At a glance
ClinicalIndex Comparison Record- ✓Age 16–24 years
- ✓Left homelessness within the past 12 months
- ✓Currently living or planning to live in market rent housing
- ✓Able to provide free and informed consent
- ✕In imminent danger of losing housing and unable to sustain market rent housing with the subsidy
- ✕Currently receiving rent subsidies
- ✕Enrolled in a program or study with similar features to the TYOH 2.0 intervention
Standardized by ClinicalIndex from the ClinicalTrials.gov record · verify against the source.
Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness 2.0: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of a Rent Subsidy and Identity Capital Intervention for Youth Exiting Homelessness
In Brief
A clinical study evaluating Identity Capital Intervention (Coach + Co-designed Leadership Guide) and Monthly Rent Subsidies for Homelessness and Youth. Completed, enrolled 40 participants across 1 site.
Detailed Summary
Introduction: This 12-month pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) built on previous community-engaged work and explored whether portable rent subsidies and an intervention targeting identity capital (purpose, control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem) hold promise as a way to facilitate socioeconomic inclusion for youth (age 16 - 24 years) exiting homelessness and living in market rent housing in Ontario, Canada. All (n = 40) participants received rent subsidies; half were randomly assigned an identity capital intervention (co-designed leadership guide + coach). Methods and analysis: This study employed a convergent mixed methods, two-arm parallel RCT, open-label design with 1:1 allocation embedded within a Community Based Participatory Action Research framework and underpinned by Critical Social Theory. Specifically, the objectives and measures were: 1. Primary - to examine whether targeted economic and identity-based supports are a feasible and acceptable way to foster socioeconomic inclusion. Measures: recruitment/enrolment/dropout metrics; self-report composite checklists regarding intervention engagement; coaching session attendance; qualitative focus groups. 2. Secondary - to assess differences between targeted economic and identity-based supports (intervention group) and economic supports only (control group) at the 12-month primary endpoint with respect to self-reported socioeconomic inclusion measures of: 1) education, employment and training (EET); 2) housing security; and 3) identity capital. Measures: self-report composite EET checklist; self-report measures of housing security and identity capital. 3. Exploratory - to explore whether the estimated effect of the intervention differed by baseline variables or level of engagement with the intervention. Measures: select variables from the baseline demographic questionnaire; GAIN-Short Screener questionnaire for those in the intervention group. Ethics and dissemination: This study received ethical approval from the Unity Health Toronto Research Ethics Board. The investigators will continue working alongside community partners - including youth with lived expertise - to disseminate findings broadly and in diverse formats.
Study Details
Timeline
Interventions
Young people randomized to the intervention group will engage in a co-designed leadership guide with their assigned coach. The co-designed leadership guide contains 12 chapters with the overarching aim of enhancing identity capital along with providing strategies to achieve participant-identified goals. Each chapter contains four activities (e.g., self-reflection exercise or listening to a podcast). Ideally, youth will complete one chapter every month. Each young person in this group will meet individually with their coach every two weeks and with a larger group of 10 youth participants and their coach every month.
All study participants will receive a monthly rent subsidy ($800 for those living in Toronto; $700 for those living in St. Catharine's or Hamilton due to differences in cost of living) for 12 months.