Homelessness

Margaret Dewar

Professor Emerita of Urban Planning, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Margaret Dewar’s research is in the broad areas of economic development, housing and community development, urban environmental planning and urban land use. Her current projects address remaking cities following abandonment and strengthening deterior...

Staff

Francisco Brady

Data and Policy Analyst

Francisco Brady is a data and policy analyst, working primarily on housing stability projects. Francisco has contributed to research on housing instability and homelessness in Chicago, several basic income pilots, and creating estimates of eligible p...

Staff

John Bulat

Data and Policy Analyst

John Bulat is a data and policy analyst at Poverty Solutions. His work focuses primarily on the opioid crisis in Michigan and criminal justice-related topics. Prior to working at Poverty Solutions, Bulat spent eight years at the Center for Urban Stu...

Staff

Jennifer Erb-Downward

Director of Housing Stability Programs and Policy Initiatives

Jennifer Erb-Downward is the director of housing stability programs and policy initiatives at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on the intersection of housing, health, and education with an emphasis on cross-system col...

Faculty Affiliates

William Lopez

Clinical Associate Professor, U-M School of Public Health; Faculty Associate, U-M Department of Latino/a Studies

William D. Lopez is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and faculty associate in the Department of Latina/o Studies. His research and teaching center on racial health inequities, especially those exper...

Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States: Data Profiles

SchoolHouse Connection and Poverty Solutions have created searchable data profiles to raise awareness of the scale and impact of homelessness on children and youth and to underscore the need for action to meet their needs. These profiles make availab...

News Release

Poverty Solutions awarded Engage Detroit grant

Apr 21, 2026

Now in its fifth year of funding, the 2026 Engage Detroit Workshops grant program has selected seven projects for awards. The program supports small teams of U-M faculty, staff, students, and community partners in organizing workshops that strengthen...

A group gathers at a screening for a mini-documentary on youth homelessness in Detroit produced by Poverty Solutions and the Detroit Phoenix Center

In the Media

Why schools are opening parking lots for homeless students and families

Apr 11, 2026 19th News

As family homelessness hits record highs, a short-term solution offers autonomy, dignity and safety during the search for more permanent housing.

In the Media

Homelessness is rising fast among a surprising group: Infants and toddlers

Jan 17, 2026 Hechinger Report

The most recent estimates found that in 2023 nearly 450,000 infants and toddlers in the United States were in families that lacked a stable place to live, according to a report released last year by the nonprofit SchoolHouse Connection in partnership...

Feature

Poverty Solutions convenes panel on youth-led rapid rehousing in Detroit

May 6, 2025

About 45 youth homelessness service providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders attended the event, held at the U-M Detroit Center on May 1.

Graphic of Panelists, from left to right: Azaria Terell, Alan Jackson, Alex Simpson, Kharmesha Frost, and Robert Cooper.

News Release

How schools used pandemic aid to reach students experiencing homelessness

Apr 3, 2025

University of Michigan research sheds new light on how school districts used their share of $800 million in pandemic relief funds that were specifically dedicated to the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

News Release

SchoolHouse Connection and University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions Launch Comprehensive Data Profiles on Child and Youth Homelessness

Jan 29, 2025

The interactive dashboard allows users to explore homelessness trends across multiple geographic areas - from national and state levels to local communities, U.S. Congressional districts, and state legislative districts.

Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States, 2022–2023 Pre K–12 Students 1.37M identified as experiencing homelessness 2.8% identified as experiencing homelessness Children 3 and Under 451,369 estimated to be experiencing homelessness 3.8% ...

Journal Publications

Gaps in Identification, Support, and Outcomes for Students Experiencing Homelessness and Housing Instability

January 22, 2026

Tasminda K. Dhaliwal, Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, Jeremy Singer, Jennifer Erb-Downward, Whitney Miller, Bianca Burch, Ariell Bertrand

Journal of Education for Students Placed at RiskThe federal McKinney-Vento Act requires that schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. Our mixed methods study draws on data from Detroit to examine the extent to which schools ad...

Journal Publications

Foster care policy and homelessness among youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care

November 1, 2025

Mark E. Courtney, Sunggeun "Ethan" Park, Justin S. Harty

Child Abuse & NeglectHighlights Transition-age foster youth (TAY) faces higher risk of homelessness than their peers.About 18 % of TAY in STATE experienced homelessness between 17 and 19.Staying in extended foster care mitigated the risk of homelessn...

Policy Briefs

Lessons Learned from Pandemic-era Aid: Opportunities for schools to improve the identification of children experiencing homelessness

January 31, 2025

Jennifer Erb-Downward, William D. Lopez, John Bulat

Download PDF of full policy brief IntroductionFunds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 dedicated to Homeless Children and Youth (referred to as ARP-HCY) dramatically expanded the number of school districts in the state of New York and national...

Working Papers & Reports

Databook on the Educational Implications of Homelessness in Detroit & Michigan

October 10, 2021

Jennifer Erb-Downward

Homelessness has a lasting impact on educational outcomes for K-12 students. Across educational indicators, students experiencing homelessness struggle more than their housed peers, and these challenges persist even after stable housing is found. How...

The Educational Implications of Homelessness and Housing Instability in Detroit

Policy Briefs

Losing Home: Housing Instability and Availability in Detroit

May 1, 2020

Jennifer Erb-Downward, Safiya Merchant

Download PDF of the full policy brief IntroductionHousing stability is critical to the prosperity and well-being of cities and their residents. Without stable housing, it has been widely shown that children are more likely to struggle in school, adu...

Funded faculty research

Work-Related Transdiagnostic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Unemployed Homeless Persons with Anxiety and Depression

January 2019 - December 2019

This project designed and developed an intervention to assist people who are unemployed and homeless in Detroit who also are experiencing anxiety and/or depression-related barriers to employment.

Core project

Amplifying Youth Voices to Find Solutions to Housing Instability in Detroit

August 2022

Jennifer Erb-Downward, Lauren Slagter

A multi-year collaboration between U-M's Poverty Solutions and the Detroit Phoenix Center aims to include the perspectives of Detroit youth who have experienced housing instability in conversations about homelessness response.

People stand on set to film interviews at the Detroit Phoenix Center

Funded faculty research

Breaking the Cycle: Refining the Trauma-Informed Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview (CENI)

January 2018 - December 2018

Laura Gultekin, Barbara L. Brush

The research team worked closely with COTS, an agency that provides emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive housing services to families, to better understand the life events and needs of their clients through use of a Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview.

Funded faculty research

Improving Coordination to Reduce Service Gaps and Increase Efficacy in Child and Family Homelessness Policy and Programming

January 2020 - December 2020

Scott Greer

This project developed and fielded a survey of federal Continuums of Care from March 2020 to January 2021 to better understand: how they are organized; strengths and weaknesses they face in their task to end homelessness in their jurisdictions; and how they responded to and were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Detroit’s Rapid Rehousing Program Designed By Youth, For Youth

Jan 28, 2025 0:12:03

Every year, an estimated 1 in 10 youth between the ages of 18 and 25 experience homelessness in the U.S. A new rapid rehousing program in Detroit – designed by youth, for youth – is providing housing and wraparound services for young adults. Detroit ...

Detroit’s Rapid Rehousing Program Designed By Youth, For Youth