DESC programs are extensively evaluated, and many involve academic research resulting in peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and other published reports.

• Homeless people with alcohol problems reduce drinking in housing allowing alcohol

Research published in the American Journal of Public Health documents decreases in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among residents of DESC's 1811 Eastlake program. The results provide a strong rebuttal to the "enabling" hypothesis, which held that providing alcohol-dependent people with housing where they were not prohibited from drinking would cause them to drink even more and experience more dire consequences as a result. See:

Project-Based Housing First for Chronically Homeless Individuals With Alcohol Problems: Within-Subjects Analyses of 2-Year Alcohol Trajectories. American Journal of Public Health. (e-View Ahead of Print. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300403 January 19, 2012)

• Permanent Supportive Housing: An Operating Cost Analysis

A study put out by the Corporation for Supportive Housing and Enterprise Community Partners examines the costs of permanent supportive housing, examining 20 projects ranging in size from 24 to 96 units, from New York to Los Angeles.

Permanent Supportive Housing: An Operating Cost Analysis - (September 2011)

• First national Housing First study; housing retention is high despite significant challenges in the lives of participants.

The first-ever national study to examine Housing First programs looked at participants in three programs around the country, including DESC. Participants had high levels of housing stability: 84% were in housing after 12 months. The findings demonstrate that Housing First programs are successfully housing people with serious mental illness and that intensive, ongoing services and housing subsidies are a critical component. See the following two publications:

HUD: The Applicability of Housing First Models to Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness - (July 2007)

Housing stability among homeless individuals with serious mental illness participating in housing first programs - Journal of Community Psychology (Vol. 37 | Issue 3, March 3, 2009)

• JAMA research shows DESC housing saves taxpayers millions.

In the first outcomes paper from DESC's 1811 Eastlake Housing First program for chronically homeless people with severe alcohol problems, University of Washington researchers show that providing housing and on-site services without requirements of abstinence or treatment is significantly more cost-effective than allowing them to remain homeless. See the following two publications:

Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically Homeless Persons With Severe Alcohol Problems - The Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 301 | No. 13, April 1, 2009)

1811 Eastlake: 2009 Evaluation highlights (one page, April 2009)

• Criminal history among chronically homeless people is not predictive of their ability to retain housing.

In the first peer-reviewed published study to look specifically at the correlation of previous criminal history to housing retention, DESC Director of Housing Programs Daniel Malone determined that the presence of a criminal background did not predict housing failure. His findings suggest that policies and practices that keep homeless people with criminal records out of housing may be unnecessarily restrictive. See:

Assessing Criminal History as a Predictor of Future Housing Success for Homeless Adults With Behavioral Health Disorders - Psychiatric Services (Volume 60 | Issue 2, February 2009)

• Self-report of public service utilization by chronically homeless people is accurate in the short term.

University of Washington researchers collaborating with DESC compared the correspondence between self-report and archival records on public service utilization over short (30 days) and longer (3 years) periods by chronically homeless people. Recall of events over the short term corresponded closely with archival records. See:

Agreement between self-report and archival public service utilization data among chronically homeless individuals with severe alcohol problems - Journal of Community Psychology (Volume 39, Issue 6, pages 631-644, August 2011)

• Qualitative studies add to the understanding of the lives of chronically homeless people served in housing first programs.

Interviews with and close observation of chronically homeless people after housing acquisition yield important insights into motivations and past experiences of participants. University of Washington researchers collaborating with DESC explored issues relevant to a female subpopulation in one study. In another, a focus on perceived positive and negative effects of alcohol use were explored to gain a stronger basis for the development of more tailored harm reduction interventions. See the following two publications:

A House is Not a Home: A Qualitative Assessment of the Life Experiences of Alcoholic Homeless Women - Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions (10:158-179, 2010)

Where Harm Reduction Meets Housing First: Exploring Alcohol's Role in a Project-based Housing Frist Setting - International Journal of Drug Policy (published online 18 August 2011)

• DESC's Vulnerability Assessment Tool found to have strong properties of reliability and validity.

The Washington Institute for Mental Health Research and Training conducted a psychometric analysis of DESC's Vulnerability Assessment Tool, concluding the tool has strong temporal and inter-rater reliability, as well as strong evidence of convergent and concurrent validity. See the report here:

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