The Economic Consequences of Homelessness in The US

services result in underperformance with respect to program outcomes (e.g., housing
instability, unsafe conditions for tenants and staff).
National Housing Trust Fund: The U.S. Congress established the National Housing
Trust Fund (NHTF) under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. This block
grant, administered by HUD, is intended to supplement other federal and state efforts to
provide safe, affordable housing for extremely low-income households and families
experiencing homelessness. States are allocated a minimum of $3 million per year and
use these funds to acquire or construct new affordable housing units and rehabilitate
existing units; 80% of the funding is dedicated to rental housing. The NHTF began
receiving contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in 2014, and HUD allocated
the first $174 million in May 2016. This federal support for increasing the number of
affordable housing units is invaluable in terms of ensuring housing stability and ending
homelessness; however, additional funding mechanisms to increase contributions to the
NHTF are necessary to ensure that states and the District of Columbia receive enough
funds to support these goals.
Increasing income support to promote housing stability: The federal strategy to end
homelessness, Opening Doors, emphasizes the need for individual economic security in
order to achieve housing stability. Programs aimed at increasing income stability and
financial independence should be integrated into housing and health interventions, as
the provision of housing alone will not be sufficient to end and prevent homelessness.
In the case of individuals with disabling conditions, increasing access to Social Security
disability benefit programs or VA disability benefits for veterans helps provide the cash
benefits and health coverage that are key for housing retention. With respect to
overcoming barriers in application processes, research indicates that comprehensive
application assistance can increase the approval rate for homeless individuals from
28% to 73%. Additional research documents that programs providing SSI/SSDI
application assistance to homeless individuals exiting the justice system report
increased housing stability and reductions in rearrests and incarcerations, thus
decreasing system costs.
Increasing income stability through employment is also critical to housing stability, and
while unemployment rates are high among individuals experiencing homelessness,
research shows that most members of this population, particularly those with severe
mental illness, want to work and are capable of working. Supportive employment
services have documented success in increasing access to and retention of competitive
employment. A 2014 study revealed that, among individuals with psychiatric disabilities,
those who received employer-provided accommodations for their disabilities worked
7.68 more hours per month and retained their job for almost 7 months longer; also, each
job accommodation individuals received reduced their risk of job termination by almost
13%. In addition, the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, which focuses on
competitive employment, consumer preferences, rapid job search, and individualized
job support and does not require extensive pre-employment readiness or training, has
demonstrated success across 23 randomized controlled trials involving individuals with
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