A homelessness prevention program that began in Santa Clara County is expanding across the country.
Nonprofit Destination: Home is partnering with 10 organizations across the United States to provide rental assistance and case management for people facing eviction, aiming to help more than 10,000 families remain housed. These organizations are located in a range of communities, including large and small cities, rural areas, and tribal communities in Minnesota, Alaska, Atlanta, Georgia, Asheville, North Carolina and other locations.
Ray Bramson, chief operating officer at Destination: Home and a San José Spotlight columnist, said to San José Spotlight: “We’ve used the model successfully locally here, but I think it’s a model we can advocate and push for at a larger scale.”
The nonprofit started its homelessness prevention program in 2017 after seeing an increase in homelessness in Santa Clara County. The program provided rental assistance, case management and supportive services to hundreds of families at risk of eviction. In 2024, Santa Clara County adopted the program into its own strategy and expanded it countywide. Since its inception, nearly 44,000 people have avoided homelessness through this initiative. A randomized control trial by the University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities found that 90% of those who received assistance remained housed two years later.
Destination: Home is now launching the Right at Home initiative to advocate for federal funding focused on preventing homelessness before it starts. The organization has raised $77 million so far and will train groups in participating cities to use its model. Each community will receive at least $5 million over five years to serve about 1,500 households. Data collection will be managed by the Lab for Economic Opportunities.
David Phillips, director of research with the Lab for Economic Opportunities told San José Spotlight: “It’s an incredible opportunity. We know there are a very large number of families where affordability is an issue. When folks become evicted, there are a lot of negative effects. The big piece of the goal is to get ahead of the problem.”
Santa Clara County resident Desiré Campusano said she received rental assistance multiple times during major life transitions through this program. Campusano told San José Spotlight: “It helped me to even be able to move in, because I didn’t have any savings whatsoever. So not only did it help me to actually move in and get my stability back, but the case manager followed up and checked in.”
Keanna Ward said programs like this are essential as instability increases nationwide due to cuts in welfare programs. Ward told San José Spotlight: “We need services and programs like this to help people, because there’s a rise in unemployment especially amongst women.”
A spokesperson for Sobrato Organization told San José Spotlight: “While our work is deeply rooted in Silicon Valley, the forces driving housing instability are national in scope. If we are serious about strengthening communities and expanding economic mobility, we must be equally serious about ensuring that families across the country have access to stable housing.”
