Hsu Hsun-Ta, Rice Eric, Wilson Jennifer, Semborski Sara, Vayanos Phebe, Morton Matthew
School of Social Work, University of Missouri, 709 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA.
University of Southern California Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Los Angeles, USA.
J Prim Prev. 2019 Oct;40(5):529-544. doi: 10.1007/s10935-019-00562-3.
Approximately 3.5 million youth experience homelessness in the United States. Assisting youth to exit homelessness as quickly as possible through various housing venues aims to prevent adverse health impacts that prolonged homeless experiences may have on youth. Rapid re-housing (RRH) is a recent, short-term, less costly housing option than permanent supportive housing that provides temporary housing supports and services to counter homelessness. Although previous literature indicates that youth are likely to achieve stable homelessness exits via RRH, the duration of wait times for youth and potential disparities in RRH waiting periods remain unclear. We used administrative data from 16 communities across the United States (N = 10,920) to gain a greater understanding about RRH wait times among homeless youth. In addition, we adopted a competing risk survival analysis to investigate potential disparities (i.e., race and ethnicity, gender, rurality, sexual orientation, and previous homelessness condition) in RRH wait times while taking into consideration the presence of other homelessness exit options (e.g., permanent supportive housing). Study results indicate that RRH is a common homelessness exit for homeless youth and is prioritized for youth assessed as mid-vulnerability, per commonly accepted assessment measures of youth vulnerability. However, youth who received RRH waited, on average, 131 days following their housing eligibility assessment. Furthermore, being a minor (i.e., 17 years old or younger), experiencing homelessness in rural communities, and lower engagement in homeless services (e.g., emergency shelters and transitional living programs) were all associated with lower probability of exiting into RRH over time, taking into account the possibility of other competing homelessness exits. Expansion of the short-term housing supports offered through RRH may be a promising strategy to counter homelessness among youth in a timely manner. However, such an expansion should also address the potential disparities underlying youths' wait time to receive RRH in order to reduce prolonged homelessness experiences within this vulnerable population.
在美国,约有350万年轻人经历过无家可归的状况。通过各种住房途径帮助年轻人尽快摆脱无家可归的状态,旨在防止长期无家可归经历可能对年轻人产生的不良健康影响。快速重新安置住房(RRH)是一种近期出现的、短期的、成本低于永久性支持性住房的住房选择,它提供临时住房支持和服务以应对无家可归问题。尽管先前的文献表明年轻人有可能通过快速重新安置住房实现稳定的无家可归状态转变,但年轻人的等待时间以及快速重新安置住房等待期的潜在差异仍不明确。我们使用了来自美国16个社区的行政数据(N = 10920),以更深入地了解无家可归青年的快速重新安置住房等待时间。此外,我们采用了竞争风险生存分析,在考虑到其他无家可归状态转变选择(如永久性支持性住房)存在的情况下,研究快速重新安置住房等待时间的潜在差异(即种族和族裔、性别、农村地区、性取向以及先前的无家可归状况)。研究结果表明,快速重新安置住房是无家可归青年常见的无家可归状态转变方式,并且根据普遍接受的青年脆弱性评估标准,它被优先提供给被评估为中等脆弱性的青年。然而,获得快速重新安置住房的青年在住房资格评估后平均等待了131天。此外,如果考虑到其他竞争性无家可归状态转变的可能性,作为未成年人(即17岁及以下)、在农村社区经历无家可归以及较少参与无家可归服务(如紧急避难所和过渡性居住项目)都与随着时间推移进入快速重新安置住房的可能性较低相关。通过快速重新安置住房提供的短期住房支持的扩展可能是及时应对青年无家可归问题的一个有前景的策略。然而,这种扩展还应解决年轻人获得快速重新安置住房等待时间背后的潜在差异,以减少这一弱势群体中无家可归经历的延长。