Stacia West

Social Justice Manifest: A University–Community Partnership to Promote the Individual Right to Housing

This article examines an ongoing university–community relationship that fuses innovative technology delivery, university-outreach research, and social work practice/research education into a unique, collaborative intervention to reduce homelessness. In doing so, we apply a social justice framework to homelessness, arguing that housing is a right rather than a privilege. In the case study, a university, in partnership with a local homeless coalition, maintains a management information system to collect and analyze real-time data on homelessness in the community. The overarching social justice intention of this partnership is to improve client outcomes for homeless individuals by producing community-based research to inform policy decisions for governmental and organizational partners.

Individual Predictors of Community Costs Before and After Housing First

Using bivariate and multivariate models, the authors find that individual characteristics are associated with community costs accrued by a sample of individuals who were homeless for one year and then housed for one year (N = 41). Higher pre-Housing First total costs are associated with male gender and those with physical health conditions or physical and mental health conditions combined; post-Housing First, age and disability status dissipate as predictors of total costs. Significant individual level predictors of pre- and post-Housing First costs across the 11 community cost domains include male gender, age, racial identity, duration of homelessness, and disability status.

Asset Building among Low Income Adults: An Exploratory Study with Participants in an Emergency Savings Program

Some of the most severe burdens of the Great Recession were shouldered by low income people who lacked emergency savings. The absence of assets in the form of emergency savings makes low income families particularly vulnerable in times of economic distress. Without savings to cushion unexpected financial emergencies, many families who were financially fragile before the recession fell into, or deeper into, poverty. In this article, we provide an overview of assets theory, review empirical evidence on saving, and discuss institutional arrangements in society that often aggravate poverty but that may offer opportunities to narrow the large and growing asset gap. Some innovative community-based organizations have recently developed programs to help people in low income communities build assets in the form of emergency savings. Unlike the now familiar Individual Development Account (IDA) programs that most often require earned income and offer dedicated savings accounts for long-term developmental purposes, emergency savings programs focus on the need for very low-income adults to build assets for future household emergencies. Such savings can be seen as a first step in asset building and toward increased economic sustainability. We describe one emergency savings program serving a diverse group of very low-income adults, and present findings from an exploratory qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with program participants. We end the article with implications for community practice, asset building policy, and future research.

Coming Up Short: Family Composition, Income, and Household Savings

Objective: Existing research on savings and liquid-asset accumulation is largely quantitative and focuses on descriptions of how income inequality leads to the ability or inability to save. What has been left out of this body of research is an in-depth exploration of the role family composition may play in the way that households accumulate liquid assets. The purpose of this research is to understand how lower and higher income single- and two-parent families characterize reasons for saving, obstacles to saving, and strategies to save. Method: A diverse sample of 42 parents of kindergarteners were asked questions about household saving at 2 time points. Results: Compared to other family types, lower income single mothers report little savings and aspirations toward very short-term savings horizons as a result of persistent income shortfalls. Unlike two-parent households, lower-income single mothers discussed their reasons for avoiding mainstream financial institutions and opting to use cash instead. Conclusions: To alleviate economic inequality and improve households’ ability to withstand financial volatility, social work practice and policy should consider implementing interventions that are responsive to the unique experiences of poverty by family composition.

No Easy Way Out: One Community's Efforts to House Families Experiencing Homelessness:

Family homelessness is a persistent major social and public health problem. The present study used 3 years of data from a communitys homeless management information system in a survival analysis that examined correlates of time to housing for 133 homeless families. A Cox regression found that veterans were 491% more likely to exit homelessness than nonveterans. Families staying with a family member or friend before entering a rapid rehousing program were 24% less likely to exit homelessness than those who were staying in an emergency shelter or other temporary housing. While 77% of the families found stable housing, the findings suggest variability of outcomes across rehousing programs and the necessity of addressing the complex needs of single, female-headed homeless families.

Social Justice Manifest: University-Community Outreach Research to Reduce Homelessness

Writing in the Harvard Educational Review, Ndura (2007) posed the following provocative question.”What is the role of institutions of higher education in restoring social justice for disenfranchised populations and creating a culture of non-violence and peace” (p. 347)? In fact, Harkavy (2006) found the mission statements of most universities in the United States commonly include language articulating the goals of preparing students for service to society and responsible citizenship in ways that promote social justice. For example, part of the mission of the University of Tennessee is to promote “the values and institutions of democracy that prepare students to lead lives of personal integrity and civic responsibility in a global society.”