ABSTRACT
This chapter reports on the findings of a longitudinal randomised controlled trial (RCT) that evaluated the impact of an intensive intervention intended to end long-term homelessness. The chapter will be of interest to people considering using RCTs to evaluate service interventions targeting highly marginalised and vulnerable populations. The chapter starts by arguing that RCTs are an ethical and effective way of understanding the impact of service interventions but that there are challenges in administering them in a dynamic, resource-poor environment such as a welfare agency. The chapter then turns its attention to key findings. The chapter concludes that RCTs provide robust data that policy makers ‘listen to’.
