Evaluation of the Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST) Program

NOTE: This is a free resource, NOT an eLearning course. There is no pretest or posttest, and you will not receive a certificate of completion for reviewing this resource.

Resource Overview: Evaluation of the Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST) Program, an interactive publication, provides a summary of an evaluation that was conducted on the Salt Lake City (Utah) Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST) program. The report, which evaluates the three primary components of the HOST program—donations to homeless service providers, the homeless support group, and collaborative street outreach, is a valuable resource for anyone interested in homeless outreach efforts.

The Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST) program was developed to bring Salt Lake City (Utah) police and community outreach workers together to identify homeless individuals and connect them to community resources. The objectives were to encourage police to make referrals to services rather than issue citations and to decrease panhandling by encouraging the public to give money to homeless service providers instead.

In 2012, the Salt Lake City Police Department received an award from the COPS Office to expand the HOST program to fund a public awareness campaign, coordinate strategic planning efforts, and train homeless individuals to assist with outreach efforts. Salt Lake City contracted with the Utah Criminal Justice Center to examine the impact of the award on the program's services and personnel. This report evaluates three primary components of the program: donations to homeless service providers, the homeless support group, and collaborative street outreach.

Target Audience: All community stakeholders interested in homeless outreach efforts

Authors: Erin B. Worwood, MCJ; Jessica Seawright, BSW; Robert P. Butters, PhD

Original Publication: October 5, 2016

Cooperative Partners: This interactive report is based on the 2016 written publication of the same name, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). This online version was developed by the Virginia Center for Policing Innovation (VCPI) and was supported by cooperative agreement 2018-CK-WXK-001 by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).