Rapid Re-Housing, Housing First, Housing Tax Credits, and Other Affordable Housing Approaches

To address this gap, the Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) and the National Alliance for Safe Housing (NASH) partnered in 2019 to develop this Toolkit as a best practice resource for housing developers, property managers, and service providers involved in building and operating Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) for domestic violence (DV) survivors. As the first of its kind, the Toolkit also includes recommendations for involving survivors in the development of trauma-informed PSH programs, to better meet the need for effective permanent housing options in addition to shelter, transitional housing, and rapid re-housing models.

Despite growing research into the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness, there remains a lack of published guidance on permanent housing solutions that respond to survivors' needs in attaining housing and personal stability. To address this gap, the Downtown Women’s Center and the National Alliance for Safe Housing partnered in 2019 to develop this Toolkit as a best practice resource for housing developers, property managers, and service providers involved in building and operating Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) for domestic violence (DV) survivors. As the first of its kind, the Toolkit also includes recommendations for involving survivors in the development of trauma-informed PSH programs, to better meet the need for effective permanent housing options in addition to shelter, transitional housing, and rapid re-housing models.

In 2017, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) funded 33 non-profit agencies to implement the Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) model. As part of a statewide evaluation of the DVHF model, NEWS is being highlighted as an exemplar of their outstanding work in the three pillars of the model. NEWS, located in Napa Valley, California, is dedicated to providing safety, hope, healing, and empowerment for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

Rapid Rehousing is a key intervention in our work to end homelessness and an essential tool to support survivors of domestic violence experiencing homelessness. This paper provides guidance to service providers, Continuums of Care, and policy makers to support them in making adaptations to accommodate the unique needs of survivors. 

The Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence has been very successful in developing a range of housing options for survivors across the state.  Today they sponsor 72 unites of housing for survivors at five locations with more units under development.This webinar highlights KCADV’s process and strategies they took to go from tax credit neophyte to housing sponsor.

This resource outlines how a partnership between one housing finance agency, two nonprofit housing developers, and two housing authorities led to 84 apartments for low-income families impacted by domestic violence in the State of Kentucky.

In 2015, the King County Housing Authority used its Moving to Work funds to implement a Domestic Violence Housing First Rapid Re-Housing Demonstration Project with LifeWire. Moving to Work is a demonstration program for public housing authorities that allows them to test innovative, locally-designed interventions created to stabilize housing. This report includes data and key findings from an evaluation of that program.

Advocates working with domestic violence (DV) survivors to obtain housing are committed to the principles of Housing First and Rapid Rehousing that recommend getting clients into permanent housing as quickly as possible. They struggle, however, with how “as quickly as possible” may be defined by funders and policy makers who do not fully understand the intricacies of their efforts. The purpose of this study was to better understand the complexities involved in helping IPV survivors obtain safe and stable housing.

WSCADV's Domestic Violence Housing First approach focuses on getting survivors of domestic violence into stable housing as quickly as possible, and then providing the necessary support as they rebuild their lives. This web page provides an overview of WSCADV's work to implement this approach in Washington state and includes resources, toolkits, and evaluation of the impact of their projects.

The Housing First model has been shown to be a highly effective approach to achieving permanent housing for chronically homeless individuals with serious mental illness and chemical dependency. There are numerous components of the model that lend themselves toward achieving similar goals for homeless domestic violence (DV) survivors and their children. A leading cause of homelessness for women, many of whom are mothers, is DV. This article describes the commonalities between the Housing First model and the tenets of DV victim advocacy work and explores how Housing First can be adapted to effectively achieve safe and stable housing for DV survivors and their children. Preliminary evidence for the adapted model – termed Domestic Violence Housing First – is provided, and policy implications are discussed.

The Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) approach focuses on getting survivors of domestic violence into stable housing as quickly as possible and then continuing to provide support as they rebuild their lives. With safe and stable housing at its core, the key components of DVHF include: survivor-driven, trauma informed, mobile advocacy; flexible financial assistance; and community engagement. This toolkit is designed to provide materials and resources for organizations to use when developing or implementing the DVHF approach.

