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Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness

Parent Organization:

Abt Associates
Director:

Jill Khadduri

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The Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness is a left-leaning research and advocacy organization that promotes left-of-center policies on public housing and homelessness. The organization is a project of Abt Associates, a left-leaning public policy consulting and research firm. 1

The organization bills itself as a resource for statistics and research from a “cadre” of homelessness and public housing policy analysts from other public policy organizations and advocacy groups across the United States. The center is closely tied to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. 2 3

Background

The Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness curates a collection of research documents and statistics endorsed or authored by left-leaning policy researchers and academics. The center provides research and policy proposals to support left-of-center policies on homelessness, including creating permanent, government-controlled housing subsidies rather than investing in transitional housing programs. 4 5

The center is a project of Abt Associates, a left-leaning for-profit consulting firm founded by Clark Abt in the 1960s that conducts research and consults on a wide array of public policy issues for government employees and advocacy organizations. 6 7 The firm maintains contracts which federal and state governments for research and project management on issues including education, housing and homelessness, health care economics, environmental issues, workforce training, and criminal justice. 8

Abt Associates has come under fire for lobbying the government agencies for which it works as a contractor. 9 Abt Associates receives grant funding from the federal government to complete research reports for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other government agencies, such as the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. 10 The organization has also helped craft housing policies for local governments, including a multi-year partnership with the District of Columbia. 11

Research

The Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness was founded in 2017 as a website developed through a partnership between Abt Associates and the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The stated goal of the project is providing research to government agencies to help influence their decisions on housing policy. 12

The center has several areas of public policy research that it refers to as its “evidence-based.” This research is conducted by policy analysts at Abt Associates, the center’s parent organization, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, another organization that promotes left-of-center housing policy. 13

The “evidence-based” solutions and interventions to homelessness promoted by the center have received criticism from center-right sources for their emphasis on destigmatizing and decriminalizing criminal activity. A far-left homelessness policy initiative passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that included many of the allegedly evidence-based solutions from the center, such as allocating $285 million to permanent free and subsidized housing, coincided with the city removing penalties for crimes including public camping, drug consumption, prostitution, and public urination. 14

The Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness focuses much of its research on promoting the implementation of permanent free or subsidized housing for the homeless. These solutions include creating rapid re-housing programs for those who become homeless, implementing permanent supported housing programs, and bolstering other entitlement programs. 15

People

Adisory board members at the center include Amanda Andere, the CEO of Funders Together to End Homelessness; Carol Wilkins, the former director for policy and research at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH); and Nan Roman, the president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. 16

The director of the center is Jill Khadduri, a consultant at Abt Associates and former Director of the Policy Development Division of the Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 17

References

  1. “Home.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/
  2. “Home.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/
  3. “About.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/about/
  4. “About.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/about/
  5. “Children and Families.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/topic/children-and-families/
  6. “Projects. Abt Associates. Accessed June 24, 2021. https://www.abtassociates.com/projects
  7. “Who We Are.” Abt Associates. Accessed June 24, 2021. https://www.abtassociates.com/who-we-are
  8. “Who We Are.” Abt Associates. Accessed June 24, 2021. https://www.abtassociates.com/who-we-are
  9. “Lobbying World.” TheHill. May 14, 2013. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/lobbying-hires/299779-lobbying-world
  10. “Homelessness Prevention: Review of the Evidence (Center for Evidence-Based Solutions to Homelessness).” National Interagency Council on Homelessness. February 11, 2019. Accessed June 24, 2021.  https://www.usich.gov/tools-for-action/homelessness-prevention-review-of-the-evidence-center-for-evidence-based-solutions-to-homelessness/
  11. White, Matt. “How Better Data is Informing Washington DC’s Response to Homelessness.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/recent_highlights/better-data-washington-dc/
  12. “NAEH And Abt Associates Publish New Homelessness Resource Website.” Partnership for Strong Communities. December 20, 2017. Accessed June 24, 2021.  https://www.pschousing.org/news/naeh-and-abt-associates-publishes-new-homelessness-resource-website
  13. “Evidence Base.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/evidence-base/
  14. Rufo, Christopher. “San Francisco Shows Leftist Policies Can’t Solve Homelessness.” The Daily Signal. June 4, 2021. Accessed June 24, 2021. https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/06/04/san-francisco-shows-leftist-policies-cant-solve-homelessness/
  15. “Evidence Base.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/evidence-base/
  16. “About.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/about/
  17. “Jill Khadduri.” Center for Evidence-based Solutions to Homelessness. Accessed June 24, 2021. http://www.evidenceonhomelessness.com/experts/jill-khadduri/
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