Welcome Home: Design and Practice Guidance for Supportive Housing for Families with Children

This guide is intended for supportive housing administrators and practitioners who are developing and involved in supportive housing efforts that serve families with children. Families being served by supportive housing efforts face a complex set of challenges including long-term and repeated homelessness, child welfare involvement, mental health issues, domestic violence, and a parental history of trauma. The instability, trauma and complex needs of these families not only impact their housing outcomes, but also their parenting and child development outcomes. Permanent supportive housing for these families provides a platform for adult healing, family strengthening and a healthier life course for the children and youth. To support a family’s ability to use the opportunity that supportive housing provides fully it will be important for supportive housing providers to build an environment that is both developmentally appropriate to the needs of children and responsive to the unique needs and pressures of parents.