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The Social and Individual Effects of Homeless Shelter: Evidence from Temporary Shelter Provision

Author

Listed:
  • Derek A. Christopher
  • Mark Duggan
  • Olivia H. Martin

Abstract

What does homeless shelter achieve? We leverage administrative records of homeless services in Los Angeles County to construct a novel dataset of daily, site-level counts of shelter beds and occupants from 2014 to 2019. We pair this with daily, block-level crime incident data and daily, hospital-level data on ER visits to assess the relationship between shelter and area crime and health. We exploit variation from shocks to shelter availability from Los Angeles County's winter shelters program to study the effects of providing temporary shelter. We find that reducing unsheltered homelessness significantly reduces crime and ER visits for psychiatric conditions. We conclude with evidence that entering shelter also reduces short-run mortality but find no evidence that temporary shelter reduces future homelessness more than street outreach or other non-shelter services. Our findings suggest that shelter functions as a public good with high social benefits. When agents charged with provision of homeless services are evaluated on their ability to reduce overall homelessness, they are unlikely to internalize these benefits and may under provide shelter.

Suggested Citation

  • Derek A. Christopher & Mark Duggan & Olivia H. Martin, 2025. "The Social and Individual Effects of Homeless Shelter: Evidence from Temporary Shelter Provision," NBER Working Papers 34376, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34376
    Note: EH LE PE
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

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