In 2005, the United Way of New York City (UWNYC), in partnership with the Civil Court of the City of New York (the Court) and the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS), launched the Housing Help Program (HHP), a three-year pilot program to address the challenges facing families struggling to avoid eviction and homelessness. The HHP pilot has demonstrated a targeted approach for serving low-income housing court litigants in danger of homelessness – a state that is difficult for families and costly for governments – with the holistic legal, financial, and social service interventions that can help them avoid entering shelter. In addition, this partnership-based approach to program design and management has enabled both public and private stakeholders to learn and act upon HHP’s lessons with regards to larger homelessness prevention initiatives.

This report examines academic research about family homelessness and its prevention, provides a detailed description of the HHP model, compares the program model to similar programs in cities across the country, assesses HHP’s effectiveness in delivering services and the impact of these services on client outcomes, and offers a cost-benefit analysis of HHP