Fundamental causes of housing loss among persons diagnosed with serious and persistent mental illness: A theoretically guided test

Previous research on housing loss among severely mentally ill persons who have been placed in housing after being homeless has been largely atheoretical and has yielded inconsistent results. We develop a theory of housing loss based on identifying fundamental causes—problems in motives, means and social situation—and test these influences in a longitudinal, randomized comparison of housing alternatives. As hypothesized, individuals were more likely to lose housing if they had a history of alcohol or drug abuse, desired strongly to live independently contrary to clinician recommendations, or were African Americans placed in independent housing. Deficits in daily functioning did not explain these influences, but contributed to risk of housing loss. Our results demonstrate the importance of substance abuse, the value of distinguishing support preferences from support needs, and the necessity of explaining effects of race within a social context and thus should help to improve comparative research.