Recording on Homeless Families Now Available
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made audio recordings of its July 1, 2012 presentation on its study of The Impact of Housing and Services Interventions on Homeless Families available to be downloaded.
The presentation was on an experimental study of family homelessness that compares several combinations of housing assistance and services to determine which interventions work best to promote housing stability, family preservation, child well-being, adult well-being, and self-sufficiency. To date, HUD has invested over $10 million in this study, the largest experimental study of homelessness ever conducted.
Here’s a look at the study’s findings:
- Resources for homelessness prevention: As in other studies, the data indicate that parents in homeless families are very young. Nearly 30 percent of the mothers are under the age of 25. They are also very poor, with an annual income averaging around $7,500.
- Resources for vulnerable and low-income families: The findings also provide further evidence that the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program is underserving families: only 41 percent of the families reported receiving income from the TANF program.
- Resources for homeless families: Perhaps one of the most surprising findings, and one that should give pause to all homeless service providers and system planners, concerns the use of transitional housing. Nearly 80 percent of the families the researchers referred to a project-based transitional housing were denied admittance to that program.
Click here to download the recording.
