Predicting the Experience of Homelessness

Rates of urbanization and climate change are increasingly affecting our planet and specifically, the growing population of unhoused individuals. Even more so, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the urgency of homelessness and affordable housing to the forefront as Americans were told to shelter in place while experiencing mass unemployment and income loss. The federal government even put a moratorium on evictions in order to decrease the flood of housing insecurity the country experienced.

While the pandemic has brought large-scale tragedy and challenges to the American people, we also see it as an opportunity for addressing the issue of homelessness on a large scale. Currently, President Joe Biden’s stimulus package includes $5 billion dollars towards emergency housing services. This funding amount has a chance to house every person experiencing homelessness in America as long as the resources are allocated effectively.

Our client, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), has a mission of making the experience of homelessness “rare, brief and non-recurring”. We hope that throughout our analysis, modeling, and application we can demonstrate that data provides further clarity around patterns of movement and builds understanding around the allocation of resources in order to find housing for all.

Learn more about this project.