Evaluation of a Rapid Re-Housing Program for Young Adults

Evaluation of a rapid re-housing program for young adults

Currently, there is a significant gap in knowledge about the long-term impacts of youth-centric rapid re-housing programs on young people’s lives and the return on investment for communities. Evaluation research on rapid re-housing programs for youth would provide needed information on the types of long-term outcomes we might expect for this population. This study evaluates The Connection, Inc.’s Start Program, a rapid re-housing model for young adults in Connecticut, to understand how the youth-centric rapid re-housing model impacts young people’s housing stability, social support network, emotional and physical health, education/employment status, and earned income/financial stability. Utilizing a mixed-method cohort-sequential design with a comparison group, data are collected at 6-month time intervals for two years from three program participant cohorts (program participants at intake, at one year into the program, and at discharge) and for one year from a comparison group of youth experiencing homelessness or housing instability who are not in the program. The comparison group allows examination of whether the development of outcomes differs between the groups with and without participation in the program.