what really works to prevent family homelessness?
At Mary’s Place, we believe that no child should sleep outside, and every child deserves a warm bed, a stable home, and a chance to thrive. We have committed to a three-pronged approach of emergency shelter, mobile outreach, and prevention to end family homelessness.
Today, as family homelessness in King County is at crisis levels, homelessness prevention has emerged as one of the most urgent and impactful tools to protect families and their futures. We know that there is no safe level of homelessness for children—that’s why we’re investing deeply in prevention—because keeping families in their hard-won homes is one of the most powerful and cost-efficient ways to end homelessness.
The heartbreaking reality is that our family shelters in King County are full. Every day, the emergency family intake line receives 50-60 calls from families looking for a safe place to come inside. Sadly, we can only offer a shelter placement to just one or two. That means dozens of families—many with babies and toddlers—are left outside, sleeping in cars and tents. We can’t meet this growing need by building more shelters – we need to stop the flow of families into homelessness.
A recent panel discussion in September 2024 brought together our partners from Destination: Home in Santa Clara County and the Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) at the University of Notre Dame to talk about what we’ve learned about homelessness prevention programs so far, and where we’re going to build a system that works for families here in King County. You can watch the full, recorded, discussion posted at the end of this recap!
Learning from Santa Clara County
In 2017, Destination: Home, a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit organization, helped launch the Homelessness Prevention System that has since been adopted by Santa Clara County, CA. Their innovative system serves as an evidence-based model proving just how impactful prevention can be in ending homelessness. Their story is inspiring—and familiar as we look at the current crisis here at home.
Like King County, Santa Clara County saw homelessness rising, even as supportive housing expanded. Rents were soaring—up 12% in just 18 months—and most folks were paying more than half their income on housing. In fact, more than half of those seeking help were 100% rent-burdened. “On paper, we don’t know how they’re surviving,” shares Chief Program Officer Chad Bojorquez.
So, they got to work. In 2017, Destination: Home, with support from private funders, launched a networked system of 20 nonprofits, coordinated by Sacred Heart Community Service, to do “whatever it takes” to keep their neighbors in their homes.
These previously siloed organizations pooled their knowledge and resources, removing the red tape to create a far more equitable and impactful system. “We learned early on you can't have arbitrary caps on the amount or duration of assistance if you truly want to wrap around a family or individual and meet their needs,” shares Chad, “data from programs nationwide that provide a capped amount of rental assistance, once per year, has shown this approach isn’t effective in keeping people stable. Sometimes, a family has spent every penny on rent and needs assistance to pay their other bills. Perhaps a parent had a sick child and a broken-down car within the same year. Our flexible approach allows us to get people the help they need to remain stable.”
Chad shared a handful of key ingredients for Santa Clara County’s success with prevention:
Flexible financial assistance: Instead of imposing arbitrary caps or once-per-year limits on returning for assistance, their system helps with what a family truly needs, when they need it—whether it’s back rent, car repairs, or utility bills.
Equitable access and coordinated effort: By bringing 20 nonprofits under one coordinated umbrella, people can be served based on their needs, not their ZIP code or affiliation with a specific nonprofit.
Public sector buy-in: What started as a privately funded pilot serving 200 households in its first year has evolved into a well-oiled system, now serving 1,700 new households annually, with sustainable funding from local, state, and federal sources.
The proof is indisputable – since beginning this work in 2017, 93% of households helped through this system have remained stably housed, and the average cost per household is just $7,000.
Building a Prevention Model Here at Home
At Mary’s Place, we’ve been working on this too. Starting in 2019, we began running small, privately funded pilot programs to test what works. A few of these programs included:
A monthly rent subsidy pilot where families could save what they ended up not spending on rent and cash out at the end of the program.
Emergency rental assistance at the beginning of the pandemic for families who didn’t receive federal aid. In 2021, we scaled up our efforts with federal COVID-relief dollars through King County, partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Community Passageways, and Eastside Legal Assistance Program to identify families who needed help the most. We helped 370 families with $4.2 million in rental assistance, averaging around $1,500 per household.
Rental support for families with medical needs, substance use challenges, and more, who previously stayed in a Mary’s Place shelter.
What we’re seeing post-COVID in King County is striking: the new normal for families is paying 70–80% of their income on rent. For a single parent earning $20–25 per hour (approximately 30–40% of the region’s Area Median Income, or AMI), one sick child, a car breakdown, or a rent increase can unravel everything. And once a family begins missing payments, the avalanche of late fees, legal notices, and fear of losing their home sets in.
We know that homelessness takes a toll on children, in particular. When a family doesn’t have stable housing, it often means that children are moving around frequently, which can make it challenging for them to keep up in school or stay connected with friends and teachers. It’s also stressful—not knowing where you’ll sleep at night or if you’ll have enough to eat can cause a lot of anxiety and sadness, often leading to behavioral issues and long-term mental wellness challenges. Without regular access to essentials like healthy food, safe and stable spaces to play, or even basic healthcare, it’s tough for kids to grow and thrive as they should.
In response, we’ve gone even further with our prevention efforts, partnering with the Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) at the University of Notre Dame to deepen our understanding of effective programs.
The team at LEO previously worked with Destination: Home to conduct a groundbreaking study that followed what happened to individuals who received flexible financial assistance—and what happened to those who didn’t.
The results were clear: even a few thousand dollars in assistance significantly improved housing stability and helped families avoid more traumatic and expensive outcomes like emergency shelter.
Now, we’re partnering with LEO in a four-year study to study two types of prevention programs to answer the question: how do we best deliver prevention? A traditional model with one-time assistance equivalent to about two months of rent, and a flexible model with a higher assistance cap, where families can come back if they need more help.
“What we’re primarily asking is simple,” says David Phillips, Research Professor of Economics at LEO, “What works best? How much difference does it make when families can get the help they need—not just once, but whenever they need it?”
Our study with LEO is also unique because it's targeting households that are at the highest risk—those who’ve already experienced homelessness or needed housing support before. We know previous homelessness is the strongest predictor of future homelessness, so we’re asking: “What if we focused our most flexible, responsive resources on the families who need it most? Can we disrupt that cycle?”
Is Prevention a Viable Solution for the Family Homelessness Crisis in King County?
Here’s what our data shows so far:
The average family Mary’s Place serves has 3.5 people (plus pets!)
A 90-day shelter stay costs $23,000 for the average family
With the severe lack of affordable housing for families and rising cost of living in King County, average shelter stays are doubling to just over six months, and costs are increasing
Compare that to prevention:
In year one of the LEO study, we’re seeing that the average cost to help one family is $6,600
$3,500 for families who receive help once, $12,000–$13,000 for families who came back for more help
To date, we’ve seen that even the most robust prevention model is significantly more affordable than shelter, and more importantly, it preserves dignity, stability, and opportunity for parents and children.
"There’s no safe level of homelessness for kids," says Miriam Clithero, Director of Prevention and Stability at Mary’s Place. "Growing our prevention work and figuring out what really helps families stay housed isn’t just about building a program. It’s about ensuring that no child sleeps outside."
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Want to hear more from Chad, Miriam, and David? Check out their full panel discussion from September 2024: