Strategies

Use specialized courts to work with parents involved in the child welfare system who may lose custody of their children due to substance abuse

Provide eligible families with low and very low incomes with vouchers to help cover the costs of rental housing; also called Section 8

Provide rapid access to permanent housing and support (e.g., crisis intervention, needs assessment, case management), usually for chronically homeless individuals with persistent mental illness or substance abuse issues

Facilitate mediation between tenants and landlords to resolve conflict and prevent eviction

Apologize for discriminatory housing policies; increase subsidies, financing, and paths to homeownership for people of color; and invest in systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods

Arrange full-time foster care by relatives or adults who are not a child’s parent but have a family relationship with the child when a child is removed from home due to a safety concern

Provide legal representation for tenants with low incomes in eviction proceedings or offer limited legal assistance to prepare tenants to represent themselves in court

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly

Transition families and individuals experiencing homelessness into permanent housing quickly, often with supports such as short-term financial assistance, case management, landlord negotiations, etc.

Provide incentives to trade in old cars or light duty trucks with low fuel efficiency and high emissions and buy new vehicles with higher efficiency and lower emissions; also called scrappage or vehicle early retirement programs