• Susan E Collins, Daniel K Malone, and Seema L Clifasefi.
• Susan E. Collins is with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington-Harborview Medical Center, Seattle. Daniel K. Malone is with the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC), Seattle. Seema L. Clifasefi is with the Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors, University of Washington, Seattle.
• Am J Public Health. 2013 Dec 1;103 Suppl 2:S269-74.

ObjectivesWe studied housing retention and its predictors in the single-site Housing First model.MethodsParticipants (n = 111) were chronically homeless people with severe alcohol problems who lived in a single-site Housing First program and participated in a larger nonrandomized controlled trial (2005-2008) conducted in Seattle, Washington. At baseline, participants responded to self-report questionnaires assessing demographic, illness burden, alcohol and other drug use, and psychiatric variables. Housing status was recorded over 2 years.ResultsParticipants were interested in housing, although a sizable minority did not believe they would be able to maintain abstinence-based housing. Only 23% of participants returned to homelessness during the 2-year follow-up. Commonly cited risk factors--alcohol and other drug use, illness burden, psychiatric symptoms, and homelessness history--did not predict resumed homelessness. Active drinkers were more likely to stay in this housing project than nondrinkers.ConclusionsWe found that single-site Housing First programming fills a gap in housing options for chronically homeless people with severe alcohol problems.

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