Across the country, communities -- and funders -- are creating systems that work for families.  

We know what works.  Philanthropy can help take it to scale.

Today, in every state, a family that relies entirely on TANF for income cannot cover the cost of fair market rent. Funders can play an important role in addressing the gaps.

		1501 Pacific Avenue, Ste 400  Tacoma, WA 98402 Phone: 253-597-7491 www.uwpc.org

Organization Type

United Way

Mission

United Way of Pierce County is committed to making measurable improvements in the lives of people in our community.

Our mission is best executed when we identify critical issues and then use your gift to fund a combination of programs and initiatives to best address those issues.

Funding Areas

• Education
• Health care
• Housing

Supported Strategies

• Affordable housing
• Education about homelessness
• Emergency shelter
• Funding advocacy
• Permanent supportive housing
• Prevention
• Public policy/systems change
• Rapid re-housing
• Supportive services
• Transitional housing
• Workforce development

View this resource as a PDF

Through emergency housing assistance, including rapid re-housing programs, states can use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to prevent and end homelessness among families. Rapid re-housing programs help families move into housing as quickly as possible after they become homeless, instead of allowing families to spend weeks or months in shelters and transitional programs. These programs also minimize the impact of homelessness on children and provide the stability parents need to find jobs or participate in employment programs.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a memorandum explaining that TANF funds can be used to address the housing-related needs of families who are homeless or precariously housed. Use of TANF funds in this way is consistent with rules on providing benefits and services to needy or eligible families. Families do not need to be receiving TANF cash assistance in order to qualify for housing services.

How can TANF funds be used for housing assistance?

States may adjust cash benefit levels in relation to housing costs.

States can also provide a housing supplement to cash assistance. TANF programs can also provide an array of non-recurrent, short-term benefits and services that are designed to address a specific crisis situation and extend no longer than four months.

For example, TANF may be used for short-term rental or mortgage assistance to prevent eviction or to help a homeless family secure housing. This may include security and utility payments, moving assistance, motel or hotel vouchers, case management services, financial and credit counseling, legal services, housing search and placement services, and related administrative costs.

TANF funds can also support rapid re-housing programs. For example, a partnership between The Road Home and Utah’s Department of Workforce Services provides rapid re-housing assistance combined with employment services to help families with children move into housing quickly. TANF funds provide rental assistance, remove barriers to housing, deliver case management services, and connect families to work supports.

TANF agencies should also be active participants in statewide, regional, and local efforts to prevent and end homelessness, including the Continuum of Care. TANF funds can be used in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s targeted homeless assistance grants program, the Continuum of Care program, and Emergency Solutions Grants program.

To learn more about using TANF funding for housing assistance, visit:

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration’s TANF Information Memorandum

For more information about rapid re-housing, visit:

• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness: Rapid Re-Housing
• Rapid Re-Housing: Successfully Ending Family Homelessness
• Utah’s The Road Home

View this resource as a PDF

		Increase TANF Payments to Protect Families From Homelessness Use TANF to Provide Rapid Re-Housing and Emergency Housing Assistance Support Families with the Greatest Needs by Removing Barriers to TANF Use TANF to Create Subsidized Jobs and Provide Work Supports for Families Living in Poverty Strengthen Connections Among Welfare-to-Work, Job Training, and Homeless Assistance Programs
		Tips for Funders: Understanding the Connections Between Family Homelessness and TANF Policies

Every summer the National Alliance to End Homelessness conference on ending homelessness has been a highlight for me. It reinvigorates me. It teaches me. It reminds me why we do this work – day in and day out.

At this week’s NAEH 2013 Conference on Ending Family & Youth Homelessness, Funders Together hosted several events as part of our Networking Series: Where Catalytic Philanthropy Begins With Conversation. 

At the Gates Foundation, we’re now entering the 14th year of our work in Washington State to reduce family homelessness.  That may sound like a long time, but when dealing with a problem as complex and seemingly intractable as family homelessness, time is required to find and implement changes with the potential to have real impact.  

As we work together as a national community to collectively educate each other about exciting new developments in the effort to permanently end homelessness, it’s important to step back and learn, as well, from a global vantage point.

It isn’t every day that the work I do at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is called “audacious,” but when one of our partners described our collective efforts to end family homelessness in Washington State with precisely this word, I took it as a compliment.