Tom McLaughlin’s research on homeless prevention in Portland cited in Press Herald story
A July 25, 2012 story on increases in Portland's homeless population cited a three-year research study that Â鶹´«Ã½Professor of Social Work Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin, Ph.D., conducted, evaluating the city's Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing program.
The study was funded by the American Reinvestment Recovery Act through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The results suggested that financial assistance was important in helping people remain or find stable housing but these results were enhanced, meaning longer time in housing and increased stability and self sufficiency in housing, when matched with social work case management services.
Case management services such as check-ins with people who had been chronically homeless for 500 days or more prior to enrollment in the program significantly increased their ability to remain stably housed.
The Press Herald story noted that the study found that the city's Homelessness Prevention, Rapid Re-Housing Program stably housed 1,306 people over the last two years. It helped 72 individuals who had previously spent more than 500 nights at a shelter. It also provided assistance to 360 households, consisting of 997 individuals. The program ran out of funding in November.