Homelessness services

Homelessness services are specialized programs assisting homeless people. While homelessness services may be government-run or government funded, non-profit organizations often play an important in service delivery.[1] Services supporting homeless people may assist them to achieve positive change in their life and reduce the use of both homelessness services and of other welfare services.[2] While these services are specifically geared toward homeless people, researchers note that the drivers and the responses to homelessness stretch beyond the scope of such services.[3]

Further information: List of homelessness organizations

Some countries have a scarcity of rigorous research on the outcomes of specialized homelessness services.[4] Others have adopted statistical collection programs to conduct research on outcomes and service delivery.[5][6]

Soup Run provided by a charity

In some countries, the majority of homelessness services are members of a peak body organization.[7] Homelessness peak bodies typically have a reference group made up of member services and meet at least once a year in annual or bi-annual conferences.[8] In other countries, an inter-agency council may represent various state-run services.[9]

Researchers found that local government can play a positive role in expanding the range of services and assisting with or helping to secure funding for services.[10]

Government contracting

A study in England found that competition for contracts had both beneficial as well as problematic implications for homelessness services. Competition also raises tensions among cooperating services.[11] An Australian study found that while social workers employed in homelessness services constructed their professional identities by drawing on debates in social work literature and tensions in practice, their identity is overshadowed by organizational contexts, influencing work practice in homelessness services.[12]

Service dynamics

Individuals experiencing homelessness will often prefer a specialist homelessness team and be reluctant to engage with mainstream services, or be unwilling to be referred on to another service.[13]

A case management approach to service delivery in homelessness services have been found to be important components of service integration. And clients from more integrated services were more likely to report positive outcomes than were clients of less integrated services. Clients from more integrated services were also more likely to report that various service providers worked together to coordinate their care. The study found that 40 per cent of Australian specialist homelessness services provide mental health services and 35 per cent also provide drug and alcohol support[14]

References
  1. Berman, Evan M., and Jonathan P. West. "Public‐Private Leadership and the Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Local Government: The Case of Social Services." Review of Policy Research 14, no. 1‐2 (1995): 235-251.
  2. Zaretzky, Kaylene, Paul Flatau, Anne Clear, Elizabeth Conroy, Lucy Burns, and Bridget Spicer. "The cost of homelessness and the net benefit of homelessness programs: a national study. Findings from the Baseline Client Survey." (2013).
  3. Forsyth, Liz, and Amity Durham. "Directions for homelessness service system reform." Parity 26, no. 8 (2013): 6.
  4. Fotheringham, Sarah, Christine A. Walsh, and Anna Burrowes. "‘A place to rest’: the role of transitional housing in ending homelessness for women in Calgary, Canada." Gender, Place & Culture 21, no. 7 (2014): 834-853.
  5. Busch-Geertsema, Volker. "Defining and measuring homelessness." Homelessness Research in Europe: Festschrift for Bill Edgar and Joe Doherty (2010): 19-39.
  6. Barrow, Susan M., Fredric Hellman, Anne M. Lovell, Jane D. Plapinger, and Elmer L. Struening. "Evaluating outreach services: lessons from a study of five programs." New directions for mental health services 1991, no. 52 (1991): 29-45.
  7. Cortis, Natasha, and Megan Blaxland. State of the Community Service Sector in New South Wales 2015. Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Australia, 2015.
  8. Nesci, Angela. "True Representation or Token Position?." Parity 21, no. 4 (2008): 6.
  9. Keuroghlian, Alex S., Derri Shtasel, and Ellen L. Bassuk. "Out on the street: a public health and policy agenda for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth who are homeless." American journal of orthopsychiatry 84, no. 1 (2014): 66.
  10. Berman, Evan M. "Local government and community-based strategies: Evidence from a national survey of a social problem." The American Review of Public Administration 26, no. 1 (1996): 71-91.
  11. Buckingham, Heather. "Competition and contracts in the voluntary sector: exploring the implications for homelessness service providers in Southampton." Policy & Politics 37, no. 2 (2009): 235-254.
  12. Zufferey, Carole. "'Jack of all trades, master of none?': Social work identity and homelessness in Australian cities." Journal of Social Work (2011): 1468017310393404.
  13. Craig, Tom, and Philip Timms. "Facing up to social exclusion: services for homeless mentally ill people." International review of psychiatry 12, no. 3 (2000): 206-211.
  14. Flatau, Paul, Elizabeth Conroy, Monica Thielking, Anne Clear, Sarah Hall, Alicia Bauskis, Matthew Farrugia, and Lucy Burns. "How integrated are homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol services in Australia?." (2013).
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