Peeking through the homelessness system with a network science lens

What is it about?

This paper models, for the first time, the homelessness system as a network of interconnected services which individuals traverse over time towards securing stable housing, and formalizes the concept of stability upon exit of the system. A computational analysis of individual-level longitudinal homelessness data shows that the ultimate goal is either reached quickly or not at all, regardless of starting conditions, indicating the importance of addressing the homeless' needs early on.

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Why is it important?

In this paper, we used a one of a kind dataset of administrative records collected by homeless service providers to shed light into the progress of individuals once they enter the homelessness system towards securing stable housing. Apart from modeling the homelessness system as a network, which individuals traverse over time, we operational- ized the notion of stable exit, which we subsequently used to analyze the efficiency of the network with respect to promoting trajectories leading to positive outcomes. We observed that, in its current form, the homelessness system is inefficient, with individuals reaching their goal quickly or not at all.

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