A Rent Subsidy and Identity Capital Intervention for Youth Exiting Homelessness: Protocol for the Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness 2.0 Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Abstract

Background: For young people who have experienced homelessness, relative housing stability alone is insufficient to achieve socioeconomic inclusion. There is little peer-reviewed research investigating interventions targeting socioeconomic inclusion outcomes for youth who have experienced homelessness. Our previous community-engaged work signaled that identity capital (purpose, control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem) may mediate socioeconomic inclusion outcomes for youth exiting homelessness. This 12-month pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) explores whether portable rent subsidies and an intervention targeting identity capital hold promise as a way to facilitate socioeconomic inclusion for youth exiting homelessness and living in market rent housing in Ontario, Canada.

Objective: The objectives of this study were (1) to examine the feasibility and acceptability of an RCT of targeted economic and identity-based supports to foster socioeconomic inclusion (primary objective), (2) to estimate the effect of adding identity-based supports to economic supports (intervention group) compared with economic supports alone (control group) at the 12-month end point with respect to self-reported proxy indicators of socioeconomic inclusion (secondary objective), and (3) to explore, among the intervention group, whether the estimated effect of the intervention differs by baseline variables or level of engagement with the intervention (exploratory objective).

Methods: This study is a convergent mixed methods, 2-arm parallel RCT, open-label design with 1:1 allocation. All youth participants (n=40) received rent subsidies; half were randomly assigned an identity capital intervention (co-designed leadership guide+coach). The overall study was guided by community-based participatory action research axiology. The qualitative component used a qualitative descriptive design underpinned by critical social theory. The measures used were (1) recruitment, enrolment, and dropout metrics; self-report composite checklists regarding intervention engagement; coaching session attendance; and qualitative focus groups (primary measures); (2) education, employment, and training; housing security; and identity capital (secondary measures); and (3) impact of baseline variables (eg, participant demographics such as gender or mental health symptoms as measured by the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs-Short Screener) or level of engagement with intervention (coaching session attendance) on secondary measures (exploratory measures).

Results: Recruitment and enrolment began March 1, 2023, and ended June 19, 2023. Data collection began March 7, 2023, and ended June 17, 2024. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses concluded on August 20, 2024.

Conclusions: Findings from this RCT will help inform the way we conceptualize the types of supports that are necessary to sustain successful exits from homelessness. The intervention was co-designed with youth who have experienced homelessness, and their voices will continue to inform the next iteration of this work.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05781503; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05781503.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/66210.