Keeping Families Together: What the Evaluation Shows About Housing Stability and Child Welfare Outcomes
Karen Pelletier, MSW
Division Director
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services, Housing, Innovation, & Stabilization Services,
Bridget Happney, MSW
Senior Social Services Manager
Mecklenburg County Child Family and Adult Services, Youth and Family Services
Mary Ann Priester, PhD, MSW
Senior Management Analyst
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services, Housing, Innovation, & Stabilization Services,
Families involved in the child welfare system are often navigating multiple, intersecting challenges at once, including housing instability, poverty, health needs, and trauma. When housing is unstable, these challenges compound, increasing the likelihood of child welfare involvement and, in the most severe cases, family separation.
The Keeping Families Together model was developed in collaboration with the Corporation for Supportive Housing through its Frequent User System Model (FUSE) to intervene at this intersection by pairing permanent supportive housing with wraparound services for families involved with child welfare who are also experiencing homelessness. A new evaluation of Mecklenburg County’s Keeping Families Together program offers important insight into how this approach is working locally and what it tells us about the role of housing in stabilizing families and reducing system involvement.
This blog summarizes findings from the Mecklenburg County Keeping Families Together Program Evaluation, highlighting housing outcomes and changes in child welfare involvement for families served between 2020 and 2023.
ABOUT THE EVALUATION
Mecklenburg County’s Keeping Families Together program launched in 2019 as a partnership between the County and Supportive Housing Communities to serve families with history of and current involvement with Youth and Family Services who were experiencing homelessness at the time of referral. The program provides tenant based rental assistance alongside intensive, family centered supportive services.
The evaluation examined all households enrolled between 2020 and 2023, linking Homeless Management Information System data with Youth and Family Services case data to track housing outcomes and child welfare involvement over time. Outcomes were analyzed prior to program entry, after housing move in, and one year post move in.
WHO THE PROGRAM SERVED
Between 2020 and 2023, the program served 65 households representing 241 people, including 166 children.
Families entering the program were facing significant barriers. Most households were led by women, and nearly half of adult participants reported surviving domestic violence. The majority of participants identified as Black, reflecting long documented racial inequities in both housing instability and child welfare involvement. Nearly half of adults reported no income at program entry, and many relied on public benefits. Participants also reported high rates of mental health conditions, chronic health issues, and disabilities. Approximately one quarter of households met the definition of chronic homelessness at program start.
These data underscore that the program is reaching families with some of the highest levels of need, many of whom are at elevated risk of continued system involvement without intervention.
HOUSING OUTCOMES
Housing outcomes for participating families were strong, particularly given the level of need and the broader housing market context.
A total of 46 households were successfully housed through the program. The average time from program entry to housing move in was 139 days. Housing retention was high, with 76% of housed households remaining stably housed at the evaluation cutoff.
Most families who exited the program transitioned to some form of housing, including living with friends or family, market rate rentals, or public housing.
CHILD WELFARE INVOLVEMENT BEFORE AND AFTER HOUSING
All families served by the program had prior involvement with Youth and Family Services, often extensive.
Before entering the program, families averaged six child welfare cases each, including intake reports, investigations, in home services, and in some cases, permanency planning.
After housing move-in, child welfare involvement declined for most families. Two thirds of housed households experienced fewer child welfare cases following move in. By one-year post move-in, 76% of households had reduced their total number of cases compared to pre-entry, and 40% of families had no open child welfare cases at all at the study cutoff.
Even among families who experienced an increase in cases immediately after move-in, nearly all showed meaningful declines by the one-year mark.
