Impact of Supported Housing on Clinical Outcomes
An-Lin Cheng, Haiqun Lin, Wesley Kasprow, Robert A. Rosenheck
January 2007
In 1992, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) established the HUD-VA Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) Program to provide integrated clinical and housing services to homeless veterans with psychiatric and/or substance abuse disorders at 19 sites. At four sites, 460 subjects were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: (1) HUD-VASH, with both Section 8 vouchers and intensive case management; (2) case management only; and (3) standard VA care. A previous publication found HUD-VASH resulted in superior housing outcomes but yielded no benefits on clinical outcomes. However, since many participants missed prescheduled visits during the follow-up period and follow-up rates were quite different across the groups, researchers reanalyzed the data using multiple imputation statistical methods to account for the missing observations. The researchers identified significant benefits related to drug and alcohol abuse outcomes for the HUD-VASH group that had not previously been identified.
