2008 Campus-Community Partnerships
Toward Effective Management of Permanent Supportive Housing for Homeless with Disabilities
| Awardee: | Yeheskle Hasenfeld, UCLA Department of Social Welfare |
| Partner: | Skid Row Housing Trust |
Abstract: Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is widely recognized as the most effective means of ending homelessness. To effectively operate, PSH programs must develop expertise in two arenas property management and human service delivery. The differing roles, responsibilities, and resources of these components create tension between them. Resolving this tension is one of the most intractable organizational problems PSH providers face. Using a mixed methods approach, this project will study the relations between property management and case management in two PSH programs for homeless individuals and families with disabilities in Los Angeles County. Strategies to improve the management of PSH programs will be advanced and tested. The project will then develop a set of evidence-based practices on the management of PSH. This project promises to have significant immediate practical applications by providing staff with information they can use to refine their operational structure in ways that will increase their organizational effectiveness. Given that virtually all PSH providers experience this challenge; these research findings will have a wide audience in Los Angeles County and throughout the nation.
