How Do Housing Interventions for Families Experiencing Homelessness Affect Children’s Functioning?

Abstract

Family homelessness remains a persistent social problem and is associated with worse child outcomes, though individual outcomes vary widely. Little is known about whether the main intervention approaches used to re-house families improve developmental outcomes. Existing theories on childhood homelessness fail to specify how variation in housing affects child outcomes. This dissertation proposes, tests, and refines an integrated model linking housing problems and child outcomes using data collected over a three-year period from a large-scale randomized control trial of three housing interventions for families experiencing homelessness. The majority of children age 3 to 17 were faring well across developmental domains three years after an experience of homelessness, but a smaller group of children were faring very poorly. Offers of long-term rental subsidies (LTRS) resulted in children age 3 to 4 having higher odds of being in the higher functioning group (AOR = 2.6, g = .58), partially mediated by reduced economic stress. Children age 13 to 17 offered LTRS also had higher odds (AOR = 2.3, g = .50) of faring well compared to those offered usual care, partially mediated via improvements in housing stability, housing quality, and economic stress reducing family stress and strengthening family routines. The other two housing interventions examined did not improve child outcomes relative to usual care. In-depth interviews identified compromised parental autonomy and lack of privacy as important sources of behavioral disruptions in shelters that often quickly abated when families obtained their own housing and restored their usual routines. These findings indicate expanding access to LTRS would help end family homelessness and promote better child functioning.