Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Objective: This study examined the potential impact of a proposed change to the official federal definition of chronic homelessness.

Methods: Using administrative data from the emergency shelters in a large U.S. city, this study estimated the number of persons identified as chronically homeless under the current definition of chronic homelessness, a proposed new federal definition, and two alternative definitions and examined shelter utilization for each group.

Results: Fewer than half as many people were considered chronically homeless under the proposed new federal definition compared with the current definition. Persons considered chronically homeless by the proposed new definition and, to a …

Existing research suggests that Veterans experiencing homelessness make disproportionate and costly use of acute health, mental health and substance abuse treatment services, but that placement in programs like the US Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) can result in substantial reductions in the utilization of these services and associated costs. Several studies have demonstrated that, for certain high need individuals and Veterans, cost savings resulting from the reduction in these acute care services subsequent to placement in permanent supportive housing (PSH) can substantially or completely offset the cost of providing PSH and may even result in …