Many workers in hourly front-line retail and food service jobs have been subject to low pay and few benefits for decades. More recently, these workers' challenges have been compounded by increasingly unstable and unpredictable work schedules due to shifts cancelled or shortened with little notice, inconsistent days or times of day they are expected to work, little advance notice when schedules are posted, or having to be on-call without a guarantee of being paid. This policy brief illustrates how schedule unpredictability has a direct connection to how often workers struggle to provide adequate food, housing, and medical care for themselves and their families. The brief also notes how instability can also affect workers' ability to access social safety net programs.

NPR, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a survey poll between August 2 and September 7, 2021 to identify the extent that the delta variant of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States has continued to cause problems for many households, including severe financial and health impacts for households already in crisis. This report presents survey findings of the most serious problems, including finances, healthcare, racial/ethnic discrimination, education, caregiving, work, health and healthcare, and overall well-being. The poll was conducted before federal pandemic unemployment benefits ended and at the time housing eviction protections expired.

This U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration directive provides a resource guide to workforce investment practitioners who assist job seekers in finding and applying for financial assistance and other supportive services. The guide assists workforce professionals in accurately locating emergency and long-term resources for workforce program customers to gain economic stability. It includes information on rental assistance, supports for utilities and broadband, child care, the child tax credit, earned income tax credit, nutrition and food security, health care resources, and legal aid, among other resources.

This blogpost references a Generations United report’s policy and practice recommendations on how to better support grandfamilies. Included in the report are findings from the first nationwide survey of grandfamilies during COVID-19, which revealed heightened needs related to housing, food insecurity, and alternative care plans. The report contains policy and practice recommendations that would provide better support to these families, such as increases in TANF funding for monthly child-only grants to mirror foster care maintenance payments and improved access to TANF child-only grants through a simplified application process and expanded community outreach. The report also depicts racial overrepresentation in grandfamilies, and the blogpost highlights the benefits of kin caregiving.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) conducted the 2021 National TANF Directors’ Meeting from September 20 - 24, 2021. During this panel-style session comprised of “success snapshots,” speakers presented innovative strategies that enable programs to link people to jobs, to better communicate and respond to participant needs, and to provide training and skills development to the community. Presenters shared various strategies for finding employment opportunities, including work activities that are culturally relevant and responsive to the needs of their participants. This session also explored the option of Tribal TANF and NEW programs partnering with local organizations to fulfill community needs.

This case study covers the New Moms program, which offers job training, housing, and family support programs to pregnant and parenting young women and their children in Chicago and its near western suburbs. The case study illustrates the New Moms model and presents its key features: what services are offered; how the model is organized, staffed, and funded; and how New Moms measures program participation and outcomes. The case study also highlights promising practices, challenges, and lessons learned.

This case study describes the Family Assessment Centers (FACs), which provide emergency shelters for families experiencing homelessness in Honolulu, Hawaii. The FACs represent an initial initiative under the `Ohana Nui service delivery framework, which is used across the Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS) to support multigenerational families. The case study covers this program in detail, including where FACs operate and their context; what FACs offer; whom FACs serve; how they are staffed and funded; what services are provided by FACs; and how FACs measure program participation and outcomes. The case study also highlights accomplishments, challenges, and future plans.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocates additional resources for housing assistance and services and provides state and local jurisdictions with flexibility for spending on supplemental housing and service resources. This brief outlines how resources for supportive housing services can be used in prevention-oriented strategies for implementing a "Housing-First" approach for families experiencing homelessness or housing instability while also receiving child welfare prevention services. The brief also includes a chart that illustrates how ARPA funds can be used for housing and support services. Other topics include short-term opportunities for prioritizing child welfare-involved families with ARPA funding and long-term strategies for interagency collaboration.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is hosting a webinar on January 21, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. ET, which will address the economic stability of service members, Veterans, and their families (SMVF). This webinar will explore critical areas such as employment opportunities, income supports, SSI/SSDI, Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) for Veterans, and housing solutions, providing valuable information and resources to support maintaining or achieving economic stability among the SMVF community.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) will host a national webinar for state TANF programs and partners entitled Building Strategic Partnerships and Maximizing TANF Flexibilities to Reduce Housing Stability on January 15, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. ET to roll out its newly released Dear Colleague Letter on Housing Stability. OFA will provide an overview of current and relevant research for TANF programs and will offer peer perspectives from two TANF programs investing in housing stability activities.   

The webinar also will help increase knowledge about approaches for addressing housing instability for families, facilitate the introduction of new partnerships, and share options for maximizing TANF flexibilities to reduce housing instability for families and children and achieve TANF purposes.