The principles of an ideal homelessness administrative data system: lessons from global practice

Discussions of homelessness measurement methodologies have largely focused on the generation of primary data, for example point-in-time counts. Though there is long standing tradition in the use of administrative data for measuring homelessness, relatively little examination of administrative data as method exists, i.e. the set of socio-technical practices through which administrative data are generated. This paper undertakes an internationally informed review of 50 administrative data systems in order to deconstruct these systems and stage a methodological discussion. Uniquely, the review included systems from other policy fields outside of homelessness, including health and education, in order to learn from wider data practices. The discussion elaborates on six key design considerations driving administrative data systems, including; function; data architecture; data quality; ethico-legal considerations; privacy preservation; and data access and accessibility. To conclude, we outline what an ideal data system would look like in order to improve the potential use of administrative data to measure homelessness and our response to it, but, more importantly, in mobilising data more effectively in order to facilitate research and operational uses of data. The six design elements can inform future homelessness administrative data systems, whilst also sensitising researchers and users of current administrative data to its (socially) constructed nature

Homelessness prevention: Reflecting on a year of pioneering Welsh legislation in practice

Homelessness prevention has become the dominant policy paradigm for homelessness services across the developed world. However, services have emerged in a piecemeal and selective manner, often restricted to particular towns and cities, with no requirement on local authorities to intervene. Wales is the first country where the government has sought to fully reorient services towards prevention and to make services universally available. At the heart of the Welsh approach is a pioneering legal duty on local authorities to help prevent and relieve homelessness. This paper draws upon administrative data and interviews with both service providers and service users to examine the first year of implementation under the new system. The paper finds services have been successfully reoriented towards prevention, creating a more supportive environment, reducing the number of people in temporary accommodation and decreasing the number who remain homeless after seeking help. However, outcomes are less favourable for single people and variations in service outcomes persist across Welsh local authorities. The paper concludes that whilst a legal right to homelessness prevention assistance is an effective driver of change, without attention to implementation and the quality of services being offered, legislation cannot realise its full potential impact

No evidence of dioxin cancer threshold.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed an estimate of the human cancer risk from dioxin, using the standard low-dose linear extrapolation approach. This estimate has been controversial because of concern that it may overestimate the cancer risk. An alternative approach has been published and was presented to the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board's Dioxin Review Panel in November 2000. That approach suggests that dioxin is a threshold carcinogen and that the threshold is an order of magnitude above the exposure levels of the general population. We have reexamined the threshold analysis and found that the data have been incorrectly weighted by cohort size. In our reanalysis, without the incorrect weighting, the threshold effect disappears

Zebra Mussel Infestation of Unionid Bivalves (Unionidae) in North America

In 1989, zebra mussels received national attention in North America when they reached densities exceeding 750,000/m2 in a water withdrawal facility along the shore of western Lake Erie of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Although water withdrawal problems caused by zebra mussels have been of immediate concern, ecological impacts attributed to mussels are likely to be the more important long-term issue for surface waters in North America. To date, the epizoic colonization (i.e., infestation) of unionid bivalve mollusks by zebra mussels has caused the most direct and severe ecological impact. Infestation of and resulting impacts caused by zebra mussels on unionids in the Great Lakes began in 1988. By 1990, mortality of unionids was occurring at some locations; by 1991, extant populations of unionids in western Lake Erie were nearly extirpated; by 1992, unionid populations in the southern half of Lake St. Clair were extirpated; by 1993, unionids in widely separated geographic areas of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River showed high mortality due to mussel infestation. All infested unionid species in the Great Lakes (23) have become infested and exhibited mortality within two to four years after heavy infestation began. Data indicate that mean zebra mussel densities \u3e5,000-6,000/m2 and infestation intensities \u3e100-200/unionid in the presence of heavy zebra mussel recruitment results in near total mortality of unionids. At present, all unionid species in rivers, streams, and lakes that sympatrically occur with zebra mussels have been infested and, in many locations, negatively impacted by zebra mussels. We do not know the potential consequences of infestation on the 297 unionid species found in North America, but believe zebra mussels pose an immediate threat to the abundance and diversity of unionids

The principles of an ideal homelessness administrative data system: lessons from global practice

Discussions of homelessness measurement methodologies have largely focused on the generation of primary data, for example point-in-time counts. Though there is long standing tradition in the use of administrative data for measuring homelessness, relatively little examination of administrative data as method exists, i.e. the set of socio-technical practices through which administrative data are generated. This paper undertakes an internationally informed review of 50 administrative data systems in order to deconstruct these systems and stage a methodological discussion. Uniquely, the review included systems from other policy fields outside of homelessness, including health and education, in order to learn from wider data practices. The discussion elaborates on six key design considerations driving administrative data systems, including; function; data architecture; data quality; ethico-legal considerations; privacy preservation; and data access and accessibility. To conclude, we outline what an ideal data system would look like in order to improve the potential use of administrative data to measure homelessness and our response to it, but, more importantly, in mobilising data more effectively in order to facilitate research and operational uses of data. The six design elements can inform future homelessness administrative data systems, whilst also sensitising researchers and users of current administrative data to its (socially) constructed nature

Better data, better knowledge, better society: Developing an ideal homelessness data system drawing on lessons from global practice

The aim of this paper is to set out the principles of an ideal data system. Good data is crucial to effective policy and practice development in all social policy spheres and this is a particular challenge in the context of homelessness policy. Policy makers, practitioners and researchers have been highly critical of the current state of homelessness data across the globe, with concerns largely focused on the incompleteness of the data. Most research has narrowly focused on the strengths and weaknesses of different data collection techniques, such as Point-In-Time counts. However, good data does not only derive from the data collection method - consideration must also be given to the wider data system, including how data are generated, reported, analysed, and crucially, how they are made accessible and to who. The evidence base for the paper is a desk-based review of 49 data collection systems from 8 countries, including systems in health and social care settings—where data are being increasingly used to drive more effective care. The different systems are synthesised to generate 8 areas of design, being: data architecture, governance, data quality, ethical and legal, privacy/security, data access, and importantly, purpose. Drawing these elements together, the paper concludes that data collection should adopt a common data standard shared across the sector, enabling inter-organisational information sharing and improving collaboration; reporting to local and central government must not be one-sided, instead data providers should receive some tangible benefit for their engagement; the focus of analysis needs to shift from statistics toward evaluation into the effectiveness of interventions; and access must be available to a range of sector actors, including service providers and academia. Importantly, the paper also concludes that in delivering the ideal system, care must be taken not to interrupt the delivery of effective homelessness interventions