In November, voters in the city of Louisville will elect a new mayor and Metro Council. University of Louisville social scientist Lauren Heberle and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, Louisville’s affordable housing advocacy group, are ready.��

MHC’s 2022 , titled “Toward a Just Future in Uncertain Times,” was released in June. It is the latest annual MHC report written by Heberle, director of the University of Louisville Center for Environmental Policy & Management in the College of Arts & Sciences, along with graduate student researchers.��

Heberle has contributed to the report since 2006 and written it for more than a decade. Kelly Kinahan, a former UofL assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Public Affairs, was co-author since 2017. (Kinahan has since left the university.)��

The report, at 90 pages, is the longest and most comprehensive ever, designed to be the go-to document for newly elected Louisville leaders who need current information on housing. ��

The MHC report is normally published in November, but its schedule was thrown off by the Covid-19 pandemic. That gave MHC and Heberle’s team the chance to “do a real deep dive” before the November election, she said.��

“If you don’t have it documented, it makes it harder to hold folks accountable or keep moving it forward, especially in something as complicated as housing,” Heberle said. ��

The current report will serve as a road map for the new administration. It is jam-packed with tables, charts, maps and graphics used to help MHC and others advocate for housing changes in Louisville. ��

UofL students also contribute mightily to the report, with several taking a lead on data analysis every year. Some are undergraduate students, some are graduate students. Some are sociology majors, while others are from urban and public affairs. ��

This applied research is a “way of teaching them how to make sense and talk about the importance of research for policy change, for social change, for social justice,” Heberle said.��

 “Figuring out how to understand this complicated structure of funding and policy that comes down from the federal government and shapes how Louisville is able to function is a really important learning opportunity for our students,” she added. Students have used their experience working on the report to help them apply for jobs, she said.��

Tony Curtis, executive director of MHC, noted the many years Heberle has worked on the report.��

“Producing this report is not only important to drive the fair, accessible and affordable housing conversation in Louisville and making the best housing data and analysis available for policymakers, advocates, and the community, it is a research and educational tool that Lauren uses to teach her UofL students and give those students the opportunity to engage in research that has real community impact,” Curtis said. “This is the beauty of the State of Metropolitan Housing Report collaboration between MHC, Lauren and her team.”��

There have been some years that the report focused on research topics suggested by Heberle or her students, while other years the report is in response to a specific need or request that MHC has, such as preparing for upcoming legislation.��

“They’ve understood the value of working with students and have seen that work to their benefit over the years,” Heberle said of MHC, “and have been really supportive of our students in that work.”��

As director of the in A&S, Heberle might have two or three graduate students working with her on the MHC report or another project each semester.����

Students bring different interests and talents to the project. “I’ve had folks come to the table saying, ‘I want to learn how to make better maps,’” she said, and they produced maps for the report. Additionally, she and her students often work closely with UofL’s and the .��

Learning how to obtain and report federal census data is a big part of compiling the report. Students learn how to put the information that is available — which fluctuates — into a form that MHC can use for its needs — which also fluctuates. ��

“That’s a learning experience for students,” she said. ��

Heberle also leads community engagement for the created at UofL about five years ago to support research on the cardiometabolic effects of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). As a social scientist, her focus is community engagement, or working with the public affected by the sites. UofL is one of several universities that conduct research or outreach on the sites .��

UofL News caught up with Buchino to discuss her new joint appointment, and how her research is serving as a foundation for positive change.

UofL News: Why did you decide to take on the city’s new role of Homeless Services Director?��

Buchino: Homelessness has a tremendous public health impact, and it’s an issue that has a solution. Our community has a shortage of affordable housing, and COVID has only exacerbated housing instability. Since the city has prioritized funding housing initiatives with American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, there is a real opportunity for creating systemic changes and making progress. I’m hopeful that by being in a leadership position, I can raise awareness of the root causes of houselessness while being part of enacting solutions.

UofL News: How does it feel to know your efforts have been recognized by city officials, and you’ll provide leadership and guidance to solve difficult challenges?����

Buchino: This is the dream, isn’t it? To see our research become a basis for positive change, and use our super powers for good. It’s truly humbling that I have been asked to serve the community in this way.

UofL News: Much of your research and community-engagement seems to have led you to this juncture. Explain a little about this journey.������

Buchino: As an occupational therapist, I worked in community-based practice settings to support individuals with chronic and persistent mental illness who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. When I transitioned to public health, it was because I witnessed how systemic gaps and barriers perpetuated poor health instead of supporting wellness, and my research has always been through that lens.

Two years ago, I led a team of UofL researchers in examining national best practices and our own system of care, providing recommendations for policy and system-level changes. After that report, Louisville Metro leadership, through the Homelessness Task Force, embraced our recommendations, and I have continued to be engaged in the city’s work since then.

