Project Summary
Our goal is to provide an evidence base for the prioritization and optimization of strategies and structural interventions to improve health of people experiencing homelessness and decrease racial/ethnic health disparities in HIV, overdose, and life expectancy. Our aims are:
Aim 1: To employ a Group Model Building (GMB) approach to engage community stakeholders in the scientific process and inform the development of agent-based models that simulate health outcomes and racial/ethnic disparities along the housing and homelessness continuum of care. We will engage community in a process that will support implementation and long-term sustainability of this model as well as bridge divides between academic institutions and community.
Aim 2: To develop agent-based models simulating the dynamic processes contributing to overdoses, HIV, and life expectancy among people along the housing continuum of care in Denver and San Francisco. We will use insights from the GMB to inform model structure and leverage unique datasets to parameterize the models to develop representative populations of people experiencing homelessness in two cities. We will be able to estimate longitudinal health outcomes, disparities, and costs in the current system.
Aim 3: To simulate and compare HIV and substance use service delivery programs implemented along the housing continuum versus housing-centered programs.
Aim 3a: To assess changes in HIV and overdose rates among the general population experiencing homelessness.
Aim 3b: To examine the potential of these programs to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in these health outcomes. We will assess how service delivery along the housing continuum compares to getting people into more stable housing (e.g., housing-centered) in terms of HIV prevention, overdose reduction, and life expectancy improvements and how they impact racial/ethnic disparities in health outcomes.
Data Partners
-
Metro Denver Homelessness Initiative
- Colorado Coalition of the Homeless
- Behavioral Health Administration
- Colorado Department of Labor & Employment
-
Denver County Court