Prevention work holds family homelessness at bay

Every child deserves a chance to flourish… That chance starts at home  – and with a home. Studies consistently show that stable housing is the foundation that every child needs to thrive. Keeping children and parents in their homes – and helping them avoid the trauma of homelessness – is the escalating challenge confronting organizations like FamilyAid.

For more than 100 years, FamilyAid has been proving that the most effective way to end homelessness for children and parents is to prevent it in the first place, thus mitigating the potentially devastating repercussions that housing loss can inflict on youngsters and parents alike. By meeting the moment before it happens, FamilyAid’s 2Generation Homelessness Prevention Programs  keep families in stable housing and offer children a chance at future success.

After years of gradual decline, the most recent federal homeless assessment report (released in Dec. 2022) indicated that the number of homeless families with children is on the rise nationally. In Boston, however, the numbers have slightly decreased, dropping The Hub from third highest in the nation to fourth highest in 2022, thanks in part to FamilyAid helping to prevent 2,238 children and parents struggling with housing instability from falling into homelessness.

“FamilyAid is helping an increasing number of families from falling into homeless and helping both children and parents connect to the resources they need to thrive,” said FamilyAid president Larry Seamans. “Our prevention programs are holding the line in Boston. That’s why 93% of the families who receive preventative assistance from FamilyAid are still stably housed more than a year later. But the battle is far from being won. The economy, pandemic and migration influx have pushed even more families to the edge, so our programs are as essential as ever.”

Through partnerships with Boston Public Schools, Boston Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, FamilyAid has  prevented family homelessness by:

• Conducting interventions with landlords
• Providing temporary public/private financial assistance to close economic gaps that push families towards eviction
• Delivering expert case management services to help parents navigate complicated housing support programs
• Helping parents improve their employment situations
• Ensuring children get all needed care and wraparound support

On average, emergency (one-time) financial assistance of $5,000 is all that is needed to keep a family in their home and avoid homelessness. By comparison, the average cost for a family to live in a shelter for one year is $36,000. That means nearly 25 children and parents can avoid homelessness for the same cost of housing one family in a shelter.

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