Workshop Recap: Inequities in PSH

New Research on Inequity in the PSH System: Scale, Scope, and Reasons for the Return of Black Residents to Homelessness

On Tuesday, November 11, SCANPH convened for a special workshop session to learn about new findings from a California Policy Lab report to examine why anti-Black racial inequities exist in permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs in Los Angeles where many residents return to homelessness. In Los Angeles County, Black people represent 9% of the general population yet comprise 40% of the homeless population. This new report was completed in partnership with LAHSA and community-based service providers. In order to identify potential factors that contribute to Black residents falling out of PSH and returning to homelessness, researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with PSH program managers, case managers, and Black residents.

The researchers found that between 2010 and 2019, about one in four (25%) Black, single adult residents left PSH placements in L.A. and returned to either interim housing or to street homelessness. Black PSH residents are 39% more likely to return to homelessness than White PSH residents. Adjusting for resident demographics, prior homelessness and Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) service history, housing type, and specific PSH programs, Black residents are still 19% more likely than White residents to return to homelessness.

Featured speakers and co-authors included Janey Rountree, Executive Director at California Policy Lab and Dr. Norweeta Milburn, Research Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Division of Population Behavioral Health at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Researchers shared details of a mixed-methods study of PSH housing in LA County. Quantitative data indicate that Black people are more likely to experience homelessness, as well as re-experience homelessness after living in PSH. The research committee was highly interested in the huge disparities among people experiencing homelessness who exited or transitioned from PSH. This study utilized 10 years of data and focused on single adults enrolled in the Homeless Management Information System. Interviews were conducted in semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Of the sampled population, the study looked at 16,026 individuals. Black residents had the highest rate of return to homelessness. The study focused on 321 countywide PSH sites.

Qualitative findings indicate a constellation of interacting factors that residents navigate in the PSH process. Throughout the study, case management and residents shared that not all PSH residents view PSH housing as a permanent housing solution; an understanding that housing discrimmination and resident steering is prevalent in PSH. Obstacles such as racist treatment of Black residents, as well as safety and security issues among residents and high case management turnover, results in difficulty building trust between staff and residents.

Study recommendations suggest that we should acknowledge and collect information about the range of PSH types in Los Angeles County. Additionally, planning for a more differentiated PSH system in the county and addressing implicit bias, prejudice, and discrimmination that exists among case management, property managers, and landlords would provide sustained services to support transitions to independent housing after exit.