This April 9, 2020 webinar, hosted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, was facilitated by Iain De Jong of OrgCode Consulting, Inc. The webinar highlighted several considerations for staff working in Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) and Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) programs to support individuals remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Webinar topics included: staff wellness; communicating with program participants; keeping connected; considerations regarding prioritizing time and who to serve; supporting harm reduction, financial matters, and landlords; helping with crisis planning, changing support plans; and addressing food security.

This Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report provides a summary of recent data to illustrate the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the rental and mortgage market and its effect on low-income and minority households. The report notes that over 11 million renter and homeowner households were significantly overdue on housing payments as of December 2020, placing them at greater risk of foreclosure or eviction.

The 20th Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) was held virtually on October 13–15 and October 19–22, 2020. The conference sessions were organized in six thematic tracks: TANF Programs, Policies, and Populations; Employment and Mobility in the Labor Market; Youth Well-Being and the Transition to Adulthood; Strengthening Families, Fatherhood, Marriages, and Relationships; Evaluating Social Programs, Building Evidence, and Using Data; and Approaches to Alleviate Poverty and Expand Opportunity. A complete set of videos covering plenary and breakout sessions and a career panel is now available online.

The National Association of Counties (NAC) held the second webinar of its County Eviction Series on February 4, 2021 to discuss how some county governments have addressed the need for housing and financial stability among at-risk families during the COVID-19 crisis. Presentations included solutions that were implemented in local communities during the national evictions crisis. A video and a PowerPoint presentation are available for downloading. Webinar presenters included representatives of the NAC, the Orange County (Florida) Housing and Community Development Division, and the Palm Beach County (Florida) Community Services Department.

This updated interactive mapping tool highlights aspects of communities associated with safe children and strong families. The research-based framework, composed of select community indicators, is offered to communities nationwide. The tool maps community indicators at geographic levels defined by the user, from the state level to neighborhoods. Most indicators are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The tool was informed by significant evidence of the community factors correlated with child maltreatment and a healthy community framework developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Factors include child and family wellbeing, economics, education, and housing. The tool includes new indicators, such as COVID-19 data and resource accessibility, and breaks down many of the data indicators by race and ethnicity. Training videos on how to use the tool are available.

This report offers key considerations on how to develop and evaluate direct cash transfer programs (DCTP) for youth experiencing homelessness. In designing a DCTP program in New York City, these considerations include centering on youth, boosting housing stability, flexibility in the implementation of delivery of payment and support systems, and identifying barriers to program success. This report’s findings are based on a literature review of DCTPs; focus groups with youth experiencing homelessness and a range of other stakeholders beyond affected youth; and a co-interpretation workshop with stakeholders, including young people, government agency representatives, funders, and advocates.

This new webinar series entitled Moving Upstream: Transforming Systems to Advance Well-Being will examine structural barriers to and opportunities for moving to a coordinated system of services to support and strengthen families. The first webinar in the series will occur on January 14, 2021 from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET. The webinar will examine how housing and economic mobility programs can coordinate to promote child and family well-being. Presenters will include representatives from Mercy Housing, Casey Family Services, Compass Working Capital, and Abt Associates.

This interactive mapping tool reflects the community factors associated with safe children and strong families. These factors include child and family well-being (children living in poverty and children without health insurance), educational attainment, economic status (unemployment rate, poverty rate, and median household income), housing factors (average number of hours working at minimum wage needed to afford housing, and percentage of unoccupied housing units), accessibility (access to healthy food, number of SNAP benefit recipients, computer access, and reduced/free lunch eligibility), and COVID-19 metrics (through November 2, but continuously updated). Data and indicators can be mapped at geographic levels defined by the user from the state level to the neighborhood level (by census tract).

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation infographic illustrates the three phases of the Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) project. The phases include YARH grantees’ identification of target populations, design of program interventions, implementation and testing of these interventions, and administration of evidence-based evaluations. YARH grantees consist of state and county/tribal child welfare agencies and community organizations funded by the Children’s Bureau at the Administration for Children and Families.

This report is an initial evaluation of Families Forward, a locally designed and funded two-generation program in Bangor, Maine. The program involves a partnership with Bangor Housing, the local public housing authority, and the Boys & Girls Club of Bangor. The program’s model includes social supports for families, financial coaching, and access to services and training that are designed to move these families toward greater economic mobility.