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RESEARCH
A 36-month research study led by TCU researchers revealed that
providing housing to the chronically homeless and medically
vulnerable in Fort Worth not only gives them safe shelter, but
also helps lessen their overall use of medical services and cuts
the community’s cost to serve them. The data, gathered by social
work Assistant Professor James Petrovich and students, will supply
community leaders and others with a uniquely granular snapshot
into the effectiveness of providing permanent, supportive housing to
the homeless in Fort Worth. Working in tandem with the City of Fort
Worth, the research team began in 2009 to recruit 100 local previously
homeless people now living in city-funded housing in sites scattered
across the city. The researchers then received permission to access the
participants’ records at JPS Health Network, MedStar, Mental Health
Mental Retardation of Tarrant County (MHMR) and the Fort Worth
Police Department. “We knew the date they went into housing and
looked 18 months on either side of it, evaluating their use of these
different service sectors: Did they go, how often did they go and how
much did it cost?” Petrovich explains. “We wanted to make sure that
this intervention, this housing approach, is benefitting the people who
are going to live in the apartments, as well as helping the community.”
Of the 100 people who started with the study, 83 remained in housing
for the full 18 months after. Petrovich notes that it is important to note
that the lack of a randomly assigned control group does not allow for
a causal relationship to be established between the changes in service
use and the housing.
The Major Findings
Participants’ use of the JPS Health Network after being housed fell
by 24 percent, with actual charges incurred dropping 40 percent.
“Overall, the difference between the charges they incurred before
housing and after housing was $1 million,” Petrovich notes. As for
MedStar usage, it declined 28 percent, with charges incurred down
34 percent. “That’s a good thing,” Petrovich says of the reduction
in ambulance services. “It takes a little bit of burden off an already
stressed system.” The homeless did tap one service more, post-
housing: MHMR, which jumped 28 percent. “Before they got housing
and case management, they were probably receiving inadequate or
inappropriate care, ”Petrovich explains, noting that this population
includes the persistently mentally ill who suffer from such debilitating
conditions as schizophrenia and major depression. “Now they’re likely
getting the kind of care they actually need.” All told, the results didn’t
surprise Petrovich and his team. “If you look at all four sectors, it really
worked out the way we expected — not just for the homeless but for
the community as well,” Petrovich says. Some of the most interesting
data they extracted, he noted, involved the newly housed participants’
interactions with the local police department. “What we found is
that in the 18 months after people went into housing, misdemeanor
citations (jaywalking, drinking in public, loitering, public camping
and such) went down 78 percent,” he says. Arrests, as well, tumbled
70 percent. “So in terms of police interactions before housing, these
folks were arrested, booked and/or cited 203 times in the 18 months
prior to housing,” Petrovich says. “In the 18 months after, they were
only arrested, booked and/or cited 52 times.” The only issue that raised
researchers’ hackles involved participants’ crime victimization. Those
numbers, he said, didn’t plunge as much as they’d hoped. “The only
thing we were disturbed to see is that the number of police reports
filed because the person was a victim of some kind of crime went
down just 14 percent,” Petrovich says. He reasons that it’s because
many of the participants’ apartments are located in higher-crime areas
of Fort Worth, which may increase their chances of victimization.
The Ramifications
Although city budget cuts may stop the funding for their evaluations
in 2013, Petrovich says he is pleased with the progress he and his team
made during their tenure. “What I feel good about is that we gave [the
city] some solid data, which to me says it’s in the best interest of this
community to fund supportive housing for the homeless,” he says. “It
costs a considerable amount more to leave people on the street than
it does to leave them in a home.” Beyond the numbers, of course, there
is the human factor. Petrovich and his team asked participants how
the newfound security and safety of being able to lock their door and
the independence and freedom gained from living in an apartment
changed their lives. The response, he says, was overwhelmingly
positive. “It’s not just about putting people into an apartment — it’s
about helping people regain their own dignity,”Petrovich says. “These
people have inside of them everything they need to be successful in
life and re-orient themselves. What housing does is give them that
base to start working from.”
TCU TEAM FINDS
HEALTH BENEFITS
IN HOUSING THE HOMELESS
By Alison Rich
(Reprinted with permission: TCU Endeavors, Spring 2013)
“IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT PUTTING PEOPLE INTO AN
APARTMENT —
IT’S ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE REGAIN
THEIR OWN DIGNITY,”
PETROVICH SAYS.
FEATURES
The Harris College Magazine
- 2013 ·
11