Temporary Financial Assistance Reduced The Probability Of Unstable Housing Among Veterans For More Than 1 Year

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) aims to reduce homelessness among veterans through programs such as Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF). An important component of SSVF is temporary financial assistance. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of temporary financial a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health affairs (Millwood, Va.) Va.), 2024-02, Vol.43 (2), p.250-33
Main Authors: Chapman, Alec B, Scharfstein, Daniel, Byrne, Thomas H, Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth, Suo, Ying, Effiong, Atim, Velasquez, Tania, Pettey, Warren, Dalrymple, Rachel, Tsai, Jack, Nelson, Richard E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case management
Data collection
Data warehouses
Electronic health records
Electronic medical records
Ethnicity
Health care policy
Homeless people
Homelessness
Housing
Housing policy
Humans
Ill-Housed Persons
Long term
Management information systems
Medical records
Mental disorders
Mental health
Natural language processing
Patients
Prevention
Probability
Social services
Sociodemographics
Stability analysis
Transportation services
United States
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans
Veterans housing
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Summary:The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) aims to reduce homelessness among veterans through programs such as Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF). An important component of SSVF is temporary financial assistance. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of temporary financial assistance in reducing short-term housing instability, but studies have not examined its long-term effect on housing outcomes. Using data from the VA's electronic health record system, we analyzed the effect of temporary financial assistance on veterans' housing instability for three years after entry into SSVF. We extracted housing outcomes from clinical notes, using natural language processing, and compared the probability of unstable housing among veterans who did and did not receive temporary financial assistance. We found that temporary financial assistance rapidly reduced the probability of unstable housing, but the effect attenuated after forty-five days. Our findings suggest that to maintain long-term housing stability for veterans who have exited SSVF, additional interventions may be needed.
ISSN:0278-2715
2694-233X
2694-233X
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.2023.00730