Kristin Ferguson

AzHAC is a tri-university collaborative among Arizona’s three public universities: Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University that uses data collection, analysis, and dissemination to support policy and practice communities in preventing and intervening in homelessness across the state. With funding from the Garcia Family Foundation and Amazon Web Services’ Health Equity Initiative, this initiative uses data analytics, predictive modeling, and qualitative inquiry to inform decision-making and care coordination.

AzHAC’s work has multiple aims: 1. Identify and geographically map the incidence and prevalence of homelessness among children, youth and adults at the city, county and state levels, with particular focus on underrepresented and underserved populations; 2. Identify the health and psychosocial characteristics most likely to produce homelessness and result in successful exits from homelessness, including identifying characteristics and costs associated with high utilizers of HMIS services; 3. Identify which programs/interventions are most effective in producing positive outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness; 4. Build and test a predictive model to identify risk factors to prevent homelessness as well as interventions to reduce homelessness; 5. Build a social determinants of health (SDOH) housing assessment tool to identify characteristics and services among communities that effectively keep their residents housed; and 6. Prioritize analytical work around homelessness for DWEL (SOW under development), AHCCCS (H2O), and ADOH.