Homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing for veteran families: Assessing housing and health outcomes of veterans in the supportive services for veterans families (SSVF) program

Despite an emergent shift in homeless assistance policies towards an emphasis on homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing programs, there have been few studies to date that have examined the effectiveness of such approaches. This presentation makes inroads towards addressing this gap by examining the housing and health outcomes of 21,000 veteran households served by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program. Started in fiscal year 2012, SSVF funds community-based organizations to provide homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing services to veteran households and is an important component of the VA's strategy to achieve its stated goal of preventing and ending homelessness among veterans by 2016. This presentation uses data from the SSVF program and other VA sources to assess the relationship between, on the one hand, housing stability in the 6-month period following receipt of SSVF services and, on the other hand, SSVF program variables (i.e. type, amount and duration of SSVF services provided) and characteristics of SSVF recipients (i.e. age, gender, household composition, history of VA service use, period of military service, health and behavioral health status, service connected disability). In addition, the study examines changes in the use of VA health and behavioral health services following receipt of SSVF services. In identifying program factors and individual characteristics that are facilitators or barriers to increased housing stability, study findings can be used to inform the implementation of homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing initiatives within the VA and in the mainstream homeless assistance system.