title: Expanding service delivery: does it improve relationships among agencies serving homeless people with mental illness?
abstract: Enhancing interagency services integration for homeless people has been advocated as an approach for improving service delivery to this population. In contrast to system-level "top-down" interventions, this study examines the association of expanded funding of client-level homeless services, a "bottom-up" approach, with strengthening of interorganizational relationships. We compared Veterans Affairs/non-Veterans Affairs interagency relationships at VA facilities supporting community-oriented programs (N=72), at VA facilities supporting on-site internally focused homeless programs (N=10), and at facilities with no specialized homeless programs (N=47). VA facilities that supported community-oriented homeless programs enjoyed stronger VA-community agency relationships than the other two VA facility types. The study identifies an effective bottom-up resource-based approach to services integration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs Northeast Program Evaluation Center, USA. James.McGuire@med.va.gov
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosenheck
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burnette
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology*; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D020380:Needs Assessment; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs