Transitional Housing

Transitional or bridge housing can incorporate new elements and promising practices that spring from rich experience in the field.

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TECHNICAL REPORT: Exploring Domestic Violence Survivors' Need for Transitional Housing

2018
Dessie Clark
Cris Sullivan
Leila Wood

One approach for DV survivors who require housing assistance and supportive services for a longer period of time is transitional housing (TH), which provides an apartment or rental unit, along with rental assistance and supportive services for up to two years, allowing survivors time to work on any barriers they face to securing permanent housing and to heal from the trauma they have experienced. Another approach for DV survivors is rapid re-housing (RRH), which allows DV survivors to locate their own apartment and to receive rental assistance and supportive services for a period of time.This study explored the ways in which DV survivors experienced a TH program that they were currently enrolled in, as well as their perceptions about whether RRH would have been a good fit for them given different durations of rental assistance and supportive services.

Best Practices for Setting Eligibility Criteria in Transitional Housing Programs

2016
National Network to End Domestic Violence

Excerpted from NNEDV's Transitional Housing Toolkit, this paper outlines best practices for designing and implementing intake forms and practices when serving survivors in your housing program.

Available in Korean: 임시 주택 프로그램 자격 기준 설정을 위한 모범 사례

Available in Spanish: Las mejores prácticas para establecer los criterios de elegibilidad en los programas de vivienda de transición

The Role of Long-Term, Congregate Transitional Housing in Ending Homelessness

2015
National Alliance to End Homelessness

Many communities still operate congregate transitional housing programs – defined as facility-based programs that offer housing and services for up to two years to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This brief summarizes the authors' position on the appropriate use of this approach within the broader context of strategies to end homelessness – which may include domestic violence survivors who may require and prefer the security and onsite services available in congregate housing.

Transitional Housing Services for Victims of Domestic Violence: A Report from the Housing Committee of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence

2005
Amy Correia
Anna Melbin

Though the landscape in terms of housing resources for DV/SA survivors has changed substantially over the past decade, this report compiled in 2005 remains a helpful and comprehensive description of the transitional housing model, as exemplified by the commonalities and uniqueness across 12 programs studied in their many aspects.

Transitional Housing Toolkit

National Network to End Domestic Violence

This toolkit furnishes transitional housing providers with easy access to information and resources to enhance services to survivors. The information provided here addresses frequently asked questions, common challenges, best practices, templates for adaptation, and resources for additional information and assistance. Topics include models and approaches, financial empowerment, voluntary services, and confidentiality.

Trauma Informed Organizational Toolkit for Homeless Services

2009
Kathleen Guarino, et al.
National Center on Family Homelessness

Given the high rates of traumatic exposure among families who are homeless, it has become clear that understanding trauma and its impact is essential to providing quality care in shelters and housing programs. This realization has lead to the suggestion that programs serving trauma survivors adapt their services to account for their clients’ traumatic experiences, that is, they become “trauma-informed”. In order to respond empathically to the needs of trauma survivors, ensure their physical and emotional safety, develop realistic treatment goals, and at the very least avoid re-traumatization, all practices and programming must be provided through the lens of trauma. This Toolkit offers homeless service providers with concrete guidelines for how to modify their practices and policies to ensure that they are responding appropriately to the needs of families who have experienced traumatic stress.