US Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) releases federal research agenda on homelessness

Posted by US Interagency Council on Homelessness on December 19, 2023

What would it take to prevent and end homelessness?

While decades of research have documented effective strategies for helping people exit homelessness (particularly Housing First and Critical Time Intervention), more research is needed to better understand how to scale housing and supportive services. And while communities are increasingly focused on homelessness prevention (including guaranteed basic income, flexible funding pools, and shelter diversion), the research remains limited.

The US Interagency Council on Homelessness has published From Evidence to Action—the first federal homelessness research agenda in more than a decade—to shape federal investments in homelessness research and offer a roadmap for academic researchers, philanthropy, students, and others committed to understanding what works to prevent and end the crisis of homelessness in the United States.

This agenda—which will evolve over time—was developed with significant public input from researchers, people with lived experience of homelessness, national organizations, and experts from federal agencies.

“We are excited to release this important resource today. While much excellent research has been done in recent years to point the way to effective solutions, more is needed,” said USICH Executive Director Jeff Olivet. “From Evidence to Action will not only help us build a stronger base of evidence for ending homelessness, but it will also push us to make sure that federal, state, and local work to prevent and end homelessness is grounded in data and evidence rather than gut feeling, intuition, and myths about why people are homeless.”

From Evidence to Action seeks to:

• Strengthen our nation’s collective base of knowledge on what works to prevent and end homelessness through rigorous qualitative and quantitative evidence
• Reinforce existing evidence to combat disinformation
• Align research priorities and prevent fragmentation at both the federal and non-federal levels
• Facilitate meaningful engagement of and collaboration with a diverse group of funders, researchers, people with lived expertise, and partners at every stage of developing and implementing federal research activities
• Promote research to address gaps in policy and practice, and facilitate the uptake of evidence by decision makers and service providers
• Catalyze governmental and non-governmental investment in homelessness research

The agenda focuses on the following topics:

Preventing Homelessness

Universal Prevention
Targeted Prevention
Diversion
Screening and Identifying Risk
Cost and Scale

Ending Homelessness

Cost
Longitudinal Outcomes
Housing and Services
Specific Subpopulations
Unsheltered Homelessness
Lessons Learned From COVID-19 Response

Click to read From Evidence to Action: A Federal Homelessness Research Agenda