This webinar examines how new approaches employed by a growing number of victim services programs can support safe and stable housing for survivors and explores how modifications to the Rapid Re-housing model can boost its effectiveness with survivors.

The key point of this policy brief is that survivors of domestic violence should have access to long-term housing, defined as housing that they can stay in for as long as they want, as long as it works for their families.

Rapid re-housing can work for survivors of DV — with a great deal of flexibility around the services and the length and depth of rental assistance provided.

An overview of the DV Housing First project of the Washington State Coaltion Againt Domestic Violence, including outcomes and other findings.

This article summarizes and analyzes the body of literature from the mainstream DV movement and discusses its insights, models, and cautionary tales in terms of their applicability to LGBTQ IPV. Includes discussion of DV shelter models and new low-barrier approaches such as DV Housing First.

WSCADV's Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) program was designed to eliminate housing as a reason for survivors to stay in abusive relationships by providing flexible advocacy. This approach gave survivors of domestic violence the ability to establish a home and the freedom to choose how best to rebuild their lives. Permanent housing was the beginning of their new journey. The first phase of the DVHF program began with a cohort of four domestic violence agencies. The second phase, known as Cohort 2, expanded the program to nine additional agencies. Cohort 2 agencies served survivors with higher barriers to housing, including those living in rural, tribal, immigrant, and culturally specific communities.

This report synthesizes existing literature on the gendered experience of homelessness in an effort to develop best practices for ending women’s and girl’s homelessness, including the applicability of Housing First and Trauma Informed Care approaches. The authors present an overview of commonalities noted amongst several particular populations of women experiencing homelessness. Particular populations are then examined in relation to their pathways into homelessness, barriers in exiting homelessness, housing preferences and suggestions, service preferences and suggestions, and research and recommendations for the future.

The purpose of this framework is to provide municipalities across Canada a tool that they can adapt to their local setting to end homelessness for women and girls. Approaches to homelessness in Canada have been going through a significant shift from managing people during their experiences of homelessness to permanent solutions that end homelessness. These solutions take a more comprehensive approach in looking at the root causes of homelessness, and include prevention and rapid intervention. As well, these solutions are largely grounded in the philosophy and practice of Housing First, meaning that individuals are provided with appropriate housing with the right degree of support to sustain this housing with no requirements around treatment or participation in programs.

Homeless services providers frequently find themselves serving DV survivors in their rapid re-housing housing programs. This presentation looks at the three Core Components of Rapid Re-Housing and suggests adaptations based on the unique needs of survivors in order to boost effectiveness of these interventions.

This presentation discusses implementation of a housing first approach within a domestic violence program, including elements and approaches, effectiveness with wide range of survivors, steps to development and the change process within the culture of the agency.

Third in a series of papers published by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Volunteers of America Home Free Program in Portland, OR. This paper focuses on helping organizations think about their role in providing housing stability services to DV survivors.

This report was created to document and make recommendations to address the housing needs of survivors of domestic abuse throughout Florida. The authors assert that survivors of domestic abuse are affected by a unique type of homelessness and that the continuum of housing options that should be provided differs from someone who is homeless for economic or other reasons. Ideally, all housing options should address the safety, economic and physical recovery needs of the individual survivor and their children and pets.

This presentation reviews the intersection between domestic violence homelessness/housing insecurity and provides information about effective approaches to support survivors toward safe and stable housing. Program examples from Oregon and Washington are provided.

This is the first of a series of papers published by the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Volunteers of America Home Free Program in Portland, OR. This paper chronicles the histories of the battered women's movement and the anti-homelessness movement, how they have intertwined, and how they can join together to meet shared goals.

DASH was established in response to the shortage of basic housing services for survivors in the District of Columbia. This report chronicles the progress achieved over a fine-year period in DASH's primary goals: 1. Increase the supply of safe emergency, transitional, and supportive permanent housing for all domestic violence survivors and their children; 2. Build the capacity of all existing housing programs for women in the District, to be safe housing programs for survivors; and 3. Provide domestic violence training to staff at nonresidential programs serving diverse and specific populations.

