Institutional Discharges and Homelessness: The Impact of the Child Welfare, Inpatient Mental Health and Criminal Justice Systems on Public Shelter Admissions
This talk will provide a summary of four studies that examine the rate of shelter admission among people discharged from various social welfare institutions (youth aging out of foster care, substance abuse and mental health inpatient, state psychiatric hospitals, state prisons, city jails), the risk factors associated with shelter admission among discharges, and the proportionate impact of the various institutional discharge populations on net shelter demand.
Dennis Culhane's primary areas of research are homelessness, housing policy, and policy analysis research methods. His current work includes studies of the impact of homelessness on the utilization of public health, corrections and social services in New York City and Philadelphia. He is currently leading an effort to produce an annual report for the US Congress on the prevalence and dynamics of homelessness based on analyses of automated shelter records in a nationally representative sample of US cities. He is also working with several jurisdictions to develop a typology of homelessness among families, and to test various interventions to prevent or reduce homeless spells among families.
Stephen Metraux is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Health Policy Program at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. His research interests center around urban health, especially in the context of issues such as homelessness and housing, community mental health, and incarceration and prisoner reentry. His current research includes examining residential segregation among persons with mental illness and services use patterns by person diagnosed with mental illness following release from prison. He is also working with several jurisdictions in evaluating effectiveness of their homeless services systems.
