For Immediate Release: Thursday, December 21, 2017
Councilmember George Leventhal Earns
Doctoral Degree in Public Policy
“The Stubborn Persistence of Homelessness” is the focus of
Councilmember Leventhal’s PhD dissertation.
ROCKVILLE, Md., December 20, 2017— Councilmember George Leventhal has earned The Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Policy from The University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Councilmember Leventhal, who chairs the council’s Health and Human Services Committee, has been working to complete his doctoral degree since the fall of 2007. To earn his doctorate, Councilmember Leventhal completed ten courses, passed five comprehensive exams, defended his prospectus, and researched, wrote and defended his doctoral dissertation, titled “The Stubborn Persistence of Homelessness”.
In “The Stubborn Persistence of Homelessness”, Councilmember Leventhal discusses the challenges communities face in ending chronic and veterans’ homelessness. Among these are the difficulty in measuring whether that outcome is being achieved. Dr. Leventhal’s dissertation specifically seeks to assess whether the 100,000 Homes Campaign, which enlisted 186 communities across America (including Montgomery County, Maryland), between 2010 and 2014, had a statistically significant effect on reducing chronic homelessness. The dissertation finds that it did not, although it had positive effects by helping communities better understand the inflow of persons into chronic homelessness, and by establishing evidence-based practices for reducing chronic homelessness.