Summary of promising practices for responding to survivors' long-term housing needs.

The Home Free program exemplifies how a rapid re-housing approach can work for families impacted by domestic violence. Many survivors are able to quickly stabilize in their own homes and succeed in maintaining that housing, bypassing a prolonged shelter stay or makeshift and sometimes risky temporary housing arrangements. Some families still benefit from the safety and on-site support of shelter or facility-based transitional housing, but others are better supported by being back in their own housing as soon as possible.

This presentation looks at the "nuts and bolts" of a housing first program, exploring key questions for each of its primary components: Approach; Eligibility; Structure; Requirements; Partnerships; and Assessment.

The District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH) is a domestic violence housing and service agency in Washington, DC. Its mission is to ensure access to safe and sustainable refuge for survivors of domestic violence and their children through the development and management of safe housing and related services. It also provides capacity building assistance to community-based organizations to expand their knowledge and ability to serve survivors and their children in an effort to promote the overall safety of women and children in the District. Between 2007 and 2008, DASH piloted the Empowerment Project, a transition-in-place program that provided families with time limited rental assistance and case management to help them quickly transition to housing in the community. This report discusses that project and its outcomes.

In 2007, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence formed a planning group to take a statewide look at what could be done to address the housing needs of DV survivors. The DV and Housing Planning Group examined the availability of affordable housing generally, and the unique barriers survivors face to finding housing. The plan includes strategies for creating more affordable housing, helping survivors work toward economic self-sufficiency, developing permanent housing tailored toward the needs of survivors, advocating for improving federal housing policy, and enhancing existing services with a stronger focus on housing.

This policy and practice paper highlights how eight domestic violence organizations are responding to the housing needs of battered women in their communities. There are many different aspects to building housing programs, including resource acquisition, building collaborations with other agencies, and program development. The summaries in this report describe how eight programs tackled these issues.

This link connects readers to a variety of webinars, blogs, toolkits, and fact sheets regarding rapid re-housing. Includes information for providers as well as funders.

Questions and answers on homelessness policy and research on the housing first approach.

The core components of a rapid re-housing program (housing identification, move-in and rent assistance, and rapid re-housing case management and services) represent the minimum that a program must be providing. This document provides details on performance benchmarks that would qualify a program as effective. These benchmarks are accompanied by qualitative program standards to help a program meet the performance benchmarks. Includes a section on program philosophy and design standards that provide more guidance on the broader role a rapid re-housing program should play in ending homelessness.

This paper provides a brief background on rapid re-housing and current research on the strategy. It also adds detail and context to the three core components of the model: housing identification, rent and move-in assistance, and rapid re-housing case management and serves.

Rapid re-housing is an intervention designed to help individuals and families to quickly exit homelessness and return to permanent housing. Rapid re-housing assistance is offered without preconditions (such as employment, income, absence of criminal record, or sobriety) and the resources and services provided are typically tailored to the unique needs of the household. This paper describes the core components of a rapid re-housing program: housing identification; rent and move-in assistance; and rapid re-housing case management and services.

This paper briefly describes how early engagement can be used to move families from the street to housing, thus freeing shelter resources for those who have no other option.

This webinar describes strategies that can help families in rapid rehousing become self-supporting so as to better ensure housing stabilization.

This report briefly describes Progressive engagement, an approach to support families to quickly self-resolve their homelessness by tailoring services to offer just what is needed.

Reallocating transitional housing to rapid re-housing is not easy, but the impact of doing so can be powerful. This webinar examines how Pierce County, Washington conducted an extensive assessment of the county's homeless service system and determined that with no new funds, rapid re-housing was the answer to serving more households and better outcomes. Presenters discuss the transformation of the homeless system using rapid re-housing and the impact it had on housing investments, families served, and overall implementation of coordinated entry and prioritization. Presenters touch on how to successfully use rapid re-housing to serve victims of domestic violence.

