Our Work
Poverty and Housing Instability
Are Devastating
In Greater Boston, more than 10,000 children and parents wake up each day unsure of where they will spend the next night. Instead of concentrating on school, friends, sports and clubs, homeless children worry about where they will sleep. The negative impacts on their health and education last a lifetime.
FamilyAid’s work is rooted in a two-generational approach. We work with children and parents at the same time because we know that lasting stability only comes when both generations are supported. Our programs address the full arc of a family’s experience: from preventing homelessness before it starts, to providing shelter when it’s necessary to building the long-term foundation that ensures families never have to go through this again.
A 2Gen Approach to Family Stability
Homelessness Prevention
Temporary Housing
Homelessness Diversion
Stable Housing Supports
Service Partners
Positive Childhood Experiences
Does your family need help? Find shelter, housing, employment, and other services in the Greater Boston area.
A 2Gen Approach to Family Stability
Housing alone is not the answer to housing instability and homelessness.
When a child experiences homelessness, the impact doesn’t end when they have a roof over their head. The trauma, disruption and instability of that experience can affect their health, educational development and long-term well-being for years to come. The earlier and longer homelessness is experienced, the more severe and lasting the effects.
But research shows that when you invest in children and parents at the same time, families don’t just recover from crisis. They build the kind of lasting stability that changes the trajectory of a family for generations.
What Two-Generation Means
A two-generation, or “2Gen” approach is a modern, evidence-based framework established by the Aspen Institute that recognizes a fundamental truth: you cannot fully support a child without supporting their parent, and you cannot fully support a parent without investing in their children. Traditional social services have historically addressed one generation at a time—children’s programs for kids, workforce programs for adults—treating family members as separate cases rather than an interconnected unit. 2Gen flips that model entirely.
FamilyAid is one of only 15 organizations in the country selected for the Ascend at the Aspen Institute 2Gen Accelerator Community, a national cohort of leading organizations driving systemic change through their 2Gen work. Ascend at the Aspen Institute is the premier national hub for 2Gen policy and practice, and inclusion in its Accelerator Community reflects FamilyAid’s position at the forefront of this movement in Greater Boston and beyond.
2Gen in Practice: How We Do It
Our expert 2Gen Service Navigators are the connective tissue of our whole-family approach. Working alongside FamilyAid Case Managers, Housing Specialists and our community partners, they build quicker and easier pathways to critical private, public and community resources. Our Case Managers then assess each family member’s needs and build individualized plans that address them. Through our growing network of partners, navigators connect families to the services and programs they need:
For Children
- High-quality, affordable and reliable childcare and early childhood education
- Academic support, tutoring and school stability services
- Personalized access to enrichment programs—arts, athletics, music, and extracurricular experiences—through our Children’s Dream Fund
For Parents
- Post-secondary education pathways and adult learning support
- Job training, workforce readiness and employment placement programs
- Financial coaching, credit building and asset development
- Legal advocacy and benefits navigation
For the Whole Family
- Social connection and community building
- Health insurance access and primary care connections
- Mental health and behavioral health supports and trauma-informed counseling
By addressing the needs of both generations simultaneously, we interrupt the cycle of poverty and instability—changing outcomes for both the children in our care today and future generations to come.
Invest in children and parents at the same time — and change the trajectory of a family for generations.
Homelessness Prevention
The best way to end homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Every day, children and their parents are at risk of losing their homes due to the high cost of living, an unexpected medical emergency or a sudden loss of income. We step in before that happens, offering timely, two-generational supports that keeps families safe and stable.
A Prevention Approach
FamilyAid’s Early Homelessness Intervention Program (EHIP) is one of the most effective prevention programs in the country—and the research proves it. A first-of-its-kind longitudinal study by Boston College School of Social Work and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay examined EHIP over six years. During that time, the program provided vital 2Gen supports to more than 10,000 children and parents facing housing instability.
