Thomas Byrne, MSW, PhD

Bio

Thomas Byrne, PhD, MSW is an associate professor at the Boston University School of Social Work.  His work focuses broadly on the causes, consequences and policy responses to homelessness and housing insecurity. He is also affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, where he has conducted research on homelessness and health services use among veterans for nearly a decade. Dr. Byrne’s work in these areas relies primarily on the use of administrative data collected by the homeless assistance, health, criminal justice and other public service system.  He has published more than three dozen scholarly articles in journals such as American Journal of Public Health, Health Services Research, and Housing Policy Debate. His work has been supported by, among others, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development program, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  He is currently working on a project supported by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research that involves the linkage of data from the emergency shelter system in three large American cities with records from the Social Security Administration to assess the extent to which receipt of Social Security benefits help facilitate exits from homelessness among older adults. At CISWH he is involved in the HIV, Housing & Employment Project and Does the Value of Housing Assistance Impact Health Outcomes?