Departmental Papers (SPP)
The School of Social Policy & Practice contributes to the advancement of more effective, efficient and humane human services through education, research and civic engagement. In pursuit of this mission, our theory-based masters and doctoral programs in social work, social welfare, non-profit leadership and social policy encourage students to think and work across disciplinary lines and cultures as well as across national and international boundaries. The pursuit of social justice is at the heart of the School’s knowledge-building activities. Our innovative educational and research programs reinforce our vision of active student engagement in their own learning as well as that of social agencies and larger social collectivities organized at the local, national and international levels.
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Publication Estimating Cost Savings Associated with HUD-VASH Placement(U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014-04) Culhane, DennisExisting research suggests that Veterans experiencing homelessness make disproportionate and costly use of acute health, mental health and substance abuse treatment services, but that placement in programs like the US Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) can result in substantial reductions in the utilization of these services and associated costs. Several studies have demonstrated that, for certain high need individuals and Veterans, cost savings resulting from the reduction in these acute care services subsequent to placement in permanent supportive housing (PSH) can substantially or completely offset the cost of providing PSH and may even result in net cost savings. Building on this body of research, this brief summarizes the results of an evaluation that examined VA health, mental health and substance abuse services costs among HUD-VASH tenants who moved into HUD-VASH during Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. We assessed these costs prior and subsequent to their entry into HUD-VASH housing and estimated potential cost savings associated with HUD-VASH placement.Publication Building + Sustaining State Data Integration Efforts: Legislation, Funding and Strategies(Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), 2021-05) Culhane, DennisThe economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened demand for cross-agency data capacity, as policymakers are forced to reconcile the need for expanded services with extreme fiscal constraints. In this context, integrated data systems (IDS) – also commonly referred to as data hubs, data collaboratives, or state longitudinal data systems – are a valuable resource for data-informed decision making across agencies. IDS utilize standard governance processes and legal agreements to grant authority for routine, responsible use of linked data, and institutionalize roles across partners with shared priorities. Despite these benefits, creating and sustaining IDS remains a challenge for many states. Legislation and executive action can be powerful mechanisms to overcome this challenge and promote the use of cross-agency data for public good. This brief is organized in three parts. First, we offer examples of approaches from states that have used legislation and/or executive orders to enable data integration, as well as key considerations related to each. Second, we discuss state and federal funding opportunities that can help in implementing legislative or executive actions on data sharing and enhancing long-term sustainability of data sharing efforts. Third, we offer five foundational strategies to ensure that legislative or executive action is both ethical and effective.Publication AISP Working Paper: Addressing Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Human Service Provision(Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), 2021-10) Culhane, DennisEquity assessments, like those described in this working paper, have historical roots in the Civil Rights movement. As part of demands for equitable access to jobs, resources, and services, communities of color and Civil Rights advocates pressed public and private institutions to document the representation of racial and ethnic groups (National Archives, 2016). Corrective action plans were used to develop clear strategies to redress inequities and hold institutions accountable to change. Affirmative action policies reinforced these strategies by requiring certain groups, such as federal contractors, to develop numerical targets and timelines to correct for underutilization of services by marginalized groups (Legal Information Institute, n.d.). Human service agencies are now being called upon once again to address inequities within their programs. In January 2021, President Biden signed the Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, which requires federal agencies to identify methods for assessing equity within federal programs and to engage communities historically underserved or discriminated against in these programs (Exec. Order No. 13985, 2021). This working paper strives to build upon the aims of the Civil Rights movement to help human service agencies estimate and respond to racial and ethnic inequities in their service provision. The urgency of this work is underscored not only by the executive order, but also by the long overdue social unrest