What it Takes to End Family Homelessness

Ending family homelessness begins with housing, but lasting healing requires transforming every system that touches a family’s life.

Ecological solutions work together across systems to restore stability, dignity, and belonging. Co-designed with families and aligned with global evidence, these strategies offer a roadmap for breaking intergenerational cycles of trauma and structural harm.

MICROSYSTEM SOLUTIONS

Where healing begins

The microsystem includes the closest environments surrounding a child — home, caregiving, routines, childcare, early learning. Stability at this level is the foundation for all other change.

1. Stable Housing & Economic Security

Housing is the most powerful microsystem intervention. But housing alone cannot produce stability if families remain overwhelmed by scarcity, crisis-driven systems, or unpredictable income. Stability grows when housing is paired with flexible, dignity-centered resources and consistent relational support.

Guaranteed Income & Flexible Cash

Direct, unconditional cash is one of the most effective tools for reducing toxic stress and strengthening parent–child relationships.

In Stockton’s guaranteed income project, participants saw reductions in anxiety and depression, improved wellbeing, and more stable family functioning.
Cash support helps parents regulate emotionally, establish predictable routines, and make decisions that align with their children’s needs.
It is more cost-effective than crisis systems, with emergency shelter stays costing several times more than providing direct financial stability.

Cash gives families space to breathe, recover, and reconnect.

MESOSYSTEM SOLUTIONS

Where systems meet and either create coherence or chaos

The mesosystem includes the connections between home, school, childcare, healthcare, and service systems.
This is where fragmentation often retraumatizes families, and where coordination can dramatically improve stability.

1. Family-Led Service Plannning

Center family voices

Families define their own goals, strengths, and priorities (aligned with models like Whānau Ora).

Prioritize predictability & choice

Families can select caseworkers, decline services without penalty, and engage supports on their terms.

Implement cross-system support

A plan shared across schools, healthcare, housing, and childcare reduces stress and prevents retraumatization.

When families lead, systems follow, and outcomes improve.

EXOSYSTEM SOLUTIONS

Transforming public systems, funding, and institutional design

The exosystem includes the policies, structures, and organizations families don’t directly choose — but that shape nearly every aspect of their lives.

1. Housing First with Trauma Standards

Immediate, low-barrier housing without preconditions
Voluntary, individualized supports
Caseworkers who stay with families across systems
Trauma-informed approaches that emphasize safety, autonomy, and choice
Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) shows strong gains in stability and mental health

MACROSYSTEM SOLUTIONS

Shifting the cultural, economic, and policy conditions that shape family life

1. Universal Early Intervention

Embed supports in early learning, pediatric care, maternal health, and home visiting to prevent instability before it escalates.

These systems reduce caregiver stress, support secure attachment, and interrupt intergenerational trauma.

CHRONOSYSTEM SOLUTIONS

Healing across generations.

The chronosystem shows how trauma, policy, and structural exclusion compound across time. Long-term healing requires long-term supports.

1. Long-Term Guaranteed Supports

Guaranteed Income

Extended Housing Subsidies

Long-term Mental Health Care

Predictable Family Resources

These supports allow healing to unfold over time rather than only during crisis windows.