This tool is intended for use by policymakers, government officials, and practitioners alike to help make a basic assessment of whether and to what degree a particular housing program is employing a Housing First approach. Use this tool as a checklist that can be reviewed during a site visit, program audit, or program interview, or as a guide when reviewing funding applications or reviewing a program’s policies and procedures.

Individuals and families seeking services from HUD funded homeless projects have nowhere else to go. Too many LGBT youth and adults meet this standard and have nowhere to turn other than a HUD funded project. Acknowledging their need for assistance and seeking help is often its own struggle for those who have sacrificed much simply to recognize themselves. Transgender individuals in particular are impacted by violence and discrimination in ways that both contribute to their homelessness and keep them from accessing necessary shelter and services. HUD funds welcoming and inclusive housing programs open to all eligible individuals; the Equal Access Rule and follow-up guidance ensure that local projects know how to implement and enforce this requirement. These training materials provide CoCs and projects with the framework to create welcoming and inclusive projects for transgender and gender non-conforming people.

This infographic was designed as part of an effort to increase the use of effective rapid re-housing practices nationwide.

HUD continues to encourage Continuums of Care (CoCs) and providers to implement and strengthen Housing First approaches. To support these efforts, HUD has developed this Housing First Assessment Tool. This tool builds on the work of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness’s (USICH) Housing First checklist. It assists providers and CoCs to document how closely their projects align to the Housing First model. CoCs can use this tool to assess and measure a project’s progress in aligning with Housing First best practice standards, and an individual project can use this tool to identify what they are doing well and where improvements can be made.

In 2016, 8 agencies in California piloted the Domestic Violence Housing First Model (DVHF), an initiative that focuses on helping survivors get into safe and stable housing as quickly as possible, and on providing services to help them move forward with their lives. This process evaluation documents what it takes for agencies to implement the DVHF model and provides preliminary evidence for its impact on the lives of survivors and their children.

Because of known differences in health care experiences and outcomes by race and ethnicity, researchers in Toronto tested the effectiveness of a Housing First program enhanced with antiracism and antioppression practices. The main principles of the antiracism and antioppression services delivered include empowerment, education, alliance building, language use, and advocacy. The study’s findings have key policy implications for Housing First interventions and suggest that Housing First enhanced with anti-racism and anti-oppression practices can improve housing stability and community functioning.

This research paper presents findings from an evaluation of a Housing First program for homeless individuals with mental illness in five cities across Canada. Conclusions from this research include that adapting Housing First with anti-racism/anti-oppression principles offers a promising approach to serving the diverse needs of homeless people from ethno-racial groups and strengthening the service systems developed to support them.

The Advocates’ Guide is a go-to resource for affordable housing and community development practitioners, advocates, and policymakers for detailed descriptions of every federal housing and community development program, as well as current challenges, opportunities, and practical strategies for addressing the shortfall in housing that is affordable and available to low income people and communities.

The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) is a dedicated fund intended to provide revenue to build, preserve, and rehabilitate housing for people with the lowest incomes. This document answers frequently asked questions about this fund, including who it serves, how dollars can be used, and implications to rental housing.

This fact sheet provides basic information about Housing Trust Funds established by cities, counties and states in order to permanently dedicate a source of public revenue to support the production and preservation of affordable housing.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes this guide in order to educate advocates of all kinds about the programs and policies that make housing affordable to low income people. The Guide includes an orientation to affordable housing and community development programs, explains how affordable housing works and why it is needed, and provides vital information to guide organizations and individuals in their advocacy efforts. Also includes information about the core affordable housing programs and policies that make housing and community development programs work on the ground.

This research adds new insights about the housing search process that renters undertake, and how this process differs by race and ethnicity. By combining robust survey data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the American Housing Survey (AHS), and the Chicago Area Study (CAS), and original data collection from a convenience sample of 135 recent movers and 351 current searchers from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, the study provides the most comprehensive picture to date about the rental housing search process.