Steve Metraux

Associate Professor, Biden School of Public Policy and Administration; Director Center for Community Research & Service University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Metraux has over two decades of experience with research and policy work on homelessness, affordable housing and eviction.

Contact

University of Delaware

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Media

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Biography

Stephen Metraux is Associate Professor at the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration of the University of Delaware, where he directs the Center for Community Research and Service.

Steve’s research on homelessness has included pioneering work on using administrative and survey data to better understand the impacts and costs of homelessness across a range of services systems. More generally, his research has examined how various institutional contexts intersect with homelessness, including the military, jails and prisons, and child welfare. He has worked extensively with public agencies and non-profits on using available data to better understand and evaluate their homeless, housing and related services and the people who use them.

Steve’s current research focuses on unsheltered homelessness and local responses to homelessness encampments, with projects funded by the Arnold Foundation and the City of Philadelphia. He is also continuing work on veteran homelessness that he started during his tenure as an Analyst with the VA’s National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans.

Industry Expertise

Social Services

Areas of Expertise

Homelessness
Housing Affordabiilty
Veteran Homelessness
Affordable Housing
Eviction
Impact of COVID-19 on Homelessness

Media Appearances

WA’s ‘one of a kind’ youth homelessness response shows big results

Seattle Times  online

2024-05-25

One of the biggest predictors of becoming homeless is having experienced it previously, said Stephen Metraux, Associate Professor in the Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy. “So if kids have experienced homelessness, that would put them at additional risk,” he said.

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Why King County homeless count continues, even with accuracy in doubt

Seattle Times  online

2024-02-07

Stephen Metraux, Associate Professor in the Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy, said that decreases captured in the Point-in-Time count are useful to correlate with programs and interventions that are working. He highlighted how a national drop in veteran homelessness has created a blueprint on how homelessness can be addressed through housing subsidies and wraparound services.

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Opinion | Solutions for Kensington don’t begin or end with calling the National Guard

The Philadelphia Inquirer  online

2023-12-15

For change in Kensington, the scale of the solutions must be commensurate to the scale of the problem, and we must supplant ineffective approaches with a willingness to try new things.

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Articles

Veteran Homelessness

The Routledge Handbook of Homelessness

2023

Over the past decade, veteran homelessness in the US has witnessed a steady decline. Annual point in time counts by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimate that 74,087 veterans were homeless on a given night in 2010, compared to a count of 37,252 for 2020 (Henry et al., 2021). This decline has far outpaced that of the overall US homeless population and comes after the goal of ending veteran homelessness was declared a federal policy priority. In contrast, there is a lack of research on veteran homelessness across the rest of the globe (Wilding, 2020), and no other nation can even provide a systematic estimate of the number of veterans who are homeless. While there has been a concern expressed in some nations about the extent to which veterans are vulnerable to homelessness, no other nation has identified veterans as a priority for services among the homeless population, let alone resolve to end homelessness among this group. In short, the US is conspicuous globally in the extent to which it has cast veterans as a distinct homeless subpopulation and responded to their housing and service needs.

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Health service access among homeless veterans: Health access challenges faced by homeless African American veterans

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

2022

Veteran homelessness is a public health crisis, especially among the disproportionate number of minority veterans in the homeless veteran population. African American homeless veterans in particular face unique challenges accessing appropriate health care services to meet their medical needs. Their needs are often underrepresented in the literature on veteran homelessness. Drawing together over 80 studies and government reports from the last two decades, this review provides a timely synopsis of homeless veterans’ health care access, with a particular focus on the barriers faced by African American veterans. This review employs Penchansky and Thomas’ Access Model to frame health access barriers faced by homeless veterans, dialing in on what is known about the experience of African American veterans, within the five dimensions of access: Availability, Accessibility, Accommodation, Affordability, and Acceptability. Actionable guidance and targeted interventions to address health access barriers for all veterans are delineated with a focus on the need to gather further data for African American homeless veterans and to consider tailoring interventions for this important and underserved group.

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Prior Evictions Among People Experiencing Homelessness in Delaware

Delaware Journal of Public Health

2022

Eviction is frequently a precursor to homelessness. This is an exploratory study that looks at a group of homeless adults who stayed in Delaware homeless shelters in 2019 and the extent by which their homelessness is preceded by an eviction filing. Specifically, we match records of homeless shelter use with records from a court-based database of eviction filings, both in Delaware, to determine the frequency and correlates of prior eviction among adults staying in Delaware shelter and/or transitional housing facilities in 2019. Results show that 21 percent of the people in the study group had records of eviction filings in the 2-year period prior to initial homeless services use. Recent history of eviction filings was much more prevalent among study group members who were homeless with their children (ie, with families), who were Black, and/or who were female. These findings are consistent with prior research and demonstrate the potential of interventions designed to mitigate eviction to also reduce homelessness, especially among families with children.

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Education

University of Pennsylvania

PhD

Sociology

2002

University of Texas at Arlington

MA

Urban Studies

1994

Grinnell College

BA

Philosophy

1986

Affiliations

  • Delaware Homeless Continuum of Care : Board Member
  • Public Allies Delaware : Advisory Board Member
  • Delaware Kids Count : Advisory Board Member

Languages

  • English
  • German

Event Appearances

Housing Assistance During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Anticipating the Need in Delaware.

(2020) Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration Webinar Series  Online

Housing and Justice: Avoiding Homelessness after Incarceration

(2020) Center for Evidence Based Solutions to Homelessness (Abt Associates, Inc.) Webinar  Online

Employing Your Sociological Imagination: Careers Outside of Academia

(2020) Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting.  Philadelphia, PA

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