Study Details | Pathways to Work

28567.06-Housing Assistance Without Peer Support Compared with Referrals to Substance Use Treatment and Transportation Assistance

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because the effect of the intervention cannot be disentangled from the effect of another factor that was also present during the intervention.

Intervention: Project Housing and Alcohol Research Team (Project H&ART)—Housing Without Peer Support (as compared with Referrals to Substance Use Treatment and Transportation Assistance)

Population and employment barriers:

Specific employment barriers (Homelessness, Substance use disorder)

Services provided:

Housing

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

Once potential participants completed drug and alcohol detoxification, they received a baseline assessment by research staff to determine their eligibility for the study. Participants (known to be experiencing homelessness and to have substance use disorders at intake) were deemed eligible if they had lived in or near Albuquerque, NM, for three months or more, did not have serious disabilities, and had no dependent children. Once they were determined to be eligible, participants were randomly assigned to one of three study groups. Due to implementation challenges, however, the intervention group condition that provided housing assistance without peer support was discontinued about eight months after the first participant was randomly assigned and replaced with referrals to substance use treatment and transportation assistance, but without residential housing (reviewed here as the comparison condition). Consequently, participants were never randomly assigned between the intervention conditions reviewed here.

Time period of study:

April 1991 to December 1993

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Sex

Female	12%
Male	88%

Participant race and ethnicity

White, not Hispanic	42%
Another race	10%
American Indian or Alaska Native	17%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	31%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Parents

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed	51%
Were unemployed	49%

Specific employment barriers

Were experiencing homelessness

100%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

The Lovelace Medical Foundation in collaboration with Albuquerque's Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) Clinic in partnership with St. Martin's Hospitality Center (SMC)

Intervention services:

The intervention condition of housing assistance without peer support provided low-intensity services to adults who were experiencing homelessness and who also had problems with alcohol. They had to have lived in or near Albuquerque, NM, for three months or more. (Participants could not have serious disabilities or dependent children.) Comparison participants received community-based housing (apartment- or motel-based) and random alcohol and drug testing. Participants were also required to monitor their use of substance abuse and rehabilitation services and other services received in the community twice per week. All comparison condition services were generally unsupervised. The comparison condition was terminated in December 1991, after 92 participants were randomly assigned to this condition, due to implementation issues and limitations in unsupervised design of services.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

The referrals to the substance use treatment and transportation assistance (comparison condition) provided low-intensity services to adults experiencing homelessness who had problems with alcohol and had lived in or near Albuquerque, NM, for three months or more. (Participants could not have serious disabilities or dependent children.) Comparison participants were referred to local and statewide alcohol treatment, were paid bus fare to treatment facilities, and were paid to provide data on their use of health services at biweekly check-ins with program staff. The comparison condition began operating in December 1991, about eight months after the first study participant was randomized. This replaced a housed comparison condition (reviewed here as the intervention condition) that was terminated due to implementation issues and limitations in the unsupervised service delivery model.

Study publications

Lapham, Sandra, Marge Hall, and Betty Skipper (1996). Homelessness and substance use among alcohol abusers following participation in Project H&ART, Journal of Addictive Diseases (14): 41-55. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J069v14n04_03.

Lapham, Sandra, Marge Hall, Marsha McMurray-Avila, and Harry Beaman (1993). Albuquerque's community-based housing and support services demonstration program for homeless alcohol abusers, Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly (10): 139-154. Available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J020V10N03_12.

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

Study of Housing Assistance Without Peer Support versus Referrals to Substance Use Treatment and Transportation Assistance