Approximately 10% of students at Boston Public Schools (BPS) experience homelessness, which is linked to lower attendance, grades, test scores, and graduation rates. The Housing Policy and Solutions Lab partners with practitioners and policymakers to produce high-quality research evidence in support of housing policy solutions.
Core Strategies
Conduct rigorous multi-method research (e.g. surveys, qualitative interviews, impact evaluations, administrative data analysis, and system modeling)
Generate products for multiple audiences (e.g. presentations, reports, and academic publications)
Co-design of tools to support service collaboration (e.g. school-based homelessness risk screener)
Our collaborative research includes surveys of program recipients, analysis of administrative data, surveys of housing crisis responder staff and homeless liaisons, and qualitative interviews with families.
We are tremendously grateful for the support we have received along the way from many current and former colleagues at FamilyAid, Boston PublicSchools, United Way of Massachusetts Bay, and Boston College in conducting this research. We would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our study participants for their time and insights.