UofL News: You have a clear passion to address houselessness. What fuels that passion?����

Buchino: I am inspired by the people I have met throughout my career and volunteer positions. Housing is a right. Housing saves lives.

More often than not, a person becomes houseless��not��because of their own failure, but because systems fail them. Losing housing is traumatic, and yet we require people in crisis to navigate a complex and overwhelming system to find the resources they need, when our community should have provided those resources to prevent everyone from being unhoused. There’s no justice in that.

UofL News: Your time is now split between UofL and the city. How will your continued research and expertise as a faculty member inform changes you’ll be able to implement in the community?��

Buchino: The (HSD) aims to make data-driven decisions about how we can be strategic in our approach to reduce the number of gaps and barriers that we see both inside Louisville Metro government and within the system of care.

Personally, my research has aimed to advance equity and elevate the voices of those with lived experiences. Often, we don’t ask people how we can help, and make assumptions that what we do as professionals will work for them. The unhoused population is creative, resilient and deserve to be included in the problem-solving process.

UofL News: What initiatives do you hope to lead as Homeless Services Director?

Buchino: I’m excited that the HSD is involved in the ARP projects that will both serve our unhoused neighbors and increase the affordable housing inventory. Beyond housing, the 2019 report provided seven recommendations toward systemic improvement, and Louisville Metro adopted those recommendations as a strategic plan. HSD brings the capacity to address those strategies, as well as to increase coordination and communication between providers, policy makers and the community.

UofL News:��Anything else you’d like to share?����

Buchino: Addressing homelessness is a community issue, and not something that one department, one organization or even one sector can resolve. We need to create community-wide synergy around solutions. To learn more about root causes of homelessness and solutions, visit . ��

“About 50% of adults with severe mental illness have a co-occurring substance abuse disorder,” said Wellspring CEO and Kent alumna Katharine Dobbins.

The goal is to help people become free of homelessness, engage in recovery and improve their quality of life through a community-based approach.

The nearly $2 million project is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through its Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It is designed to boost specialized training to serve 180 Louisville adults via Wellspring, a behavioral health agency with a 38-year history of providing mental health services.

“Obviously the issue of people having both mental health and physical problems is a major concern in Louisville,” said Bibhuti Sar, UofL social work professor and the grant’s lead investigator, who pointed to the efforts of Wellspring and other local groups working together to address homelessness. “The Kent School of Social Work and the University of Louisville strongly support the well-being of the community. We welcome the partnership of Wellspring to enhance their efforts and experience to do that work.”

Working with other community partners such as the Coalition for the Homeless and Louisville Metro Housing Authority, the project will identify some of Louisville’s most vulnerable adults living on the streets with both disorders and will seek to provide them with housing and services designed to stabilize their lives.

“This will be a life-changing program,” Dobbins said. “It helps move a person along the path of recovery toward the goals they want to achieve. We will take a harm-reduction approach, but critical life experiences serve as opportunities to help individuals make positive changes.”

Participants will have a support team that includes a therapist, case manager, nurse practitioner and a peer support professional. This team, in conjunction with the Kent School, will develop skills in using evidence-based methods that help integrate “trauma-informed” care for participants. UofL will bring in national experts for training in evidence-based interventions. Sar said he hoped the training will occur this summer with services to begin in early fall.

“This grant will help our staff hone and improve their skills in evidence-based practices,” Dobbins said.

Those practices include integrated dual disorder treatment, which addresses both problems (mental health and substance use) simultaneously with the same team; motivational interviewing, which guides people toward change; and a “housing first” model, which uses supportive services to help chronically homeless people with serious mental illness and substance use disorders.

The Kent School team includes Martin Hall, an associate professor with experience in researching substance use issues, who will lead the evaluation part of the grant to ascertain the program’s effectiveness. Jim Guinn will be the project’s daily coordinator, and Sar said the team will hire a research assistant.

“We also want to understand the impact of services on consumers in the sense of improving their functioning and well-being,” Sar said.

Partnering organizations also will measure outcomes including how many homeless people get housed and how quickly and whether they maintain housing for a year or more. Other measurements will assess improvement to their quality of life and whether their psychiatric conditions changed.

“Our goal is to get people into independent housing, their own apartments with their own amenities,” Dobbins said. “We provide supportive services. We hope to get people into treatment as well, using these evidence-based practices.”

Continuing the UofL connections, Dobbins has a Kent social work degree and Wellspring program manager Paul Bliss has been a Kent adjunct faculty member; Sar hopes later to involve Kent students in the work as well.

“It’s rewarding to see our graduates making a difference in the community, and the chance to partner with them as alumni is fantastic,” Sar said.

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