Using Data to Address Homelessness: Insights from a National Study on Permanent Supportive Housing

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), which combines deeply affordable housing assistance with behavioral and social health supports, can be an effective way to reduce homelessness. However, according to a national study conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL), some people wait months to move into units, often because providers lack the real-time data needed to track PSH vacancies and quickly move people into those units.

On Wednesday November 5, 2025, Carin Clary, GPL’s Director of Homelessness and Housing, and Lars Benson, Assistant Director of Homelessness and Housing, shared the report’s findings and discussed steps that can be taken to move people into homes faster, including promising strategies being used in Chicago and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Watch the Recording

Presented jointly by the the Joint Center for Housing Studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative.