View Research by Author - Douglas Gilchrist-Scott

Publications

Using available data describing 196 frequent users identified by the District of Columbia Frequent Users Service Enhancement Pilot Program, this brief provides an overview of the characteristics, needs, and jail and shelter use costs of frequent users in the District of Columbia (DC). UI estimates that, on average, each frequent user costs the DC government approximately $8,607 a year through their jail and shelter use alone. To inform future policies and practices, this brief presents the potential cost savings to the DC government of reducing jail and shelter use through supportive housing, based on the success of a supportive housing program based in another large city.

Using qualitative and quantitative data, this report discusses the history, performance, and progress of the District of Columbia Frequent Users Service Enhancement Pilot Program, implemented by the Corporation for Supportive Housing. As a supportive housing reentry program focused on disabled individuals with histories of homelessness and incarceration, the program intended to provide housing and coordinate services for 50 "frequent users" leaving the city jail. Over the first year of operations, the program successfully identified and targeted more than a dozen frequent users and linked them to supportive housing through effective cross-system coordination. Policy implications of the evaluation findings are discussed.

This interim report details the first two years of the Urban Institute's evaluation of the family-inclusive case management component of the Safer Return Demonstration—a reentry program based in Chicago's Garfield Park neighborhood. The report presents the logic of the case management model and summarizes family members and formerly incarcerated persons experiences and perceptions, based on interviews and focus groups. In general, family members were highly supportive of returning prisoners and, despite a typically disadvantaged socioeconomic status, provided substantial material support to their returning family members, particularly housing. The implications of these findings for the Demonstration and reentry planning are discussed.

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