Homeless Funding, Healthcare Utilization, and Mortality

This paper (1) discusses geographic variation in homeless funding, healthcare utilization, and mortality and (2) studies the impact of a one-time positive shock to federal funding for homeless assistance programs. In 2017, HUD awarded select communities additional Emergency Solutions Grant funding averaging \$570k (median \$370k) in 2024 dollars. Combining multiple patient and decedent-level administrative datasets with federal funding data, I study the effects of receiving additional Emergency Solutions Grant funding on homeless mortality and healthcare utilization at the community level during the 2013-2019 period. Consistent with prior work studying the impact of a permanent funding increase on homeless counts, I find that a one-time federal funding increase has no impact on homeless healthcare utilization and mortality.