around racialized violence and inequity in the U.S. and the stark racial disparities in experience and outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following sections of this paper outline three phases of work—performing a gaps analysis (measuring gaps between need for and current availability of services), interpreting the gaps analysis (assessing root causes of the problem and strategizing responses), and co-creating an equity plan (determining next steps and implementing strategies to correct for inequities). Importantly, community organizations and those with lived experiences of the systems under consideration need to be engaged throughout this entire process. See A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration for more (Hawn Nelson et al., 2020a). In addition, the general process provided here will need to be customized based on the social issue of interest, local context, available data, and resource constraints. Drawing upon multiple data sources, types of expertise, and stakeholder perspectives is highly recommended in order to robustly assess and respond to inequities in service provision. Altogether, these methods can inform social policymaking and support human service agencies in more equitable resource allocation and service provision.Publication Older Adults Sheltered Under Project RoomKey: A Client Population Profile and Recommended Approach to Ensure Retention of Housing through the Coming Transition Period(2020-05-15) Culhane, Dennis"In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles County has, to date, executed agreements with 32 hotels/motels and is working with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to utilize these sites as emergency housing for high vulnerability homeless persons under Project Roomkey. This report is based on 1,498 persons housed through Project Roomkey as of April 30, 2020. A total of 297 of these persons provided with emergency housing are at least 65 years of age (19.8 percent). A Long-Term Housing Strategy Built on Two Objectives, Thee Commitments, and a Familiar Model: This report recommends a strategic approach to transitioning older adults from Project Roomkey to long-term housing arrangements that adopts a variant of the Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) model as a basic framework and places a premium on health and safety from exposure to COVID-19. The strategy would pursue basic two objectives: - Objective 1: Ensure all Project Roomkey clients are placed into safe permanent or interim housing upon moving out of the participating hotels and motels. - Objective 2: Housing placements of older adults out of Project Roomkey must include services that effectively address client vulnerabilities. To achieve these objectives, the County and LAHSA must commit to the following through a coordinated and collaborative effort with cities and with a broad range of stakeholders that straddle government jurisdictions: - Where continued occupancy in hotels participating in Project Roomkey is not possible, immediate placement of all clients in permanent housing or a on a rapid path to permanent housing arrangements that are safe and do not introduce added health risks. - Provision of Housing Stabilization Case Management Services to all clients, encompassing mainstream benefits enrollment (e.g. SSI, SSDI, GR, CalFresh), housing transition counseling, landlord negotiation, coordination of move-in assistance, and transition to community health and service supports. A flexible approach in fitting clients to a diverse range of possible long-term subsidized housing options on a client-by-client basis, one informed by specific needs and vulnerabilities and oriented around safety from potential COVID-19 exposure through opportunities for self-isolation and quarantine."Publication Los Angeles County's Homelessness Initiative (HI): Annual Performance Evaluation: Year Three Outcomes(2020-01-06) Culhane, DennisIn February 2016, the LA County (LA County) Board (Board) formally approved a comprehensive set of strategies to combat the County’s homeless crisis. Coordinated by the CEO’s Homeless Initiative (HI), the HI strategies are the product of a collaborative process that involved not only County but also non‐County stakeholders, including cities, municipal leaders, community organizations, advocates, and concerned citizens. The strategies are grouped into six focus areas seeking to (a) prevent homelessness, (b) expand subsidized housing, (c) increase income among those who are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless, (d) enhance homeless case management and supportive services, (e) create a coordinated homeless services system, and (f) expand affordable and homeless housing.Publication Final Report: A Review of Year Two of Los Angeles County's Homeless Initiative(2019-03) Culhane, DennisIn February 2016, the LA County Board of Supervisors formally approved a comprehensive set of strategies, administered under the County’s Chief Executive Office (CEO), that provide the framework for LA County’s Homeless Initiative (HI). The HI strategies are the product of a collaborative planning process that involved the participation of multiple County departments, cities and community organizations.Publication An Evaluation of the City of Philadelphia's Kensington Encampment Resolution Pilot(2019-03-05) Culhane, DennisThis evaluation is an independent examination of the City of Philadelphia’s Encampment Resolution Pilot (ERP), an initiative to shut down two homeless encampments located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. The closure process involved an extended period of active outreach that facilitated access to housing, substance use treatment, and other services to people who stayed in the encampments and faced displacement. We examined two primary outcomes: first, whether the encampments were closed as scheduled and remained closed; and, second, the extent to which the people who were sleeping in the encampments (i.e., the target population) received needed services. The evaluation is based upon five primary data collection activities that, combined, provided a timely, multifaceted assessment of ERP, and particularly of the impacts ERP had on both those displaced by the initiative and the area of Kensington surrounding these encampments. These data components are: 1. An “Outreach Encampment and Survey” of 169 persons who frequented the encampments; 2. Data collected as part of ERP outreach services and linked to the City of Philadelphia’s integrated data system of services records known as CARES; 3. Direct observation of community meetings, ERP planning meetings, and encampment sites; 4. Interviews with people who stayed in encampments and community members as well as advocates for those staying in the encampments, and ERP officials and providers; and 5. Documents and records from City of Philadelphia and other sources, and media coverage related to ERP and KensingtonPublication A Roadmap for Phased Implementation of an Older Adult Housing Pilot in Los Angeles County(2020-09-21) Culhane, DennisAn Increasingly Urgent Problem Collides with the Challenging Realities of a Pandemic. The implementation framework provided here builds on a March 24, 2020 report prepared by the CEO’s Office of Homeless Initiative (HI), which provides the basic contours for an Older Adult Housing Pilot that would seek to permanently house all willing homeless adults who are at least 65 years of age. The HI’s report, however, represents deliberations and the realities of Los Angeles County’s homeless services system prior to the onset of the coronavirus public health emergency. The implications of the pandemic have unfolded contemporaneously with the development of a pilot implementation approach and created some challenges for the pilot planning process during the past six months, particularly in terms of questions about pilot funding sources. While some details have gradually come into sharper focus over this period, a number of key issues remain unresolved at the present time, and the availability of some previously assumed funding sources has been deferred until Year Two of the pilot, at the earliest. Within this fluid context, the plan we offer in this report - the projected population for which is shown in Figure 1, along with the costs associated with serving these clients - represents a necessary modification of our initial plan but also reflects the persistence of a basic tension: While COVID-19 temporarily, but indefinitely, places restrictions on the use of previously-available resources, older adult homelessness is a growing and increasingly expensive problem, one likely to worsen in the absence of a systematic and coordinated intervention. More immediately, the heightened risk of complications and fatality for older adults who become infected with the coronavirus adds to the urgency of moving homeless older adults from the streets to the safety of permanent housing.Publication The Patterns and Costs of Services Use among Homeless Families(Journal of Community Psychology, 2011) Culhane, DennisThis study examines families’ use of behavioral health hospitalization and foster care placement prior to, during and following shelter use, comparing families based on shelter pattern and type of housing exit. Results show that inpatient and foster care services use drops in the homelessness period, but rebounds following exit, regardless of pattern of shelter use, and type of housing exit. Results suggest that shelters supplant use of services, but not on a sustained basis. Despite declines in concurrent services use, the homelessness period is overall more costly for episodically and long-term shelter users, primarily owing to the high costs of shelter. High rates of inpatient and foster care services use following the homeless spell suggest that providers of homeless assistance should systematically screen and refer homeless families to on-going community-based service supports. Service use patterns indicate that homeless spells may disrupt continuity of care with community-based health and social services.Publication The Aging of Contemporary Homelessness(Contexts, 2013) Culhane, DennisHomelessness is currently at a demographic crossroad. This presents a unique opportunity for hastening its demise. In the thirty years since homelessness first manifested itself in American cities in its contemporary form, it has ascended to one of the most prominent American social problems. Despite the current push by advocacy organizations to end homelessness, many expect it will always be with us. In its longevity, however, lies the potential for its decline, provided we do not repeat this cycle with a new generation of homeless.