Shifts in Practice Based on Rapid Re-Housing for Rural Homelessness: An Exploratory Study of Micropolitan Homeless Service Provision

Based on interviews with rural homeless service providers, the authors examine in this practice note how policy has created shifts in practice for organizations serving homeless populations. Homeless individuals find a decreasing opportunity for assistance while awaiting Rapid Re-Housing. Some organizations, dependent on Rapid Re-Housing monies, are facing a lack of funding to pay for general homeless care provision. Organizations are creating care networks to address requirements of the new policy in addition to pooling resources in underserved areas

Shifts in Practice Based on Rapid Re-Housing for Rural Homelessness: An Exploratory Study of Micropolitan Homeless Service Provision

Based on interviews with rural homeless service providers, the authors examine in this practice note how policy has created shifts in practice for organizations serving homeless populations. Homeless individuals find a decreasing opportunity for assistance while awaiting Rapid Re-Housing. Some organizations, dependent on Rapid Re-Housing monies, are facing a lack of funding to pay for general homeless care provision. Organizations are creating care networks to address requirements of the new policy in addition to pooling resources in underserved areas

Local Government Systems and Decentralization: Evidence from Pakistan’s Devolution Plan

The discourse of governance and development practitioners continues to embrace community participation and community empowerment as an elementary means of building local capacity for poverty reduction, development and change at the local level. This article is a review of the decentralization initiatives of local government systems after the announcement of the devolution plan in Pakistan. It evaluates the initiatives’ participatory methods to ascertain the extent to which they have improved the process of community development at the local level. This article also measures the impact of community empowerment on the sustainability of community-driven projects implemented under the decentralization initiative through community-based organizations known as Citizen Community Boards (CCBs). Document analysis and literature review methodologies were employed to gain further insight into the decentralization phenomenon in Pakistan. The results describe human development, improvements in community empowerment and the sustainability of local projects; however, the sense of community has yet to be translated into shared benefits for rural communities. The fundamental goal of decentralization seems to be elusive because only power was transferred to the local level, whereas there is little support for community capacity building and community access to resources and the elites still control the electoral process. It is argued that community development initiatives in Pakistan require continuous support from local governments to boost local rural economies. Likewise, community-local government participatory development strategies can lead to strong local ownership and empowerment in rural communities

Unemployment and Social Integration: A Review

A review of the literature identifies the loss of work as a stressful life event that has been linked to a number of psychosocial ills. The paper examines the loss of social relationships, a major noneconomic cost of unemployment, as a major contributor to the development of those ills. Practice implications of this finding are identified

The Impact of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Deferred Prosecution Program

This paper analyzes the impact of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Deferred Prosecution Program (DPP) on participation outcome patterns and compares recidivism rates between a sample of DPP participants (695) and a comparison group (991) of defendants found guilty through traditional adjudication from February 28, 2011 and December 5, 2012 with recidivism rates through June 6, 2014. Binary logistic and cox proportional regressions were utilized to evaluate the program. No statistically significant difference in re-arrest rates was found for a sample of DPP participants and a comparison group of defendants found guilty through traditional adjudication. However, DPP did have a statistically significant effect on re-arrest rates for women charged with theft; in such cases, DPP reduced the likelihood of re-arrest by roughly 76%

Entrepreneurial Activities of Homeless Men

Encouraging and assisting homeless people to become self-employed provides a way for some of them to increase their incomes, and may help close the gap between the cost of housing and labor market earnings. A survey of operators of homeless shelters was conducted to determine the types of work activities that adult homeless men participate in. Self-employment was found to be a common activity for a substantial proportion of adult homeless men; and a preferred mode of employment for many. Advantages and disadvantages of such an approach are discussed. Several program models are described which can be used to enhance and initiate self-employment activity for adult homeless men

Growing fiscal risk in European Union resulting from government contingent liabilities in the pandemic crisis – assessment and policy recommendations

The pandemic crisis, responsible for increased levels of financing with public debt and contingent liabilities, may trigger another debt crisis across the European Union. Our research indicates that member states are increasingly willing to use public guarantees and other off-budget instruments, which are classified as "hidden debt" or "hidden expenditure". Simulations have shown that if public guarantees have to be covered by the budget, an unprecedented increase in a public debt may occur across the euro area countries and the entire EU as a whole. Therefore, the authors recommend the introduction of uniform rules for estimating fiscal risk due to contingent liabilities, as well as standards for their reporting, allowing for their constant monitoring at the EU level