UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item Modeling the Relationship Between the Housing First Approach and Homelessness(2020) Boston, David; Lung-Amam, Willow; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A growing body of evidence from individual-level studies demonstrating that the Housing First approach is effective at keeping those experiencing homelessness in stable housing has led to the approach being championed by many leading experts, especially as a way to address chronic homelessness (O'Flaherty, 2019). This helps us understand the relationship between Housing First and an individual’s homelessness, but we know very little about the relationship between implementation of a Housing First approach and overall homelessness rates in a community. In a 2019 survey of homelessness research published by the Journal of Housing Economics, Brendan O’Flaherty wrote: “What has been missing in studies of Housing First are estimates of aggregate impact: does operating a Housing First program actually reduce the total amount of homelessness in a community?” Through this study, I sought to understand if Continuums of Care (CoC) that have adopted a Housing First approach by dedicating a higher proportion of their resources towards permanent housing units are associated with a lower proportion of people experiencing homelessness between the years 2009 and 2017 than CoCs dedicating a higher proportion of their resources towards emergency shelter and other short-term solutions. Additionally, I sought to understand how that relationship between the implementation of a Housing First approach and homelessness rates change as the values of median rent, unemployment, and other covariates typically associated with homelessness rates change. I hypothesized that CoCs adopting a Housing First approach, as defined in the context of this study, would experience lower homelessness rates. The hypothesis that homelessness rates would decrease as the Housing First index increases was supported by the results, but the relationship is more complex than hypothesized. The relationship between Housing First and homelessness rates was quadratic in nature and influenced by an interaction effect with housing tenure. Jurisdictions that adopted a Housing First approach generally experienced lower homelessness rates, except where a vast majority of households are owner-occupied.Item The Stubborn Persistence of Homelessness(2017) Leventhal, George L.; Foreman, Christopher; Public Policy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Homelessness is an enduring problem, involving an estimated 550,000 Americans in 2016. Several intervention strategies have been employed since the 1990s to reduce its prevalence. Among the most widely-adopted of these was the 100,000 Homes Campaign, which took place between 2010 and 2014. While success has been claimed for each intervention, empirical tests of effectiveness are difficult to conduct, in part because data are hard to verify. QUESTION. Did the 100,000 Homes Campaign reduce chronic homelessness? METHODS. Structured interviews were conducted with experts in the homelessness field. A difference-in-differences regression was employed to test the effectiveness of the 100,000 Homes Campaign. Case studies were conducted of one state (Utah) and three communities (Orlando, FL; New Orleans, LA; and Santa Ana/Orange County, CA) which achieved large estimated reductions in chronic homelessness between 2009 and 2015. RESULTS. Most interviewees believed the campaign was valuable, and most were optimistic that chronic homelessness could be ended within a few decades. Interviews revealed a striking lack of understanding of continuing inflow into chronic homelessness – that is, incidence rather than prevalence. The average chronically homeless rate for treatment group communities declined from 8.62 chronically homeless persons per 10,000 population in 2009 to 5.81 per 10,000 population in 2014, a decline of 32.6%. The average chronically homeless rate for control group communities declined from 5.07 per 10,000 in 2009 to 3.55 per 10,000 in 2014, a decline of 29.98 %. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (α > 0.05, -1.96 < t = 1.75 < +1.96). Case studies suggested potentially promising approaches, while demonstrating ongoing measurement challenges. DISCUSSION. Contrary to expectations, 100,000 Homes Campaign had no statistically significant effect on reducing chronic homelessness. The availability of Veterans Assisted Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers had the greatest effect on reduced prevalence. Advocacy for ending chronic homelessness and the analytics necessary to measure whether that outcome is being achieved are not well matched.