University of Massachusetts Lowell, Department of Community Health and Sustainability

Special thanks to Ann Marie, David McCloskey, the LTLC Case Managers and all other employees of the LTLC!

Lowell Transitional Living Center (LTLC)

Located at 205 Middlesex St., Lowell, MA.A homeless shelter that provides 90 beds, hot meals and other services including but not limited to: GED ClassesAA/NA classesEmergency winter housing

In 2007, LTLC joined the city to implement the “Housing First” model

Other Services, currently serves over 1100 clients, and has 300 volunteers

Challenges

Occasionally clients would miss appointments or arrive too late

LTLC workers are extremely busy and forgot to schedule interviews

Inclement weather forced us to cancel interviews

Some interview stories were evidently overly fabricated

Service Clients had an opportunity to tell their success

stories

Collected data for the LTLC to better refine their program and to show their success in order to receive more funding

Learning Prior to the project we became certified to

interview specific clients

We learned how to create a questionnaire and conduct a survey while analyzing responses

The pros and cons of a high pace working environment

How to quantify data and assemble it so that it is easy for the public to read and understand

The Housing First Model

Sample Quantitative Questions

Sample Qualitative Questions

Project Description Personal Reflections

This project helped us to learn professional interviewing skills, and processes of analysis (quantitative and qualitative) that we will use professionally within our future careers

Opportunity to first-hand interview clients which gave us experience working with a very specific population

For future students, if the questionnaire is already completed, it may free up more time so that more interviews can be completed

What are you two things you think are important to your successful housing?

What advice would you give to those currently going through homelessness?

What do you think can be done to eliminate homelessness?

What is your next goal in life? Who referred you to LTLC, or how did you hear of

its services?

On a scale from 1-5, how well do you think you have managed your relationship with:

Landlord Neighbors Neighborhood

On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate LTLC’s housing assistance program from entry into shelter to housing?

On a scale from 1-5, how helpful are the services from the LTLC Case Managers?

A survey and interview questionnaire was developed and approved by the IRB

We collected data by interviewing 14 of LTLC’s successful clients then quantified the data and their stories

Individual write-up’s for each client were created, along with a final overall review

We collected this data to know the program’s criteria for success, collect some lesson to learn from this experience and to help the LTLC sustain more funding in the future

Housing first is a shift in addressing the costly phenomenon of homelessness

Housing First helps place clients in a stable environment to then receive comprehensive services during and after being housed, rather than before (while still possibly in the shelter)

Demonstrates impressive outcomes when people are supported in a permanent, housed environment that is safe

Success Story Interviews At The Lowell Transitional Living Center

Michael Boyer and Linda Churchill