March 2023: Dr. Thomas Byrne (SSW Social Welfare Policy)
Thomas Byrne believes that everyone should have a safe, stable and comfortable place to live—and in fact, that it is a fundamental prerequisite for a fulfilling and dignified life. This conviction motivates both his scholarship and professional service. His research focuses on homelessness, housing and veterans and has been published in journals including Health Affairs, American Journal of Public Health and Housing Policy Debate. Outside of BU, Byrne serves as an investigator for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Healthcare Outcomes & Implementation Research (CHOIR) in Bedford, Mass., and at the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans. He is also active in a number of initiatives to prevent and end homelessness in Massachusetts. He serves on the board of directors at Hearth, Inc., a Boston-based organization dedicated to eliminating homelessness among the elderly through prevention, placement and housing programs, and on the City of Boston’s Mayor’s Advisory Committee to End Homelessness. Previously, Byrne was a member of the ad hoc Committee to Estimate Housing Need for Massachusetts for the State Interagency Council on Homelessness and the data working group for the City of Boston Strategic Planning Group to Prevent and End Youth & Young Adult Homelessness. Learn more about Professor Byrne in this interview.
What made you decide to be a social scientist/why does social science matter to you?
Like many things in my life, becoming a social scientist happened mainly through serendipity and my interest in learning new things. I was an economics major in college and really loved the concepts and way of thinking about the world that my undergraduate economics courses provided me. At the same time, I was doing some volunteer work with people experiencing homelessness and was thinking more deeply about how and why we as a society choose (or choose not to) address social problems. Somewhere along the way, I came upon a New Yorker article that discussed the research of my future PhD mentor (Dennis Culhane of University of Pennsylvania). The upshot of his work was that, in addition to the clear moral wrong that homelessness represents, the opportunity cost of not addressing homelessness is actually quite high—because folks who are experiencing homelessness make extensive and expensive use of emergency shelters, hospitals, and other public services, it can actually be cheaper to provide people with housing than to allow them to remain homeless. The idea of using some of the concepts I had learned as an undergraduate economics major to help address an issue I had come to view as a fundamental societal wrong really appealed to me. I have to admit though, that entering graduate school, I was completely green in terms of what conducting applied social science research entailed in reality. I had a steep learning curve, and thankfully, I had patient and supportive mentors who treated me more as a colleague than a student.
Over time, I’ve come to really appreciate the role that high quality applied social research can play in shaping how we as society understand the causes, consequences and ultimately solutions to important problems. I think that is ultimately why social science matters. I would say that lately my favorite thing about being a social scientist is learning from others who are far smarter than me and who are doing really creative and interesting work. On at least a weekly basis, I’ll come across a new study that addresses a unique question, uses a cool data source or employs a clever design/new method. While there is always a little part of me that thinks “Wow, I wish I had thought of that,” I really just enjoy the opportunity to learn from great work others are doing and think how I can incorporate some of what they are doing into making my own work better.
Can you tell us about a recent research project that you’re excited about?
I’ve been working on a project with my BUSSW colleague Dan Miller and a former BUSSW PhD student (and now faculty at UCLA) Maggie Thomas on a project that uses a really cool dataset that links administrations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Health Interview Survey. We’re using these data to look at the impact of federal low-income housing assistance programs (the monetary value of such assistance in particular) on health outcomes. The project got a little sidetracked by the pandemic, but what we are finding is that the value of housing assistance impacts health mainly via an income effect: that is, by freeing up additional resources for households, it reduces the odds that people will forego medical care due to cost-related reasons. Fingers crossed, a paper reporting these findings should be out soon, and we are planning some additional follow up work, including about whether the impact of housing assistance programs on health and social outcomes varies depending on the underlying housing affordability context. Our theory is that the impact of housing assistance will be stronger in areas with greater housing affordability challenges. I’m excited about this work because the issue of housing affordability is one that is rising on the policy agenda at the local, state and federal level, and their policy context around housing is highly dynamic right now, with lots of interesting options on the table for federal low-income housing assistance programs and otherwise. I think our work can contribute something important to these conversations.
What is the best piece of professional advice you ever received?
As with most academics, writing is a big part of my job, and while I think I’ve gotten better at writing over time, it is still a challenge and takes a lot of time to do well. But, I remember when I was working on my dissertation a mentor and friend who I’ve been lucky enough to continue working with over the years just said to me “You just gotta get something down on paper and work from there.” Her advice has always stuck with me and I’ve followed it time, and time again when feeling stuck writing.
What is your favorite course you’ve taught at BU?
Since starting at BU, I’ve taught a two-sequence course to our Master of Social Work (MSW) students that focuses on social policy. Many of our MSW students are more clinically oriented—they are interested primarily in doing more therapeutic work with individuals or groups—and don’t always see how policy is relevant to their future work, which of course it is as policy affects the context in which they are working and the people they will be working with. So, helping students come to appreciate this fact and to understand the importance of social policy is really fun for me.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself.
Hmm. That’s a tough one. How about two facts?
First, in 1st grade, I came in 3rd place in the citywide spelling bee for the Boston Public Schools, representing the Lee School in Dorchester. The word that I was eliminated on was “medicine” and even though I was 3rd, my principal, Ms. Kelly, was still nice enough to take me out to lunch afterwards. But, in terms of my spelling ability, it’s been all downhill since then.
Second, I try to run-commute to BU at least a few days a week. It’s about a 6 mile run each way—sometimes I run both ways, and sometimes I take the T one way and run the other. Most of my run is just the length of the Emerald Necklace and each time I do it, I just think of how lucky I am to live in and work in City where I can get to and from work that way.