Practitioners and policymakers can use this database from Youth.gov to find information and resources about relevant federal programs, evidence-based and promising practices, and a range of support services for young parents and children experiencing homelessness. The topics covered include behavioral health (mental health and substance use), early childhood and parenting supports, and a review of relevant home visiting research. The database also provides links to webinars relevant for serving this population on topics such as engaging young fathers, integrating early childhood home visiting and homelessness systems, and access to health care for pregnant and parenting youth.

The Office of Family Assistance developed this guide to help state TANF agencies recognize the important role they have in identifying and serving families experiencing homelessness and families at risk of homelessness. It is intended to help states better assess for homelessness and housing instability during intake and formulate cohesive strategies with state and local homelessness providers and systems, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-funded Continuums of Care (CoC).

Homes for Families, Inc. developed this guide to help service providers, policymakers, community leaders, state agencies, and other stakeholders conduct comprehensive assessments of homeless families. The guide defines assessment, describes the importance of a two-generation model, and presents implications for policy and practice.

Homeless families struggle with a variety of structural and psychosocial issues, including severe poverty, unemployment, and exposure to interpersonal violence and trauma. Historically, the full range of homeless families’ needs has not been routinely assessed. The Assessment Checklist for Homeless Family Providers was created by the Bassuk Center to address this situation and assist service providers in conducting comprehensive, evidence-based assessments of the families they serve. The checklist covers the following eight domains that have been proven to be relevant to the care of homeless families: family demographics, immediate safety needs, housing and homelessness, self-sufficiency, service use, parent functioning, child development, and use of standardized screening instruments.

The resources and services available through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program are critical to ending family homelessness. State and local TANF programs can provide access to critical work opportunities and support services for families experiencing homelessness. This resource from the Heartland Alliance provides an overview of TANF, examples of where state and local TANF programs have been leveraged to support homeless families, and recommendations to ensure that TANF resources are leveraged effectively to support homeless families.

This research brief, the first in a series that will draw on data from the Family Options Study, answers questions about family homelessness. The findings suggest that homeless families in the study reported participation in most safety net programs at rates greater than or equal to those of other deeply poor families.

These podcasts were produced in partnership between U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB). They share information on providing resources and support for job seekers who are homeless youth, pregnant and parenting youth, or victims of domestic violence.

Since the beginning of the Great Recession, rates of student homelessness have risen rapidly in urban, suburban, and rural school districts throughout the United States. Approximately one million students were identified as homeless during the 2009 to 2010 school year. Since homelessness has been associated with an array of negative school outcomes including low attendance rates, poor grades and attendance scores, and social stigmatization, this represents a significant challenge for schools. One clear finding that has emerged from Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) studies of homeless and highly mobile students is that schools and community-based organizations have important roles in connecting students and families to a variety of education-related opportunities.

With many soldiers returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the late 2000s, the risk of homelessness significantly increased for veterans. The Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and Labor collaborated to implement the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (VHPD). This interactive feature from the Urban Institute highlights the findings from the evaluation report.