Preventing Future and Subsequent Homelessness

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Preventing homelessness and reducing returns to homelessness requires understanding both who is at risk and which interventions are most effective in promoting housing stability. This panel brings together four studies that examine homelessness prevention and stabilization using evidence from multiple jurisdictions and methodological approaches, including predictive analytics, experimental, and quasi-experimental designs. Together, the papers provide a comprehensive view of how risk can be identified early and how financial assistance may prevent both initial and subsequent experiences of homelessness.

The first paper uses linked administrative data from British Columbia to reconstruct complete life trajectories leading to homelessness and identify key risk factors across childhood and adulthood. It shows that severe disadvantage begins early, with high rates of child welfare involvement and high school drop out, while shocks in adulthood further increase risk. A subset of individuals can be identified as extremely high risk, highlighting the potential for early, data-driven targeting of prevention strategies using existing administrative systems. Building on this theme of targeting and prevention, the second paper provides new data from a targeted homelessness prevention model in the Bay Area that uses a risk screening tool to allocate one-time financial assistance and supportive services. It describes who applies for and receives prevention services, including differences between applicants and the broader population of low-income renters, and previews an impact evaluation of the model based on a regression discontinuity design. 

The third paper turns to the design of assistance itself, examining whether flexible cash can substitute for or complement traditional housing assistance in preventing housing instability. Using a randomized controlled trial in Philadelphia, it compares a direct-to-tenant cash subsidy equal to the value of a Housing Choice Voucher with the voucher itself, finding near-universal uptake of cash relative to incomplete voucher use and similar reductions in housing instability across both forms of assistance relative to a control group. Extending this evidence on financial supports to families already experiencing homelessness, the fourth paper evaluates a large unconditional cash transfer in Illinois using an experimental design, assessing impacts on subsequent housing stability, homelessness recurrence, and well-being.

Together, these papers provide evidence across the full risk spectrum—from early-life predictors of homelessness to interventions aimed at preventing entry and reducing returns to homelessness. By combining data from different countries and jurisdictions, and leveraging a range of empirical methods, the session highlights how improved targeting and flexible financial assistance can play a central role in preventing future and subsequent homelessness.

Policy Area

• Housing, Community Development, and Urban Policy

Chair

• Bruce D. Meyer, The University of Chicago

Discussants

• Noemie Sportiche, Mathematica

• Scott Brown, Abt Global

Organizer

• Max Gross, University of California - Los Angeles

Individual Presentations

• Pathways into Homelessness - Presenting Author: Jeffrey Hicks, University of Toronto

• Evaluation of Targeted Homelessness Prevention in the Bay Area - Presenting Author: Zoe E Klingmann, California Policy Lab

• Cash Is King? RCT on Impact of Voucher and Cash-Based Rental Assistance on Housing Outcomes - Non-Presenting Co-Author: Vincent J. Reina, University of Pennsylvania; Presenting Author: Julia Honoroff, University of Pennsylvania

• The Impacts of an Unconditional Cash Transfer for Homeless Families: Experimental Evidence from Illinois - Presenting Author: Nour Abdul-Razzak, The University of Chicago