Byrne Thomas, Culhane Dennis P
Dr. Byrne is with the School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston (e-mail:
Psychiatr Serv. 2015 Sep;66(9):996-9. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201400240. Epub 2015 Mar 31.
This study examined the potential impact of a proposed change to the official federal definition of chronic homelessness.
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.
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 lesser extent, by the two alternative definitions, made heavier use of shelter compared with persons who met the current definition.
A proposed new and two alternative definitions of chronic homelessness are better suited than the existing federal definition for identifying persons with the most protracted experiences of homelessness.
本研究探讨了联邦官方对长期无家可归的定义提议变更可能产生的影响。
本研究利用美国一个大城市紧急避难所的行政数据，估计了按照当前长期无家可归定义、一项提议的新联邦定义以及另外两项替代定义被认定为长期无家可归的人数，并考察了每组人员的避难所使用情况。
与当前定义相比，按照提议的新联邦定义被视为长期无家可归的人数不到前者的一半。按照提议的新定义以及在较小程度上按照另外两项替代定义被视为长期无家可归的人，与符合当前定义的人相比，更多地使用了避难所。
与现有的联邦定义相比，提议的一项新的和两项替代的长期无家可归定义更适合用于识别那些有最长时间无家可归经历的人。
