Medical-legal Partnerships to Prevent Evictions and Homelessness Among Veterans

Description

The legal team in medical-legal partnerships works with healthcare providers to improve their clients' lives. It is unknown whether this approach is better than providing usual legal services, with no special emphasis on non-legal matters and no particular collaboration with healthcare providers. The investigators propose to randomly assign 300 Veterans with housing-related legal problems to either legal help from a medical-legal partnership or help from lawyers in the community. The investigators will follow the randomized Veterans in this study for one year to determine if there is a difference between the two groups of Veterans in their housing situations and their mental health. The investigators will also interview Veterans in both groups about their experience of the legal services they have received.

Conditions

Homelessness, Mental Health

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

The legal team in medical-legal partnerships works with healthcare providers to improve their clients' lives. It is unknown whether this approach is better than providing usual legal services, with no special emphasis on non-legal matters and no particular collaboration with healthcare providers. The investigators propose to randomly assign 300 Veterans with housing-related legal problems to either legal help from a medical-legal partnership or help from lawyers in the community. The investigators will follow the randomized Veterans in this study for one year to determine if there is a difference between the two groups of Veterans in their housing situations and their mental health. The investigators will also interview Veterans in both groups about their experience of the legal services they have received.

Medical-legal Partnerships to Prevent Evictions and Homelessness Among Veterans

Medical-legal Partnerships to Prevent Evictions and Homelessness Among Veterans

Condition
Homelessness
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

West Haven

VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT, West Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06516-2770

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Annual non-VA income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level
  • * Has a legal problem related to housing (e.g., eviction, rent arrears, housing violation)
  • * Engaged in a VA mental health or homeless program
  • * Able to provide informed consent
  • * Match income level CVLC uses for service eligibility
  • * Participants will be recruited from zip codes in which the team and CVLC will be recruiting from
  • * Has been assigned a conservator of person
  • * Will not be able to complete follow-up assessments (e.g., moving away)
  • * Already receiving civil legal aid from Connecticut Veterans Legal Program

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Collaborators and Investigators

VA Office of Research and Development,

Marc I. Rosen, MD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven Campus, West Haven, CT

Study Record Dates

2026-10-30