Research in Action
The Alliance is conducting and supporting groundbreaking research on homelessness that can be translated into policies, practices, and solutions. Recent research projects focus on unsheltered homelessness, older adults, the effectiveness of permanent supportive housing, and the role of people with lived experience of homelessness in the response system.
Read the Reports
Older Adults
(Completed) Topic: Housing Outcomes of Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness
Principal Investigators: Jared Schachner, PhD (University of Southern California) & Gary Painter, PhD (University of Cincinnati)
An investigation to understand how race and age shape experiences of homelessness and the effectiveness of housing programs in Los Angeles County.
Full Report: https://endhomelessness.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Schachner_Painter_Schmidt_UnshelteredHomelessness.pdf
Unsheltered Homelessness
(Completed) Topic: “Bridge Housing” as a Strategy for Reducing Unsheltered Homelessness
Principal Investigator: Lynden Bond, PhD (University of Kentucky)
An assessment of Transitional Housing-Rapid Rehousing (aka bridge housing) programs to understand how these programs are structured in different contexts across the country and service provider perspectives on how effectively they serve people transitioning from unsheltered settings.
(In Progress) Topic: Street Outreach’s Role in Equitable Pathways from Unsheltered Homelessness to Housing
Principal Investigators: Matthew Marr, PhD and Qing Lai, PhD (Florida International University)
An analysis of different street outreach approaches in Miami-Dade County, FL to understand what helps people move into housing efficiently and equitably.
Interim Report: https://sipa.fiu.edu/research/policy-focused-reports/greenschool_report_housingfirst.pdf
(Forthcoming) Topic: Resolving Encampments Through Placements into Permanent Housing (Challenges and Opportunities)
Principal Investigator: Amanda Wehrman, JD (Homebase)
A comparative analysis of different encampment resolution strategies in four California communities to identify practices that improve resident experiences and housing outcomes.
(Forthcoming) Topic: Low-Barrier Temporary Housing (Participant Outcomes, What Works, and What Doesn’t Work)
Principal Investigators: Jack Tsai, PhD (UTHealth Houston) & Rebecca Kinney, PhD (Veterans Education & Research Assoc. of Northern New England)
A study of a low demand (or low barrier) transitional housing program run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to understand who the model serves, what outcomes veterans experience from participation and how service providers perceive its implementation.
Permanent Supportive Housing
(Forthcoming) Topic: A Community-Based Approach to Deciding Who Is Placed In Housing (Next Generation Prioritization Efforts)
Principal Investigator: Hsun-Ta Hsu, PhD (University of North Carolina) and colleagues at the University of Southern California & the Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri
A community- and data-driven effort to redesign the Missouri Balance of State’s Coordinated Entry assessment policies and procedures for the prioritization of PSH.
(Forthcoming) Topic: Predictors of Successful Exits from Permanent Supportive Housing
Principal Investigator: Emmy Tiderington, PhD (Rutgers University)
An analysis of health and homelessness data in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to identify factors that lead to stable exits from PSH, aimed to inform initiatives that support people Moving On from PSH when appropriate.
(Forthcoming) Topic: Causes and Consequences of Unstable Exits from Permanent Supportive Housing
Principal Investigator: Chris Herring, PhD (UCLA)
Investigation of why some people exit PSH into homelessness in Los Angeles County with the aim of learning how to improve program retention and transitions.
(Forthcoming) Topic: Understanding the Uniqueness of Culturally Specific Permanent Supportive Housing Providers
Principal Investigators: Marisa Zapata, PhD & Marisa Westbrook, PhD (Portland State University)
A study of culturally specific PSH providers in Portland, OR, to identify core components of these models and contextual factors that support or challenge effective implementation.
(Forthcoming) Understanding Barriers to Establishing, Operating, and Sustaining Permanent Supportive Housing Across Rural Areas
Principal Investigators: Matthew Fowle, PhD & Cypress Marrs (Housing Initiative at Penn)
A study to understand the critical need for PSH in rural contexts and to document barriers and identify strategies to overcome challenges in developing, implementing, and sustaining rural PSH.
Lived Experience Action and Research Network (LEARN)
LEARN plays a critical role in the Homelessness Research Institute (HRI). Members are people with lived experience who build research projects on various topics, including the role of people who have experienced homelessness in the homelessness response system.
Tiffany Adams
LEARN Network Member
Tiffany Adams is a Technical Advisor with the Florida Housing Coalition’s Ending Homelessness Team, where she leverages her lived experience of family homelessness and over a decade of professional work. She provides HUD technical assistance and tailored support to frontline service providers and system leaders. Her passion lies in empowering people on both sides of the desk—the client and provider—to engage collaboratively and creatively with human-centered practices that move communities forward and end homelessness.
Dr. Daniel Lawrence, DSW, MA
LEARN Network Member
Dr. Lawrence is a social worker based in Los Angeles with over eight years of experience working with the unhoused population. His expertise lies in housing services, specifically within the Housing Opportunities for People with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA) program and Time Limited Subsidy (TLS) initiatives. Dr. Lawrence has worked extensively in direct service, case management, and program development, helping individuals transition into stable housing while navigating complex housing policies and resources.
Dr. Lawrence earned his Doctorate in Social Work from California Baptist University, where his research focused on addressing barriers to higher education for Black men through mentorship and peer support. His work is grounded in a commitment to social justice, trauma-informed care, and sustainable housing solutions that empower individuals and communities.
Tatiana Reis
she/her
LEARN Network Member
Tatiana Reis (she/her) is a Black Studies scholar and educator based in Rhode Island. Professionally, she specializes in youth homelessness strategy planning, program management, power sharing, and restorative justice. Academically, she specializes in the study social movements and its direct impact on Black lives while examining their sustainability under capitalism. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Tatiana’s expertise in housing stems from both lived experience and direct engagement with young people during her time as the state YHDP Lead. She currently serves as the interim Deputy Director at Youth In Action, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit dedicated to youth leadership. Tatiana’s passion and work are driven by a commitment to the liberation of all oppressed people, grounded in liberation pedagogy.
Eric Richert
LEARN Network Member
Eric leads communication and engagement efforts at Hennepin County’s Office of Housing Stability, where he works to ensure that residents who’ve experienced homelessness have a voice in shaping planning and funding decisions. I focus on designing and supporting strategies that empower these residents to make meaningful impact within the sector. In addition, Eric collaborates with a talented team of communicators to create messages across various platforms that highlight essential resources and programs.
Mary Singer
LEARN Network Member
Mary Singer is a Lived Experience Consultant for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Assisting with research, systems evaluation and solutions design, she brings over a decade of expertise to the work. She hails from the mountains of Western North Carolina where she also serves as a lifelong caregiver, licensed massage therapist and community volunteer. She specializes in health and human service consulting projects directly related to solving the dilemmas of homelessness.
With first hand experience of youth and adult, multi-disability, episodic, hidden, transitional, and chronic homelessness, she contributes important insights she has gleaned from surviving her journey so that service providers may gain consumer knowledge of their systems’ performance and develop improvements to safeguard the dignity and lives of the humans they serve.
