Abstract
In its first two phases, the Secure Jobs Initiative in Massachusetts helped well over 900 homeless parents to enter employment while they worked to stabilize their housing. Designed to demonstrate a service model that integrates housing and employment supports into one service package, Secure Jobs helps families to begin the journey toward self-sufficiency more efficiently and comprehensively. Phase One of Secure Jobs, launched in the spring of 2013 for families in the HomeBASE program in five regions of Massachusetts, saw widespread success: Over two-thirds of participants entered new employment, with wages on average over $10 an hour.
In Phase Two, in order to connect homeless families to employment as close to the beginning of their homelessness as possible, the state and the Fireman Foundation expanded the model to provide services to families in from additional housing programs. And they opened the program to two additional regions in the state. Secure Jobs is now in its third Phase, and will enroll over 1500 participants in total by the end of June 2016.
This brief explores this change in implementation and the outcomes for families from the first two Phases, coming from different housing programs, in terms of their engagement in the program and employment attainment. We find that completing vocational training significantly improves employment attainment, and that there are no significant differences in participation or employment outcomes between those families living in shelter or motel
and those living in their own apartments with a rental subsidy. This latter finding suggests that although living in shelter might seem to present barriers to engagement and employment that do not exist in independent living, the Secure Jobs model may provide the right supports to overcome these barriers.