(Courtesy of Tom Byrne)
For people with stable housing, homelessness often comes to mind as a distant policy issue or a statistic, something more familiar in data than in the experiences of real people living without a home.
For Tom Byrne, an associate professor at the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW) and BC ’06, those numbers tell a deeper story.
As a researcher who studies homelessness through economic and policy lenses, Byrne is committed to using data to determine its causes and find viable solutions.
“If we want to be a socially just society, we have to think about how we can provide the most basic fundamental needs people have, which is a safe, decent place to live for everybody,” Byrne said.
Although he majored in economics as an undergraduate at BC, his experiences as a volunteer ultimately inspired him to pursue research in the field.
“I became interested in the issue from a social justice standpoint and thinking about the fact that people not having a home was a fundamental social wrong,” Byrne said.
His interest led him to a New York Times article detailing research from a University of Pennsylvania economics professor. It tied Byrne’s volunteerism to his economics background in a way he had not considered before, and he followed that article’s trail all the way to a UPenn doctoral program.
“What [the UPenn’s professor’s] research had shown was that by providing people with a home, you can actually save money in terms of foregone public service costs for shelter, health care and other things,” Byrne said. “And that really resonated with me, because one of the fundamental and first concepts that I learned as an economics major here at BC was the concept of opportunity cost.”
During his time in graduate school, one of Byrne’s most significant research opportunities drew on data that the government only began collecting in the 2000s, making his work one of the first of its kind.
“In my graduate work, I was one of the first people to actually try and do a study using those data to try and look at community level factors that are explaining variation in rates of homelessness,” Byrne said.
In his research, Byrne utilizes data in two ways—examining the root causes of homelessness and analyzing policies that could help resolve those causes.
“So it’s about understanding, on the one hand, what are the kind of structural factors that drive homelessness, and then, on the other hand, kind of understanding what policy factors might help reduce aggregate rates of homelessness,” Byrne said.
Byrne’s research shows that homelessness cannot be separated from the systemic factors that shape it—factors that may be more prevalent now than in the past, he said. His work also highlights emerging trends, such as the growing number of elderly people without a home.
“Every year since 2016 we’ve had annual increases in the number of people who are experiencing homelessness, and I think that’s tied up in these growing problems of housing affordability that are affecting the entire country,” Byrne said.
Byrne has found that preventative approaches not only reduce costs but also drastically reduce the likelihood of someone experiencing homelessness—even when systemic factors put them at risk.
“If you give prevention services to people, it’s going to have a long term impact on their housing stability. It’s going to be associated with reduced use of inpatient hospital care, reduced risk of mortality,” Byrne said.
After his graduate program, Byrne collaborated with Zillow on a study that identified housing affordability as the strongest driver of homelessness.
“When the median rent-to-median-income ratio starts to exceed about 32 percent, you see a real, sharp increase in rates of homelessness, which is basically a story about how, at the community level, the availability of affordable housing that’s driving increases in homelessness,” said Byrne.
Byrne’s research, featured in media outlets like the New York Times and in President Biden’s 2024 Economic Report of the President, has helped reframe how people understand homelessness.
“I think that counteracts some of the common narratives that people have that might want to think about homelessness is really being, at its core, a problem that’s driven by high rates of mental health or substance use disorders,” Byrne said.“In fact, the research doesn’t bear that out at all.”
Despite the success he has found in his work, one of Byrne’s former colleagues, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, BC ’98, said humility is one of his defining traits.
“He’s very understated, which isn’t very common in academia,” said Montgomery, a professor of health behavior at the University of Alabama Birmingham. “He approaches his research without any ego.”
For Byrne, research can’t exist in a vacuum. He sees his position as important not only in the analysis he conducts, but also in advocating for the homeless population by sharing his findings with policymakers.
“I don’t want to be a person that just sits in my office and talks only to other academics,” Byrne said. “That’s something that I’ve tried to do throughout my career is engage with people who are going to be in a position to actually use this evidence in a way that can ultimately drive changes that improve people’s lives.”
His former BC roommate, Alex Gray, BC ’06, praised Byrne’s ability to clearly explain complex policies.
“When I talk to him about public policy and ideas on how to solve these big problems, I think he understands the full scope of it and understands what all the needs are,” Gray said.
Even with a thorough understanding of what could improve homelessness rates across the country, Byrne knows that change doesn’t happen overnight.
“I think he’s also very pragmatic about understanding that sometimes things take time to happen, or you might have to do them in steps,” Gray said.
After more than a decade on the faculty at Boston University, Byrne returned to BC as an associate professor in the BCSSW this fall. In addition to the school’s distinguished reputation, Byrne cited the school’s mission as an important factor in his decision to return.
“I think the School of Social Work is really valued within the university community because it directly contributes to the Jesuit mission of the University. And that was really appealing to me—to be part of a school that was very much in line with the mission of the university,” Byrne said.
According to Byrne, the Jesuits’ focus on social justice is linked to the fundamental importance of having a home.
“If you think about your home, it’s more than just a roof over your head,” Byrne said. “It’s a place where you can go at night, feel secure, let your hair down and relax.”
Montgomery said this justice-oriented mission fostered a shared sense of purpose when she worked with Byrne in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Both had participated in PULSE during their time at BC, and for Montgomery, this experience laid the foundation for her professional interests.
“It didn’t make our work any different, but it was why we were there,” Montgomery said. “I was talking to [Byrne’s parents] at his dissertation defense, and they asked me if the PULSE program was life-changing for me. It was the whole reason I was there.”
With this mission as part of his motivation, Byrne continues to seek viable solutions and preventative measures for homelessness. He recognizes that policy discussions and candidate platforms often shape public opinion, leading people to adopt positions on different sides of the political spectrum.
But above all, Byrne wants people to remember the human beings represented by the data, and all of the implications homelessness has on their lives.
“What I say to people is, ‘We shouldn’t be a country that tolerates elderly people living on the streets,’” Byrne said “You wouldn’t want to see your own parents or your grandparents without a place to live, but that’s the reality of what’s unfolding right now.”
For Byrne, the Jesuits’ focus on social justice is linked to the fundamental importance of having a home.
“If you think about your home, it’s more than just a roof over your head,” Byrne said. “It’s a place where you can go at night, feel secure, let your hair down and relax.”