IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/houspd/v36y2026i1p49-75.html

Assessing the Reliability of SPDAT Homelessness Vulnerability Tools and the Impact of Assessor Consistency and Changes to Homeless Vulnerability Over Time

Author

Listed:
  • Kyle Rehn
  • Sarah L. Canham
  • Philip Osteen
  • Jeremiah Jaggers
  • Jeff Rose
  • Richard Fowles

Abstract

Efficiently and accurately assessing homeless vulnerability to distribute scarce housing vouchers necessitates reliable assessment methods and tools. This study analyzed data from Utah’s Homeless Management Information Systems (2014–2022) to evaluate the reliability of four tools: the Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (SPDAT), Family-SPDAT (F-SPDAT), Vulnerability Index-SPDAT (VI-SPDAT), and Family VI-SPDAT (F-VI-SPDAT). Internal consistency, assessed using Cronbach’s and ordinal alpha, was substantially higher for the SPDAT (n = 10,033) and F-SPDAT (n = 2,950) than for the VI-SPDAT (n = 12,423) and F-VI-SPDAT (n = 3,419). Interrater and intrarater reliability were examined using subsamples and analyzed via Cohen’s kappa and intraclass correlation coefficients. Results showed that same-observer (SO) reassessments produced significantly higher reliability scores than those completed by different observers (DOs), highlighting the importance of the relationship between assessors and persons experiencing homelessnes. However, reliability declined over time, especially beyond six months, reflecting the evolving nature of individuals’ housing and health conditions. As homeless service providers explore new vulnerability assessment tools, this research advocates for assessments that yield reliable and valid data to allocate resources effectively and address the evolving dynamics of homelessness with precision and care.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyle Rehn & Sarah L. Canham & Philip Osteen & Jeremiah Jaggers & Jeff Rose & Richard Fowles, 2026. "Assessing the Reliability of SPDAT Homelessness Vulnerability Tools and the Impact of Assessor Consistency and Changes to Homeless Vulnerability Over Time," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(1), pages 49-75, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:36:y:2026:i:1:p:49-75
    DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2025.2500094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10511482.2025.2500094
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10511482.2025.2500094?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:houspd:v:36:y:2026:i:1:p:49-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RHPD20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.