The findings confirmed best-in-class outcomes: families in the program saw significant gains in housing stability, academic engagement and overall child and parent well-being, outperforming similar families who received services elsewhere. That is the FamilyAid difference.
Early Intervention for Families in Need
Through our partnerships with several school systems and municipalities, we identify children and families at the highest risk of homelessness and connect them with a FamilyAid case manager the moment their stability is at risk. Our expert navigators and case managers provide:
- Emergency financial assistance to prevent eviction—on average, just $3,500 is all it takes to keep a family in their home and protect children from the lasting trauma of homelessness
- Legal advocacy and eviction defense—leveraging new access-to-counsel laws to confront rising illegal evictions through landlord mediation, legal representation, and wraparound support
- Budgeting guidance and financial coaching to build long-term stability
- Employment support to help parents secure and sustain stable income
- Connections to community resources—from food and health care to early education and children’s programming—that help the whole family thrive
More than 3,000 children and parents are protected through this coordinated approach each year.
A Smarter Investment for Our Community
Prevention isn’t just better for families—it makes more sense financially, too. While it costs roughly $60,000 to house a family in temporary housing for one year, that same investment can help more than 30 families avoid losing their homes in the first place. Prevention is the most cost-effective, humane solution to housing instability.
Proven, Lasting Results
93% of families who receive our prevention services remain in stable housing one year later, breaking cycles of instability and shielding children from the trauma of homelessness.
The Need Remains
Demand for FamilyAid’s prevention services increased 53% from 2024 to 2025 as safety nets eroded and government funding continued to shrink. The 2023 Boston College research also identified early signs of rising food insecurity among families we serve—a trend already being addressed through philanthropic support, but one that underscores how much more work remains.
Too many families are still just one unexpected expense away from losing their home. Support our prevention work now to help us keep children safe, parents empowered and families together where they belong: at home.
Temporary Housing
There are almost 21,000 homeless children and parents in Massachusetts on any given night.
The families who walk through our doors are facing one of the most frightening situations any family can imagine: they no longer have a place to call home. We provide children and parents with a safe place to stay while connecting them to educational support, housing search and placement services and the community resources they need to return to a home of their own.
The Family Navigation Center
At the heart of our temporary housing program is the Family Navigation Center — a 40,000-square-foot facility providing shelter for up to 100 children and mothers with nowhere else to turn. The Center is built around a “Caring Hub” model with more than 30 partner organizations under one roof, offering everything from counseling and nutrition support to childcare, health care and education services, so families don’t have to navigate a fragmented system alone during the hardest moment of their lives.
Here, we serve children like Mateo, a two-and-a-half-year-old who arrived at the Family Navigation Center with his mother Lucía after a difficult stay in a state shelter. When they arrived, our team worked with Lucía on housing, career training and her own well-being while Mateo received early intervention services for his development. In just six weeks, the family moved from shelter into a stable home of their own, with FamilyAid’s support continuing well beyond their move-out day.
The Annex: A Lifeline for Families the System Leaves Behind
Not every family who needs shelter qualifies for it. Massachusetts state shelter has strict eligibility requirements, and families who fall outside them—often through no fault of their own—can be left with nowhere to go. The Annex is FamilyAid’s answer: a privately funded shelter created specifically for mothers and children who are ineligible for state shelter but still facing homelessness.
Because The Annex relies entirely on private philanthropic support rather than government funding, it allows FamilyAid to say yes to families that the state system cannot, filling a critical gap for kids and moms who would otherwise have nowhere left to turn.
The Family Navigation Center
A facility providing shelter for up to 100 children and mothers with nowhere else to turn.
A "Caring Hub" Model
More than 20 partner organizations under one roof, from counseling and nutrition support to childcare, health care and education services.
Privately Funded Shelter
Created specifically for mothers and children who are ineligible for state shelter but still facing homelessness.
Sarah’s Story
Just before Valentine’s Day, Sarah arrived at FamilyAid with her six-year-old son, Eric, fleeing domestic violence with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They had spent the day searching for safety and finding every door closed.
