Neighborhood Outcomes of Formally Homeless Veterans Participating in the HUD-VASH Program

Abstract

Research regarding how neighborhoods affect the people who live in them has grown in recent years. However, the neighborhood outcomes of formally homeless veterans have not received the attention this group warrants. This article examines the neighborhood outcomes of two groups of housing voucher holders. Using administrative data, this exploratory study finds that U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) voucher holders receiving comprehensive case management reside in higher quality neighborhoods than those who do not receive these services. Additionally, this effect seems to be a more critical factor for African Americans than Whites. Use of case managers with housing vouchers may improve African American residential outcomes in terms of neighborhood quality.

KEYWORDS:

• HUD-VASH
• homeless veterans
• neighborhood outcomes
• neighborhood quality
• Housing Choice Vouchers
• community research
• community practice
• homelessness
• housing
• urban policy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Elizabeth Huckabone, Kathy O’Brien, and John McMahon for providing the data and helpful insights.

Notes

¹ There were an estimated 62,619 homeless Veterans on a single night in January of 2012 in the United States. That was a 7.2% decline since 2011.

² One voucher holder residing in the northernmost section of Niagara County could not be displayed in Figure 1 to achieve the best layout.

³ Welfare receipt was so highly correlated with poverty that we omitted it and added two indicators of housing and neighborhood quality.