Home visiting program impacts on reducing homelessness among young mothers

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the current study, we aimed to determine the effects of Healthy Families Massachusetts (HFM), a statewide home visiting program, on young mothers’ experiences with homelessness during enrollment and after program completion. Data were drawn from a longitudinal, randomized control trial evaluation of HFM. Data collection occurred across 5 time points between 2008 and 2015 from a sample of 704 participants. The current analyses were restricted to a subsample of mothers (n = 443) with Time 5 data (74 months post-enrollment; 59.1% program, 40.9% control), which was representative of the Time 1 sample. We used data from maternal phone interviews to assess program effects on experiences with homelessness. Young mothers who participated in HFM were less likely to experience homelessness when their children were preschool-age or older than mothers in the control group. During program participation, the number of home visits was negatively associated with concurrent homelessness when children were infants or toddlers.