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The Use of Data to Assist in the Design of a New Service System for Homeless Veterans in New York City

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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 March 2008

An Erratum to this article was published on 08 January 2008

Abstract

Objective

Operation Home is an agreement between the City of New York and the US Department of Veterans Affairs to design a new service system to help end veteran homelessness in New York City. The authors’ task was to obtain data to inform the design of this new system.

Methods

A variety of methods were used. The group reviewed relevant literature and data from street homeless survey samples, analyzed shelter data, and consulted with VA homeless program staff on the findings. We then surveyed case managers at a veterans’ shelter regarding their clients and determined their housing eligibility using a standardized logic model, and led two focus groups of veterans at this shelter regarding their views of the current shelter system and services for homeless veterans and how these might be improved.

Results

Among those resident in shelters during 2006, 37.2% of self-identified veterans compared to 0.9% of others reported their prior residence as supported housing, suggesting the need for more intensive case management at veterans’ supported housing sites to help them sustain their tenure. The lack of interconnectedness among the various information systems made it more difficult to collect and analyze pertinent data. To begin to address this, a data match was undertaken to estimate the proportion of veterans resident in the veterans’ shelter who were not in receipt of VA benefits to which they may be entitled.

Conclusion

The data obtained through collaboration between staff from NYC’s Department of Homelessness Services, US Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in the New York/New Jersey region and Common Ground Community led to information that informed the evaluation design of the new system. The identification of gaps in available data on homeless veterans will lead to projects both to improve and share data.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Erika Gilliard, DHS for assistance in administering the survey at BAVR. At Common Ground Community, Carrie Bloss and Jennifer Highley worked with Becky Kanis to design the logic model used to determine housing eligibility for the subjects of the BAVR survey, while Aimee Kryda used the model to provide the analysis in Table 3. Thanks to Dan Herman, PhD, Associate Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, for his comments on the findings from the SCIMS data, and to Robert Rosenheck, MD, Director of the VA’s NorthEast Program Evaluation Center (NEPEC) and Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health at Yale Medical School for his help with the literature review. Staff at the Veterans Benefits Administration, New York VA Regional Office carried out the data match between BIRLS and the SCIMS subset of those at BAVR: Patricia Amberg-Blyskal, Director, gave approval and reported the findings; Brian Mincy, Chief, Information Technology ran the data against a monthly listing of veterans receiving disability payments; James Jewell, James Romanowski, Mary Murin, Veterans Service Representatives are checking each veteran’s computer records to determine status.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evaluation and Health Services Research, VISN 3 MIRECC, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, 130 West Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY, 10468, USA

    Claire Henderson

  2. Policy and Research, New York City Department of Homeless Services, New York, NY, USA

    Jay Bainbridge

  3. Quality Assurance, Program Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, Division of Adult Services, New York City Department of Homeless Services, New York, NY, USA

    Kim Keaton & Meghan Guz

  4. Technical Assistance and Training Division of Adult Services, New York City Department of Homeless Services, New York, NY, USA

    Martha Kenton

  5. Innovations, Common Ground Community, New York, NY, USA

    Becky Kanis

Authors
  1. Claire Henderson
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  2. Jay Bainbridge
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  3. Kim Keaton
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  4. Martha Kenton
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  5. Meghan Guz
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  6. Becky Kanis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claire Henderson.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11126-008-9069-z

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Henderson, C., Bainbridge, J., Keaton, K. et al. The Use of Data to Assist in the Design of a New Service System for Homeless Veterans in New York City. Psychiatr Q 79, 3–17 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-007-9060-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-007-9060-0

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