We do not seek to support existing interventions but to follow the evidence where it leads. From the Family Options Study we see widespread failure of all interventions likely to be readily available (as vouchers are not). We are imagining new interventions that draw upon evidence based best practices for a wide variety of fields rather than the myopia of saying it's all about housing, or recovery, or employment.
- Policy Research committed to articulating evidence-based best practices for the renewal of the safety net for the homeless currently being dismantled at a tremendous pace. Focused on analysis of the two monumental recent homelessness studies – Chez Soi and Family Options. Josh has written extensively in these areas and has relationships with key researchers engaged in these areas. He is the only analyst known to have accurately projected the outcome of the Family Options Study.
- Community Consulting committed to offering evidence-based resources for communities seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the marginalized. This goal seeks the renewal of a vision of human thriving in small communities such as the Catholic Worker, intentional communities, housing programs for various forms of recovery, and the like. For most of the past three decades Josh has been engaged in this work in various ways including guiding 28 year-long intentional communities with Mission Year, leading an urban neighborhood church plant, direct work with clients around substance use, and nurturing the community of the Center of Hope for homeless families.
- Renewal Incentives involve the application of evidence-based best practices from the fields of behavioral economics, trauma, addiction recovery, employment, public housing, domestic violence, reentry and the like. We seek to serve those pushed to the margins in a manner that directly promotes the renewal of dignity. Josh has been engaged in this work in various forms, and draws from a wealth of models of one intervention or another, but this multifaceted intervention will be unique (see below). Central to Renewal Incentives will be the ability to ultimately open doors for clients to housing in high quality communities in a manner that would not be possible without participation.
Bio: For over three decades Josh Kaufman-Horner has come alongside marginalized populations to encourage thriving communities and individuals. Josh was co-founder of the national community service organization Mission Year and founding pastor of the New Hope community in Oakland. Josh is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has been in the front lines of assisting families recovering from the trauma of homelessness. Josh's 2014 contrarian data analysis accurately projected outcomes of the most important family homelessness study released in 2015 and led to the founding of the Renewal Institute. In addition to other urban analysis Josh seeks to utilize the results of this massive homelessness study and others to glean evidence-based insights for innovative responses to homelessness. Josh began working with Dr. Sam Tsemberis and Pathways Housing First in 2015 and initiated the revision of the Housing First Fidelity Scale (in press). Josh is a homelessness research consultant with UCLA and a member of, and conference presenter at, both the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and the Christian Community Development Association.
Renewal Incentives Influences:
Some of the influences driving these efforts include research in the following areas:
- The Pathways To Housing Model.
- The ongoing Family Rewards 2.0 research being conducted by MDRC: http://www.mdrc.org/publication/implementing-conditional-cash-transfer-program-two-american-cities
- The Family Independence Initiative founded by 2012 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship winner Mauricio Lim Miller: http://www.fii.org .
- Prize linked contingency management research pioneered by Professor Nancy Petry at the University of Connecticut Health Center: http://contingencymanagement.uchc.edu/who/index.html#petry
- Prize linked savings and behavioral economics work by a number of researchers.
- Tabor Community Services Payee and Landlord Program: http://www.tabornet.org/homeless_rental/shelter_independent_livin/accessing_our_services/request_for_services.html
- Economic Mobility Research: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/03/upshot/the-best-and-worst-places-to-grow-up-how-your-area-compares.html
