Tel Aviv Officials Seek Out BUSSW Faculty for Expertise on Homelessness and Substance Use

A global social work perspective

Delegates from Israel working on behalf of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality recently met with BUSSW faculty to learn about effective program models and intervention strategies for addressing homelessness and addiction in urban areas. The delegates are currently working on an initiative that will address a growing reality of substance use and homelessness in the ancient city.

Before embarking on their east coast fact-finding trip in October, the delegates sought recommendations from Boston University’s Initiative on Cities to identify subject matter experts at the university. The search led them to School of Social Work assistant professor Thomas Byrne, a researcher whose work focuses on homelessness and housing insecurity.

Byrne learned from the delegates – who include Tel Aviv-Yafo’s deputy mayor and directors of the municipality’s principal social service agencies, among others – that the regions of Tel Aviv experiencing the highest rates of homelessness are also experiencing high rates of substance use. To help provide context to the challenges the delegates were facing in Tel Aviv, Byrne invited fellow faculty members Ruth Paris and Christina Lee to share their expertise in substance use disorders and intervention.

The conversation helped bring the Tel Aviv delegates one step closer to developing what they’re currently calling the Urban Challenge Program – a new system for treating and managing housing insecurity in Tel Aviv, developed from a knowledge base that spans the globe.

By Lily Rothman, BUSSW staff