While a small portion of the homeless population requires sustained assistance and more intensive services, a large number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness can be assisted through the provision of rent assistance and some housing stabilization services, such as help with employment, connecting with mainstream resources like TANF and SSI/SSDI, and budget counseling. Another group of individuals and families can be prevented from becoming homeless in the first place through the provision of rent assistance -- such as first month's rent and security deposit or paying back rent owed to the landlord -- and limited services.

To encourage this kind of proven assistance, Congress and the Administration approved a $1.5 billion Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009. This program provides funds to communities across the country to provide homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing assistance to individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

The pages included in this section provide information about the proven strategies of homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing, strategies for designing and re-evaluating an HPRP program, and examples of how these strategies are being used throughout the country.