Abstract
There is an urgent need to better understand and address racial inequity and homelessness in the United States. This Banded Dissertation contributes to that work by examining how
homelessness response systems can perpetuate or challenge inequity through specific kinds of community and organizational practices. In three scholarly products, different elements of homelessness response are addressed. The first Product examines the development of permanent supportive housing programs and presents a conceptual framework for integrating principles of equity, community participation, function, and trauma informed care into the design process for new projects. The second Product presents qualitative research that explores how frontline homelessness response providers perceive race and learn about anti-racist and culturally affirming service interventions. The third Product addresses the Community Mental Health Act and presents a textual and historical analysis of early efforts to design a community-based mental health care system that did not include input from the community. Grounded in social work’s commitment to anti-racist research and practice, this scholarship offers models for analyzing the design of community-based systems and recognizing the ways racial and other inequities are reproduced within them. It also offers a framework for interrupting that reproduction and transforming our community practices to create the equitable homelessness response system we need.