incarcerated persons with histories of homelessness, mental illness, and chronic health conditions; and 2) to promote local and national policy changes to integrate the corrections, housing, mental health, and human service systems. The Urban Institute assessed the process of system change stimulated by RHI activities in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—three communities receiving significant RHI investment. This brief summarizes the influence of RHI-funded activities in each of these cities.