On a single night in 2018, over 194,000 individuals experienced unsheltered homelessness across the United States. Homeless outreach programs are often a first point of contact for these individuals, providing essential services, including connecting them to emergency shelter. Guided by the socio-rational choice model, this qualitative study aimed to address two questions: 1) How do experiences with outreach workers affect the way individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness determine the utility of services offered by outreach programs? 2) What specific factors related to outreach interactions are involved in street homeless individuals’ decision to utilize or reject services from homeless outreach programs? Thirty-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with street homeless individuals who had experience with homeless outreach in New York City. Interviews were first coded using a template approach followed by the use of a theory-guided approach for further analysis. Five main themes were identified that provided an understanding of individuals’ decision to engage with outreach services: credibility, transparency, offering choices, bureaucracy, and opportunity cost. This study provides insight into unsheltered individuals’ perspectives on homeless outreach workers and programs and offers suggestions for implementing micro- and macro-level changes to better meet the needs of our homeless neighbors.

在2018年的一个晚上，超过194,000人在美国各地遭受了无家可归的无家可归。无家可归者外展计划通常是这些人的第一联络点，提供基本服务，包括将他们连接到紧急避难所。在社会理性选择模型的指导下，这项定性研究旨在解决两个问题：1）与外展工作人员的经历如何影响遭受无家可归的无家可归的个人确定外展计划所提供服务的效用的方式？2）街头无家可归者决定使用或拒绝无家可归者外展计划的服务时，涉及哪些与外展互动有关的具体因素？对纽约街头无家可归者进行了38次半结构化访谈。首先使用模板方法对访谈进行编码，然后使用理论指导的方法进行进一步分析。确定了五个主要主题，这些主题提供了对个人参与推广服务的决定的理解：信誉，透明度，提供选择，官僚作风和机会成本。