When they arrived in the afternoon, they hadn’t eaten all day. Our team immediately provided food and toys for Eric and placed the family at the Annex, our privately funded shelter, where they could remain safe while awaiting a place in the state’s safety net system. In the weeks that followed, FamilyAid provided transportation, food, clothing and essential items, workforce development support for Sarah, and advocacy with housing and domestic violence partners—helping turn a Friday afternoon crisis into a path toward safety, stability and hope.
More Than a Place to Stay
Throughout a family’s time in FamilyAid temporary housing, our work goes far beyond putting a roof overhead. We work side by side with families to address the issues that led to homelessness in the first place and to overcome the barriers standing between them and stable, permanent housing.
For children, that means connecting families to child care, summer camps, primary care doctors and the educational support they need to keep growing healthfully and happily, even while their family is in crisis. For parents, it means budgeting support, employment assistance, housing search and placement services and a team of Navigators and Case Managers working alongside them every step of the way.
The goal is never just a bed for the night. It’s a stable, happy home.
Give a child a safe place to sleep tonight — and a stable home to grow up in.
Homelessness Diversion
Dozens of children and parents are denied state-funded shelter each day.
Increasingly strict eligibility rules and length-of-stay limits leave families to sleep in cramped rooms with other families, cars or places never meant for a child to call home.
Problem-Solving at the Moment Families Need It Most
Since 2020, FamilyAid has worked to divert families from the streets toward real housing solutions. We engage families in identifying paths forward based on their own resources and strengths and help them move past whatever immediate barrier stands between them and safe housing, whether that’s transportation to work, a lingering landlord dispute or support with a move to a new home or community.
It’s problem-solving at the moment families need it most, and it works: more than 50% of families who go through diversion find a safe, permanent alternative to emergency shelter, often without ever entering the shelter system at all.
Find Another Way
of families who go through diversion find a safe, permanent alternative to emergency shelter.
Diverting Families From the Streets
FamilyAid has worked to move families toward real housing solutions built on their own resources and strengths.
Turned Away From State Shelter
Children and parents denied state-funded shelter each day due to strict eligibility rules and length-of-stay limits.
Help a family find a safe way forward — before the shelter system is their only option.
Stable Housing Supports
FamilyAid has one of the highest housing retention rates in the country: 97% of our families remain stably housed in a permanent home one year after leaving our temporary housing.
Our services don’t stop when a family finds their own home. The first year back in permanent housing is the most vulnerable time for children and parents who have experienced homelessness.
Building Toward Financial Independence
Working alongside their FamilyAid Case Managers and 2Gen Navigators, parents pursue further education, complete job training, receive help with interview skills and job placements, create a family budget and are connected to child enrichment services in their community. Most importantly, they work with their team to build upon the learning and skills they developed while in our temporary housing to reach financial independence.
By setting parents up with a plan for long-term success, we ensure families are able to stay secure in their homes and spend quality time together rather than worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
Stably Housed One Year Later
of our families remain in a permanent home one year after leaving our temporary housing.
The Most Vulnerable Time
The first year back in permanent housing is the most vulnerable time for children and parents who have experienced homelessness.
Support That Continues
Case Managers and 2Gen Navigators work with parents on education, job training, budgeting and child enrichment services.
Every act of support creates lasting change. Help us keep children safe, parents empowered and families together.
Working Together
For the Kids.
FamilyAid partners with healthcare providers, schools, community-based organizations, government agencies and other partners to provide children and parents with the tools, resources and services they need to avoid homelessness, obtain housing assistance and improve their quality of life.
Positive Childhood Experiences
Every child deserves a childhood of positive experiences that enrich and empower them.
The Children’s Dream Fund was made possible by an extraordinary $6 million endowment gift from Dr. Paul and Mrs. Katie Buttenwieser, the largest single donation in FamilyAid’s history, and an investment in the potential of thousands of homeless children in Greater Boston.