How can homelessness prevention support children’s educational experiences and parent-child wellbeing?
Our Research & Findings
Approximately 10% of students at Boston Public Schools (BPS) experience homelessness, which is linked to lower attendance, grades, test scores, and graduation rates.
We evaluated the implementation and impacts of the Early Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (EHIP) program, which connects BPS families at risk of homelessness with FamilyAid for housing assistance. Since 2019, the program has:
- Served 2,941 families, including 9,411 family members (4,258 of these were BPS students)
- Housed 1,328 families, including 4,149 family members (2,215 of these were BPS students)
One year after referral to the program, EHIP participants experienced:
- 57% increase in housing stability
- 23% decrease in parent anxiety and depression levels
- 17% decrease in chronic absenteeism, and a 5-percentage point increase in attendance relative to a matched comparison group
Surveys with BPS staff, however, revealed that 83% experienced problems identifying students at risk of homelessness. This motivated ongoing work to develop and test a school-based homelessness risk screener.
Evidence from this work has helped:
- Generate support from school district leadership to sustain the EHIP program.
- Expand EHIP to include new initiatives like City of Boston’s Access to Counsel pilot program for families facing eviction.
- Spur hiring at FamilyAid, intensify training of BPS staff, and reinforce philanthropic fundraising for EHIP.
- Support the establishment of Massachusetts- and Boston-based housing policy and coordination deliberation bodies.
Support and Sponsorship
We are grateful to our sponsers — William T. Grant Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Boston College School of Social Work Center for Social Innovation — for their support of this very impactful research.
If you are interested in sponsering the work and research of our lab, please contact jessica.mccabe.99@bc.edu.