Rearranging the Deck Chairs or Reallocating the Lifeboats?

Homelessness Assistance and Its Alternatives - Lessons from the US on Thursday, December 10th at 7.00 pm in the Mháirtín Uí Chadhain (Room 2041B) lecture theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College.

Homelessness in the United States is primarily addressed by providing emergency and transitional shelter facilities. In his lecture, Professor Culhane will argue that these programs do not directly address the causes of homelessness, and residents are exposed to victimization and trauma during stays and that we need an alternative that is more humane, as well as more efficient and effective at achieving outcomes. Professor Culhane will argue that it would be both more efficient and more humane to reallocate resources currently devoted to shelters to the development of community-based programs that would focus on helping those with housing emergencies to remain housed or to quickly return to housing, and be served by mainstream social welfare programs.

Professor Culhane's primary areas of research are homelessness, and policy analysis research methods. His work is primarily based on the integration of administrative records, which he uses to understand the prevalence, dynamics, and costs of homelessness, and the intersection of homelessness with various social welfare systems. His research has been instrumental in a national shift in how policy makers in the US address homelessness, including expansions of supported housing for people who are chronically homeless, and housing stabilization programs for families and individuals at-risk of homelessness. For further information on Professor Culhane, see http://works.bepress.com/dennis_culhane/