A professor at Penn is also a an expert on homelessness. He has spent over thirty years doing research, is recognized nation-wide for his efforts, and has been pivotal in work that attempts to end homelessness the world over.
Dennis Culhane, PhD is a professor at Penn University in addition to being the Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy in the School of Social Policy & Practice, Co-Principal Investigator at Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, and Director of Research at the National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans. He works tirelessly not just to study homelessness, the effects of it, and the efficacy of current programs, but also to educate students on the stigma that comes along with homelessness.
There is paradigm for solving these problems, and Culhane believes that there has been a dramatic shifting of this paradigm in recent years, for the better. As a culture, the U.S. has been putting more faith in a “housing first” approach to residence that gets people housed with no strings attached, rather than the historical process of at-risk people needing to complete substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment in order to even begin the red-tape filled, arduous journey of accessing social services in order to eventually procure housing. This method kept many on the streets unnecessarily. This new approach is getting people into homes first, and then they are engaged in services to treat mental health and substance abuse issues, along with having access to other support as well.
From Penn’s website: “The country’s unsheltered homeless population has dropped by 26 percent since 2010. Veteran homelessness has declined even further: by 36 percent, according to the 2015 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) (AHAR) to Congress. Culhane is a co-principal investigator of the AHAR.”
Culhane’s research identified two very different kinds of homelessness: those who experience chronic homelessness are often homeless for many years at a time, possibly even indefinitely. Those who experience crisis homelessness are people who have lost jobs, been victims of domestic violence, experience sudden and sometimes sustaining illness or injury, or are reentering society after being released from their incarceration. “Evidence-based solutions have given people the ability to get out of homelessness,” says Culhane. “For people experiencing crisis homelessness, giving them a little bit of assistance often helps. People need a hand up to avoid the downward spiral.”
Since 2009 there have been almost eight hundred thousand Section-8 rental vouchers awarded to those that need them, as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs beginning a program that rapidly rehouses those experiencing crisis homelessness, serving a hundred thousand vets each year.
Homelessness can be solved, says Culhane. “We know what causes it, how to mitigate the risks, and how to help people get re-housed quickly.”
Between hospitalization and medical treatment, jailing and incarceration of the homeless, and the cost of emergency shelter, as well as the supporting costs of things like police intervention and transit workers payroll hours, it is a commonly held belief that it is more expensive for a community to leave a homeless person homeless than it is to house them. “A study from Los Angeles, CA – home to ten percent of the entire homeless population – found that placing four chronically homeless people into permanent supportive housing saved the city more than $80,000 per year.” You can read more studies and facts about the cost of homelessness at endhomelessness.org
Currently, Culhane is working with researchers on the “SP2 Penn Top 10 Social Justice & Policy Issues for the 2016 Presidential Election” project. He authored an essay for the project titled “Ending Homelessness Now,” which explores the tangible and evidence-based ways that the U.S. can end homelessness for both veterans and non-veterans.
No comments:
Post a Comment