Building a Homelessness Prevention System: A Toolkit for Launching, Operating, and Managing an Evidence-Based Program

The United States is experiencing a homelessness crisis unlike anything the country has seen before.

A 2024 national census counted 770,000 people living on the street or in a sheltered setting – an 18% increase from the previous year and the highest number ever recorded.

The costs of this crisis are enormous. Individuals and families experiencing homelessness face threats to their personal safety and health, psychological trauma, risk of sexual victimization, difficulties getting to work or school and shortened lifespans. Meanwhile, taxpayers foot massive bills for shelters and supportive housing, emergency health care, incarceration and other financial costs associated with homelessness.

In recent years, governments at all levels have invested billions of dollars in housing and other services for people experiencing homelessness, which has helped. But, there’s a more effective and common-sense strategy that American communities have barely tapped into: preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.

That’s what Santa Clara County, California, did. And rigorous evaluation shows that their model is working.