Risk Models for Returns to Housing Instability Among Families Experiencing Homelessness

Abstract

Family housing instability is a persistent public health issue in the U.S. This study developed risk models for returns to housing instability among previously homeless families. Participants include 466 families assigned to receive priority offers of long-term housing subsidies and 578 families assigned to usual care in a random assignment housing intervention experiment. Relationships between family characteristics recorded at shelter entry and returns to housing instability 20 months later were examined empirically. Correlation, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to combine family characteristics into predictive risk models. Results indicated that few observable family characteristics beyond previous housing instability and economic support offered predictive utility. Access to affordable healthcare, reliable employment, effective substance dependence treatment, long-term housing subsidies, and disability benefits like SSI and SSDI may reduce housing instability.