Homeless Outreach Projects and Evaluation (Project HOPE)
Objective
SSA undertook Project HOPE in support of a 10-year federal plan to end chronic homelessness that was initiated in 2001. The purpose of Project HOPE was to demonstrate and evaluate methods designed to improve the quality of assistance that medical and social service providers give to homeless individuals who file claims for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. A primary assumption underlying Project HOPE was that if SSA provides needed information, offers competent technical assistance, and structures networking opportunities among and between service organizations and their SSA Field Office (FO) and Disability Determination Services (DDS) contacts, then these organizations will increase their knowledge about both the disability processing system and best practices. This bundle of SSA activities was defined as the SSA “intervention” for Project HOPE, which was expected to expand grantees’ capacity to conduct outreach and engage individuals who are homeless and have a disability, and result in grantees submitting better quality disability benefit applications for claimants. These enhancements, in turn, were expected to: (1) reduce the time required by SSA to process initial claims; (2) result in higher benefit allowance rates for clients enrolled in Project HOPE programs; (3) bring increased numbers of the target population into the SSA disability system, connecting them to mainstream resources, and thereby facilitate an eventual end to chronic homelessness; and (4) ultimately improve the quality of daily life for people enrolled in Project HOPE programs.
Status
Project HOPE ended in October 2007 with the issuance of a final evaluation report.
In 2003, SSA announced the availability of the Project HOPE cooperative agreement funding to support projects that “provide targeted outreach, supportive services, and benefit application assistance to individuals who are chronically homeless.” In 2004, 41 public or private organizations across the U.S. received Project HOPE funds to serve this target population, and SSA contracted with Westat to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of Project HOPE.
Westat’s analysis of data available for the independent evaluation of Project HOPE between January 2005 and July 2007 revealed that significant benchmarks for the demonstration were reached. Compared to similar organizations in their areas which did not receive Project HOPE funding but served a similar population, Project HOPE programs were more effective. The people who were chronically homeless and had a disability and whom Project HOPE program staff helped file SSA disability benefit applications received SSA determination decisions about those applications more quickly. Findings also indicated that Project HOPE programs were effective in assisting many individuals with disabilities and with histories of chronic homelessness find more appropriate housing situations. Analyses also revealed that some of the key objectives for Project HOPE were not attained during the evaluation period. In particular, Project HOPE program enrollees were no more likely than clients in comparison agencies to receive disability benefits based on the determination decisions made from an initial (or reconsidered initial) claim.
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