Additional financial assistance for people with experience of homelessness trial

This Randomised Controlled Trial aims to test the effectiveness of additional financial assistance (direct cash transfer) for people experiencing homelessness.

Direct cash transfer

Giving money to people experiencing hardship, known as a direct cash transfer, has a strong evidence base from evaluations across the world as an effective route out of poverty. It gives people flexibility to make their own choices about how best to improve their lives, studies have shown. Yet, not many programmes have tested the impact of giving personal grants to people experiencing homelessness.

Cardiff University have joined with a group of like-minded organisations and individuals to take part in the UK’s first programme of cash transfers to relieve homelessness. We will ask 180 people with a recent history of street homelessness to take part in three cities: Manchester, Glasgow and Swansea.

Half of them, chosen by a lottery, will be given a personal grant as a single lump sum. The others will continue to receive the support they have previously but will not get a grant. This ground-breaking randomised controlled trial will ensure we understand the difference that money makes, or whether it does not.

Aims

The primary research questions for the impact evaluation are:

What impact does receiving additional financial assistance in a lump sum cash transfer have on participants’ housing security?
What impact does receiving additional financial assistance in a lump sum cash transfer have on participants’ financial security?

The secondary research questions involve assessing the impact of additional financial assistance are as follows:

What impact does receiving additional financial assistance in a lump sum cash transfer have on participants’ social connectedness?
What impact does receiving additional financial assistance in a lump sum cash transfer have on participants’ wellbeing?
What impact does receiving additional financial assistance in a lump sum cash transfer have on participants’ level of access to public services?
What impact does receiving additional financial assistance in a lump sum cash transfer have on participants’ contact with the justice system?

Funding and support from: