November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, and the College of Social Work would like to take this time to recognize one of its faculty members whose expertise lies in addressing homelessness and poverty.
The number of people experiencing homelessness is increasing in communities across the country. Community-level research points to the combination of a lack of affordable housing and stagnant, low wages as the main driver of homelessness. Dr. Katie Calhoun explores how income supports might be one way that communities can prevent and address homelessness. Her interest in income support started when she was a school social worker, working with families facing housing instability, often due to rent increases or job loss. The ripple effects of that kind of income volatility were difficult to stop once they began.
“I often worked with people who either didn’t qualify for or were unable to access public assistance,” says Calhoun. “Even if they were working, one financial emergency snowballed to losing transportation, losing a job, and ultimately, losing stable housing. I went into social work research in hopes of conducting research that could inform better, more compassionate policy.”
She has since studied the impacts of rental subsidies, guaranteed income and one-time cash assistance on housing stability and well-being. She recently completed a study with the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging, in partnership with the Age-Friendly Innovation Center, on shallow rental subsidies for low-income older adults who spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent. The study showed improvement across the study outcomes of housing stability, financial well-being, and mental and physical health.
“Often older adults are in really precarious positions because they are on fixed incomes and are trying to make ends meet as the cost of rent rapidly rises,” says Calhoun. “Shallow subsidies show promise as a way to ease the burden of housing costs, at least while folks wait for more substantive resources.”
With the support of the College of Social Work Community Engaged Seed Grant, she is currently partnering with the Community Shelter Board, YMCA, YWCA and RISE Together Innovation Institute to study the impact of a one-time unconditional cash transfer and recurring unconditional cash transfers to help families leave emergency shelter. While the study is ongoing, of those who have received the cash transfer, just 9 percent have returned to a shelter since 10/1/2024.
Calhoun acknowledges that income assistance is one piece of a larger puzzle to addressing and ending homelessness and housing insecurity. Especially as the number of people experiencing homelessness increases, the “face” of homelessness is becoming more diverse.
“The responses to homelessness need to be as diverse as those experiencing homelessness,” she adds. “Young people, older adults, veterans, families with children and single adults all experience homelessness and housing instability. We need different interventions that meet the unique needs of individuals. And for some people, income assistance fits that bill.”
