Do federal grants for medication-assisted opioid treatment reduce homelessness?

Abstract

The opioid crisis has worsened economic conditions, increased unemployment, evictions, and homelessness in the United States. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) provides evidence-based medications integrated with counseling and behavioral therapies to reduce adverse effects of opioid misuse (e.g., withdrawal symptoms) among individuals with opioid use disorder.

The federal government awarded $115 million in medication-assisted treatment for prescription drug and opioid addiction (MAT-PDOA) grants to local entities between 2015 and 2018. The grants were intended to enhance MAT access in the communities. However, it is unknown whether MAT-PDOA decreases an important consequence of the epidemic in communities: homelessness.

Using an interaction weighted difference-in-differences event study design, we find MAT-PDOA grants did not relate to changes in homelessness in communities. Although MAT may be effective at treating opioid use disorder at the individual level, more efforts are needed to scale up its effectiveness toward alleviating homelessness at the community level.