UTA professor works to better serve the homeless
A University of Texas at Arlington professor is trying to help change how homeless shelters provide services and how the public perceives the people who use them.
For the past year, Hannah Lebovits, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Affairs and Planning, has worked with the Dallas-based Austin Street Center homeless shelter to understand what services its visitors made use of before and while experiencing homelessness. This required interviewing many homeless people and learning their stories.
Dr. Lebovits said the goal was to treat everyone she spoke with as if they were consumers looking for certain services, with the idea that such information would better inform her of how shelters could develop and adjust what they offer. She found that, for the clients at Austin Street Center, the most-used service was public transit, as it provided a personal sense of self-sufficiency.
“There are basic needs, and then there are higher-level needs like food stamps, health care, or housing vouchers,” Lebovits said. “When it comes to the day-to-day needs, like getting your clothes clean, getting yourself clean, visiting family, or going to a job interview, public transport gives them that mobility.”
She also found that it was important for those experiencing homelessness to have access to both faith-based and secular nonprofits. Lebovits said this is because these types of organizations make it easy to receive products from them, whether it be food, shelter or transportation.
The project also served to engage the Dallas community. To collect the research results, Lebovits enlisted the help of seniors attending Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. The students collected about 50 interviews, which Lebovits said is a good number for such a hard-to-reach population.
The high school seniors gained volunteer hours and had the opportunity to speak to people they may have never interacted with. Lebovits said hearing the stories of those experiencing homelessness helps erase preconceived notions about poverty.
“It was a great project and a perfect example of UTA doing community-engaged research that resulted in findings that can be useful for nonprofits and policymaking,” Lebovits said.