Homebase
Last Revised: November 6, 2025
- Issue Areas
- Housing and community development
- Outcomes
- Stable and healthy families
Program overview
Community based homelessness prevention: Homebase is a community-based homelessness prevention program in New York City. The program aims to reduce shelter entries by families put at risk of homelessness due to domestic violence, eviction, overcrowding, and other housing emergencies.
Serving at-risk families at scale through community partners: Homebase serves approximately 28,000 households a year through seven contracted non-profit social service providers. These social service organizations have a presence in low income neighborhoods where the most people are at risk of homelessness. These non-profits conduct intake, case management, and provide services or they refer participants to the appropriate assistance.
Applying for assistance: People at risk of homelessness voluntarily apply for Homebase or are referred by a social service agency. Eligible families make less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level or are recently discharged from a homeless shelter. After completing a Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ) and confirming their eligibility at an appointment with a community partner, participants are assigned to a case manager at the community partner closest to them.
Tailoring services for housing stability: Homebase case managers work with participants to create a service plan and goals to achieve housing stability. Case managers then refer participants to services based on identified needs. Services include family and landlord mediation, legal assistance, short-term financial assistance, mental health and substance abuse services, child care, or job search assistance.
Supporting housing stability after a shelter stay: The primary purpose of Homebase is to reduce shelter admissions, however, Homebase is also tasked with aftercare - helping families exiting homeless shelters find stable housing. Homebase service providers are well positioned to meet the needs of people exiting shelters since their needs overlap in many ways with those at risk of homelessness such as accessing housing vouchers or receiving job search assistance.
- Location
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New York City, NY
Two studies of Homebase in New York City demonstrate that the program model is a well-supported strategy for reducing homeless shelter entries and shelter stays.
A 2013 randomized controlled trial of Homebase found that participating families spent on average 22.6 fewer nights in a shelter and were 9% less likely to apply for shelter within 2.25 years of receiving Homebase assistance, when compared to a control group.
A 2016 quasi-experimental study found that Homebase reduced shelter entries by 11.7% on average in high-need neighborhoods.
Community partners with strong local presence: Homebase’s seven contracted service providers are large nonprofit organizations with experience providing a variety of social services at scale. The service providers also have strong connections to the areas they operate in and focus on depth rather than breadth, with five of the seven providers only operating in one borough of New York City.
Providing dedicated case managers: Families participating in Homebase often face a complex set of challenges, such as housing insecurity, poverty, and often other traumas. The program provides participants with a dedicated case manager to ensure families have greater continuity in their experiences across their time in Homebase.
Large investments upfront lead to cost savings: Homebase is a significant investment in homelessness prevention, costing New York City over $55 million a year. However, this investment in prevention is demonstrated to save the city money by reducing shelter entries. Homebase prevention services offset the cost of providing families with services after they become homeless by $140 per household (in 2012 dollars).
Information sharing using Homeless Management Information System (HMIS): Assisting people at risk of homelessness or exiting shelters is often complicated by poor information sharing among social service agencies. To address this, Homebase providers use the CARES HMIS - used by shelters, government agencies, and non profits - to conduct intake and case management. A single online platform allows Homebase to track participants through shelter stays or other social service touchpoints, and ensures there is continuity if someone moves to a different part of the city and/or accesses services through a different service provider.