Homelessness in Maryland: Evaluating the Solutions Program
This paper examines homelessness in Maryland as a growing public health concern and proposes a critical evaluation of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's Homelessness Solutions Program (HSP). It identifies the target population — homeless individuals in Maryland, estimated at over 50,000 — and explains why addressing this issue is essential given the strong link between housing instability, poverty, and poor health. The paper outlines key evaluation questions related to program effectiveness, cost-efficiency, cultural competency, and participant outcomes. Drawing on existing assessments by the Maryland Interagency Council on Homelessness, it highlights gaps between program spending and measurable improvements, ultimately arguing that a rigorous evaluation can help identify opportunities to strengthen homelessness interventions and contribute meaningfully to public health.
- Introduction: Overview of Maryland homelessness and paper purpose
- Target Population and Public Health Importance: Who is homeless in Maryland and why it matters
- The Homelessness Solutions Program: Description and history of Maryland's HSP
- Proposed Evaluation Questions: Key questions to guide program evaluation
- Expanding on Existing Evaluations: MICH findings, funding gaps, and proposed contributions
- Conclusion: Summary of findings and evaluation value
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper connects a concrete state-level program (Maryland's HSP) to broader public health principles, grounding its argument in both policy and human impact.
- It uses a structured, numbered format to logically guide the reader through the problem, the program, evaluation questions, and existing findings — making the argument easy to follow.
- The author demonstrates critical thinking by acknowledging the HSP's reported successes while pointedly noting that homelessness has continued to worsen despite significant public investment.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates how to frame a program evaluation proposal using prospective evaluation questions. Rather than simply describing a program, the author constructs a set of focused, answerable questions — covering outcomes tracking, cost-effectiveness, cultural competency, and post-housing support — that a real evaluation could operationalize. This technique shows the reader how evaluation planning begins with identifying measurable gaps between stated goals and observed outcomes.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a broad problem statement situating Maryland homelessness in a national context, then narrows progressively: it defines the target population, introduces the HSP, enumerates evaluation questions, reviews prior evaluations and their limitations, and closes with a synthesis in the conclusion. This funnel structure — from general problem to specific evaluative framework — is a common and effective pattern in public health policy writing at the undergraduate level.
Introduction
Like many other states, homelessness in Maryland is a serious issue today. Despite ongoing efforts by the federal and state governments, Maryland has continued to experience an increase in homelessness in recent years, especially among families and individuals suffering the combination of poverty and a dearth of affordable housing (Decker et al., 2022). While some of this trend is attributable to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its negative effect on the national economy, a wide array of chronic issues comprises the complex problem of homelessness in Maryland (The Maryland Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2022). Moreover, some people choose to remain homeless for a constellation of personal reasons despite the adversity of the condition, including most especially substance abuse and mental illness.
Consequently, identifying viable strategies to improve the effectiveness of homeless interventions represents a timely and important enterprise. The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of homelessness in Maryland and explain why it is important to address this target population. An overview of the program proposed for evaluation is followed by a discussion of the evaluation questions most salient in addressing this problem. Further, an assessment of how the proposed evaluation will expand on existing work and a discussion of other evaluations of this program and their findings are followed by a description of the potential contributions the proposed evaluation can make to public health.
Target Population and Public Health Importance
The target population of interest in the proposed evaluation consists of homeless individuals in Maryland. Although precise figures are not available, state and federal officials estimate the number of homeless in Maryland at more than 50,000 people. A growing body of research indicates that a number of factors contribute to homelessness, but there is an inextricable relationship between homelessness and public health threats that makes this issue important to address. In this regard, one authority emphasizes that "people typically experience homelessness because they can't afford housing — which is often perpetuated by things like poor health. The connection between poverty, housing, and health is close and direct" (Homelessness in Maryland, 2023, para. 5).
Because many state-level interventions for homelessness rely solely on taxpayer money for funding, it is essential to evaluate this programming to determine if there are gaps in coverage and other opportunities for improvement. According to Adams and Neville (2020), "Integral to health professional practice is the development and delivery of initiatives aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. Given that many of these initiatives are publicly funded, an [evaluation] should be included for these initiatives" (p. 1). Therefore, evaluating health programs designed to address homelessness is an essential element in achieving optimal outcomes.
The Homelessness Solutions Program
The health program proposed for evaluation is the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's Homelessness Solutions Program (HSP). Although the HSP does not articulate a specific mission or vision statement, the organization reports that "the [HSP] serves as a statewide response to address the issue of homelessness in Maryland, providing technical support and funding to Continuums of Care and Local Homeless Coalitions which coordinate funding and resources for service providers across the state" (Homeless Solutions Program, 2023, para. 1).
The HSP was developed and implemented in 2017 in response to the growing public health threat of homelessness. The state's annual report on homelessness notes that in 2014, "Maryland agencies came together to create a statewide Homelessness Solutions Program (HSP) to provide a coordinated crisis response for addressing homelessness and begin to align homelessness programs across the state to national and federal best practices" (Annual Report on Homelessness, 2022, p. 17). As discussed further below, the HSP has been successful in some areas of its operation, but the problem of homelessness in Maryland continues to worsen for reasons that defy easy explanation. Consequently, the proposed evaluation will seek answers to several relevant questions.
Conclusion
The research showed that homelessness in Maryland has been increasing in recent years despite efforts by the federal and state governments. The research also showed that homelessness is a complex issue with multiple causes, including most especially poverty and a lack of affordable housing, but the problem has also been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding impact on the national economy. In response to this need, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's Homelessness Solutions Program was proposed for a critical evaluation using a series of questions intended to assess the current effectiveness of this programming in order to identify opportunities for improvement. Finally, the proposed evaluation will serve to build on existing work in this area in ways that contribute meaningfully to public health.
References
Adams, J. & Neville, S. (2020). Program evaluation for health professionals: What it is, what it isn't. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 1–11.
Decker, M. R., Grace, K. T., Holliday, C. N., Bevilacqua, K. G., Kaur, A., & Miller, J. (2022). Safe and stable housing for intimate partner violence survivors, Maryland, 2019–2020. American Journal of Public Health, 112(6), 865–870.
Homelessness in Maryland. (2023). Healthcare for the Homeless. Retrieved from
Homeless Solutions Program. (2023). Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. Retrieved from
The Maryland Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2022). Annual report on homelessness. Annapolis: Department of Housing and Community Development.
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