The Georgia State University School of Public Health has established a Center on Health and Homelessness that will conduct community-based research, provide learning opportunities for students and collaborate with stakeholders in Atlanta and beyond to develop and evaluate evidence-based solutions that address homelessness and its related health issues.

The center, which is funded by a lead gift from the Henson family, will leverage the expertise of faculty within the School of Public Health and across the university in fields such as evidence-based interventions, trauma, substance use, water, sanitation and hygiene, and implementation science.

“Homelessness is one of the defining public health challenges of our time, and it is incumbent upon us to work with community partners to seek solutions that can make a difference here in Atlanta and that can be scaled across the nation,” said School of Public Health Dean Rodney Lyn. “I am deeply grateful to the Henson family for providing the funding that has enabled us to launch this center, which is focused on collaborative work that addresses homelessness and its health consequences.”

In addition to strengthening connections among Georgia State, communities and organizations across Atlanta, the Center on Health and Homelessness creates hands-on learning opportunities for graduate students in public health to work alongside faculty and community partners on applied research projects.

The first project the center has undertaken is a community needs assessment. Focusing on metro Atlanta, the project is identifying existing resources and strengths, as well as needs for effectively addressing homelessness prevention and response. Results will allow the center to prioritize areas of need and identify potential collaborations to leverage faculty expertise in supporting improvements that address pressing challenges through program evaluation or pilot research projects.

“Atlanta is fortunate to have numerous organizations that are diligently addressing the root causes of housing instability and providing support to people experiencing homelessness,” said Distinguished University Professor Shannon Self-Brown, co-lead of the center. “What GSU’s Center on Health and Homelessness brings to the table is an emphasis on community-academic partnerships to support research and evaluation to address community needs with stakeholders.”

Center Co-Lead April Ballard, an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences, emphasized that combining a research and education focused Center on Health and Homelessness with existing community programs has the potential to directly improve the health and well-being of Atlantans while also generating evidence on the effectiveness of programs that can be studied, replicated, disseminated and implemented around the globe.

“We are energized by the support from community partners that we’ve received and look forward to creating new partnerships as the center grows and works to find solutions to the crisis of homelessness,” Ballard said.

To learn more about the Center on Health and Homelessness, visit chh.gsu.edu.