Research + Advocacy
The Consortium’s goal is to understand the prevalence and needs of individuals experiencing homelessness and unstable housing who also have complicated medical and behavioral health needs. Below are a few of the research projects and advocacy efforts we have initiated or been a part of.
Medical Respite
The Consortium has been a champion for medical respite in NYC for nearly a decade. Through our research, education, and advocacy, we have elevated medical respite as a vital service for people experiencing homelessness who are too ill or frail to recover from a physical illness or injury on the streets, but not ill enough to be in a hospital. Due in large part to our advocacy, New York State has created a medical respite pilot and regulatory framework which will greatly expand the availability of medical respite. In response to this, the Consortium formed a Medical Respite Task Force which organized a two-day Medical Respite Convening in 2022 and provided coordinated feedback on the State’s respite regulations.
Hospital Homeless Count
Every January, the NYC Department of Homeless Services conducts its annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) Count. This event, which takes place in the middle of the night during the winter, consists of an outdoor street count throughout the five boroughs and MTA system to identify individuals experiencing homelessness. Unfortunately, HOPE fails to count homeless individuals sleeping in hospital emergency departments.
Understanding that homeless and unstably housed populations are a significant driver of hospital-based health care utilization, from 2014-2020, the Consortium conducted its own count of people experiencing homelessness in hospital emergency departments on the night of the DHS HOPE Count.
Op-Ed: City’s Homeless Count Misses a Critical Population—Unhoused New Yorkers in Hospitals
“The city’s annual census–known as the Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE)–has served as a tool for measuring our progress toward ending street homelessness. However, HOPE misses a critical component of NYC’s ecosystem: hospitals. By ignoring this population segment, the city underestimates the true number of unhoused individuals.”
Cluster Care Planning Report and Program Design Plan
Breaking Ground contracted with The Health & Housing Consortium to consult on their planning grant for cluster care implementation. In addition to serving as a thought partner for program development, the Consortium provided the background research and literature review for the project.
Bronx Frequent Users of Systems Engagement (Bronx FUSE)
The Bronx FUSE initiative––led in partnership with CSH––launched in 2015 to identify and support high-cost Medicaid members in the Bronx. By bringing together Medicaid and housing history data, the program identified people with high Medicaid emergency and inpatient costs who frequently cycled between the health and homeless services systems. Through this initiative, we were able to make several advancements towards improving access to healthcare for high-Medicaid utilizers, including brokering effective partnerships between MCOs and housing providers and creating a replicable pathway for other communities to utilize the FUSE model.