In 2008, after small programs who invested in Rapid -Rehousing showed positive signs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began funding a rapid-rehousing demonstration program.
The 2008 HUD demonstration program provided $25 Million in funding to 23 different pilot programs throughout the country. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress appropriated $1.5 Billion for Homeless Prevention and Rapid-Rehousing Program. 1
In 2009, Congress also passed the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act which reauthorized the programs from the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act while adding rapid-rehousing to the list of authorized programs as part of the re-authorization.
Rapid Re-Housing provides housing to those who are experiencing homelessness with housing with no pre-conditions such as employment, criminal history or sobriety. Rapid housing has been defined as have three main components: 2
Housing Identification
Provide services that help both landlords join the programs and ensure households are able to access the appropriate housing for them.
Financial Assistance
Provide financial assistance to households so that they can immediately move out of homelessness and into housing.
Case Management Services
Provide holistic services that connect program participants to services that help ensure they continue to be housed.
The HEARTH Act and rapid-rehousing shifted federal homelessness assistance policy by accelerating the shift from shelter beds to Rapid-Rehousing, creating a federal action plan to end homelessness, expanding the definition of homelessness to include people at immediate risk of experiencing homelessness, established continuum of care standards and established coordinated entry which hopes to reduce barriers to entrance of programs. 3
For more on homelessness prevention programs, see here.
For the full text of the HEARTH Act, see here.
Endnotes
1. https://endhomelessness.org/resource/rapid-re-housing-a-history-and-core-components/
2. https://www.usich.gov/solutions/housing/rapid-re-housing/
3. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/five-ways-hearth-act-changed-homelessness-assistance