Establishing Emergency Prevention Programs
The most economically efficient way to end homelessness is to prevent its occurrence. Financial assistance to prevent an eviction, mediation to address problems with a landlord or lender, and case management can all prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless. A 1991 study of eviction prevention programs by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that the average cost to prevent family homelessness was one-sixth the average cost of a stay in a shelter. Yet a recent examination of the continuum of care planning process found that few of the communities studied dedicate substantial resources to preventing homelessness. Among the innovations that are developing in the area of emergency homelessness prevention are:

• Enhancing coordination and information sharing among emergency assistance (including rent/mortgage and utility assistance) providers to ensure all existing prevention dollars are maximized.
• Moving beyond one-time eviction prevention payments to providing time limited housing subsidies until families become financially stable.
• Combining emergency assistance with either time limited or ongoing case management to reduce future risk of homelessness.
• Targeting new homelessness prevention/emergency assistance efforts to the neighborhoods that a disproportionate number of people seeking shelter are exiting.
• Integrating homelessness prevention activities at the intake sites for shelters in an effort to identify if resources/services could be deployed to prevent homelessness.

Making Systems Changes That Prevent Homelessness
Most people who become homeless are eligible for assistance from mainstream systems of care, and many are or recently have been active clients of one or more of these systems. Studies on where homeless people have lived immediately before becoming homeless show trends that suggest solutions.

Public systems or institutions, such as jails and prisons, hospitals, the child welfare system and mental health facilities, too often “graduate” people directly into the homeless system. One aspect of prevention is to stop these discharges into homelessness, through basic transition planning so that people leaving these institutions have stable housing and some means for maintaining it.

Other people who become homeless still are, or should be, clients of mainstream systems of care. These systems can prevent homelessness by paying attention to the housing stability of the people they assist, particularly those who are at greatest risk of homelessness due to lack of family supports, extremely low incomes, mental illness or other personal difficulties.

Reprinted from the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ The Ten Essentials Toolkit: What Your Community Needs to Do to End Homelessness. For more information and best practices, visit www.endhomelessness.org