The University of Notre Dame announced today that its will serve as the national evidence partner for , a new cross-sector initiative led by to stop homelessness before it starts. LEO will provide the research backbone for the initiative 鈥� working alongside pilot communities to generate rigorous evidence, measure outcomes and share what is learned to strengthen and scale homelessness prevention nationwide.
Backed by $77 million in new funding support from various benefactors, Right at Home aims to keep more than 10,000 households at high risk of homelessness stably housed in 10 pilot locations across the country over the next five years. By scaling an evidence-based prevention model, Right at Home sets out to prove that homelessness prevention works and is replicable nationwide, building the case for national prevention policy and funding.
Across the country, homelessness rates are rising, and housing costs continue to strain renters. Half of American renters are unable to afford their housing costs, and economic pressures are pushing more people into crisis every day. Once someone becomes homeless, challenges compound quickly, making prevention a critical component of any meaningful response.
Right at Home builds on a that provides and case management to support families on the brink of losing their homes, but before they become unhoused, and takes it a step further by expanding that model across the country. That model was spearheaded by Destination: Home and in Santa Clara County, California, and evaluated by LEO researchers.
鈥淲e have a moral obligation to take evidence to impact,鈥� said , interim managing director and head of policy and impact at LEO. 鈥淲hen we find strong evidence that something is effective, it鈥檚 not enough to publish a result. We have to make sure that evidence gets used by replicating and scaling what works, so communities across the country can benefit.鈥�
LEO鈥檚 study found that individuals who received financial assistance through Santa Clara County鈥檚 Homelessness Prevention System were significantly less likely to become homeless even a year later. The model also demonstrated strong cost effectiveness, with LEO researchers finding that every $1 invested saved almost $2.50 in benefits to the community.
By intervening earlier, this approach has helped nearly 44,000 people locally avoid the profound trauma of homelessness and has reduced the need for far more costly public interventions after housing has been lost 鈥� such as shelters, emergency healthcare and other crisis services.
鈥淭he single most obvious solution to homelessness is stopping it before it starts, yet our country continues to respond only after people fall into crisis,鈥� said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home. 鈥淲e have proven that targeted homelessness prevention works locally, and now it鈥檚 time to prove that this can work all across the country. We should never let people, in the worst moments of their lives, suffer even more.鈥�
In the U.S., most homelessness intervention programs only focus on responding to individuals and families once they have already lost their housing, with far fewer efforts aimed at targeting them early enough to prevent the loss of housing in the first place. The result is a backlog of overwhelming needs and cascading issues. Right at Home and its partners are hoping to intervene at a crucial turning point in the individual and family鈥檚 life in order to bring the right amount of help at the right time. LEO鈥檚 expertise will step in to provide evidence to impact.
The 10 pilot communities covered by the initiative include cities, counties and tribal nations, and represent areas with varied economic conditions and housing markets, including both rural and urban regions. Communities were selected based on showing urgent need, spanning diverse geographies, demonstrating strong on-the-ground and cross-sector collaboration and offering clear pathways for future local public-private investment.
So far, Right at Home community partners include Alaska (Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness); Asheville Region, N.C. (Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care); Atlanta, Ga. (Partners for HOME); Austin-Travis County, Texas (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition); County of San Mateo, Calif.; Denver-Adams County, Colo. (Metro Denver Continuum of Care); Miami-Dade County, Fla. (Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust); and Minnesota (Minnesota Tribal Collaborative Pathways to Housing), with two additional locations to come.
To stand up the Right at Home support systems locally, organizers will rely on the Homelessness Prevention System Toolkit, co-developed by LEO, Destination: Home and . This toolkit provides the technical assistance foundation for testing and adapting this model in all the selected locations. Right at Home, in conjunction with technical assistance partner , will use it to implement this approach in the new contexts while building the evidence base for national policy change.
Each Right at Home replication site will provide flexible financial assistance to address immediate needs such as rent, utilities or other urgent housing-related costs. It will also include supportive services such as legal assistance or other interventions that help remove barriers to housing stability, all of which will be delivered through local community partners and systems. Assessments will also be conducted to ensure families are connected to the appropriate Right at Home assistance and that needs are matched accordingly. Each pilot site will receive a minimum of $5 million over three years to stand up their local program.
Working with Right at Home and the pilot communities, LEO will test and rigorously evaluate the impact of rapid, flexible financial assistance, and inform the case for a national prevention policy.
鈥淲e already have strong evidence that targeted prevention can keep people housed,鈥� said , LEO director of research. 鈥淩ight at Home is a chance to take those results to impact at a national scale. By working alongside communities, we can learn what it takes to deliver strong outcomes in different places 鈥� and share what works so leaders can strengthen and sustain prevention over time. Most importantly, we can help more people stay housed before a temporary crisis becomes homelessness.鈥�
LEO's work aligns with Notre Dame's , a University-wide effort to create a world intolerant of poverty by expanding knowledge about how to solve it.
The Right at Home initiative is supported by a coalition of cross-sector partners, including , , Notre Dame鈥檚 LEO, and . To date, Destination: Home has secured $77 million in funding to support the Right at Home initiative. Funders include 鈥� a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED that encourages the world鈥檚 greatest changemakers to dream bigger 鈥� Cisco, Sobrato Philanthropies and the Valhalla Foundation.
The Right at Home initiative anticipates all pilot sites to begin implementation by January 2027, with some sites starting as early as this fall.
, a public-private partnership working to end homelessness, leads the Right at Home initiative. Through a collective-impact model, the nonprofit convenes and collaborates with community stakeholders to address the root causes of homelessness and drive systemic change in Silicon Valley and beyond. Using a data-driven, human-centered approach, Destination: Home advocates for effective policies, incubates new programs and invests in strategies that connect more homeless neighbors to stable housing and prevent homelessness before it begins.
Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu