Homelessness rarely begins the way people think it does.  

It’s not just eviction. It’s not even just a lack of shelter. 

“What’s the difference between being poor and being homeless?” shares Larry Seamans, President and CEO at FamilyAid. “The answer is often a precipitating incident that pushes a family from struggling financially into homelessness. Something like losing work hours, a medical emergency, or an unexpected expense.” 

That insight led FamilyAid to partner with Boston Public Schools. In the 2024–25 school year alone, 5,405 BPS students—more than one in every 10—were identified as experiencing homelessness, a rate that has increased steadily since 2021. Because most children facing housing instability in the city attend public schools, school staff are often the first to recognize the warning signs. 

Originally launched in 2019 with support from United Way, this partnership became the foundation of EHIP (the Early Homelessness Intervention Program), a model designed to stabilize families before they reach crisis and prevent homelessness. While early identification through schools was put on hold when buildings closed during the pandemic, BPS and FamilyAid adapted quickly, working to get federal and City of Boston housing vouchers to families identified as living doubled up at the time, reducing the incidence of COVID-19 and ensuring the program never truly stopped. 

Pictured (left to right): Mikayla Francois, Director of Housing and Prevention at FamilyAid; Luisa Munoz, Content Marketing Director at United Way of Massachusetts Bay; and Larry Seamans, President and CEO of FamilyAid.

“We piloted the program to support families who were on the verge of becoming homeless, instead of waiting until they were already in crisis,” says Mikayla Francois, Director of Housing and Prevention at FamilyAid. “We started small, with about 50 families and one case manager, providing low-barrier support. Initially a lot of financial assistance, but also really focusing on meeting families where they were.” 

That upstream philosophy is echoed across the district. “EHIP is designed as an upstream approach to housing stabilization,” explains Kedan Harris, Assistant Director of Opportunity Youth at Boston Public Schools.  

Since its launch, EHIP has grown from a small pilot into a system-wide support structure. Today, the program annually serves more than 3,000 children and parents and has provided over $2 million in private financial assistance. Beyond the data, the human impact is clear: families avoid eviction, parents regain stability, and students remain in their schools and communities. 

Kedan Harris, Assistant Director of Opportunity Youth at Boston Public Schools

At the heart of EHIP is a network of school-based homeless liaisons; staff members embedded in each school and trained under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. They identify students experiencing housing instability as soon as warning signs appear—missed rent, reduced work hours, or a looming eviction notice—and connect families to case management and resources from FamilyAid to help keep families housed and students on track.  

“So, it’s not about school-based homeless liaisons carrying a caseload,” Harris explains. “They can refer  families and feel confident that they’re handing them off to a trusted partner who will take care of them.” 

Once a referral is made, the process moves quickly and follows a clear pipeline: homeless liaison identification, referral, case assignment, and initial contact. Families are typically connected with a case manager within two days. 

From there, support is tailored to each family’s needs. Some require ongoing assistance, while others need only a small intervention to regain stability. “Sometimes it’s just a one-time drop of funds to get them back on track,” Harris adds. “And that’s all they needed.” 

The connection between housing and education is central to the program. “Academics and social supports go hand in hand,” says Francois. “How can a student focus on schoolwork if they don’t know where they’re going to lay their head the next night?” 

By stabilizing families, students stay engaged in school, with stronger attendance, fewer disruptions, and improved academic outcomes that might otherwise be overshadowed by uncertainty at home. “It’s about removing barriers to learning,” Harris emphasizes, “so students have the space to focus on why they’re coming to school every day.” 

Families remain connected to EHIP’s support services for up to 12–18 months, helping ensure short-term setbacks do not become long-term crises. “The goal is stability, so families don’t just survive the crisis but are set up to sustain themselves after they leave the program,” Seamans adds. 

The program continues to evolve through partnerships with the City of Boston and Greater Boston Legal Services, expanding eviction prevention support while keeping the process simple for schools and families. 

While families often enter the program due to an immediate housing concern, EHIP quickly reveals a deeper truth: families are often navigating impossible trade-offs. 

“Housing is not actually about the roof over someone’s head,” Larry Seamans explains. “It’s about poverty and all the interconnected issues that come with it. Parents are often making impossible choices, between paying rent, putting food on the table, or covering medical expenses.” 

That’s why EHIP extends its reach far beyond emergency assistance. “We go beyond housing,” Mikayla says. “We want to break the cycle, not just homelessness, but poverty in general.” 

Mikayla Francois, Director of Housing and Prevention at FamilyAid.

Families receive tailored support through case management, financial assistance, and six specialized FamilyAid Navigators focused on employment, childcare, healthcare, education, social capital, and housing.  

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all,” Francois explains. “We assess each family individually, what led to their housing instability, what their needs are, and what supports we can put in place.” 

The approach is deeply grounded in empathy and trauma-informed care. “We know many families are carrying a lot of trauma,” Francois adds. “Sometimes it means moving more slowly, especially when families are in immediate crisis.” 

And perhaps most importantly, the program intentionally shifts the power dynamic. 

“We may have the titles, but the families are the experts in their own lives,” Francois says. “Our role is to support them, propose options, and empower them to lead services in a way that makes sense for them.” 

Avoiding shelter placement is one of FamilyAid’s most urgent goals. 

“Our objective is not to send anyone to shelter, because the trauma for a child going through that experience is significant,” Larry Seamans explains. “A child who experiences homelessness is three times more likely to become a homeless adult, so prevention is critical if we want to break that cycle.” 

Many of the families served are already in fragile situations. 

“Most of our families are what we call doubled up, living with other families in overcrowded situations, which can often lead to eviction,” Seamans adds. 

Without early intervention, these living arrangements can quickly destabilize. Disruptions to routines, schooling, and a child’s sense of safety can escalate into full crisis for the entire family. 

“Families don’t just suddenly become homeless,” Seamans says. “There’s usually a triggering event that pushes them over the edge.” 

Larry Seamans, President and CEO at FamilyAid.

EHIP is not just a program, it’s a scalable framework for preventing homelessness. 

As family homelessness increasingly affects communities throughout the state, EHIP demonstrates how school districts can play a pivotal role in prevention by identifying risk early and connecting families to the right support before crisis hits. With 10% of the nation’s homeless families now concentrated in Massachusetts, these resources for homelessness prevention are essential. 

What sets EHIP apart is its collaborative approach, not only among schools and nonprofits but also with research partners like Boston College, which is studying outcomes for students and families, including academic performance and overall stability. “It really tied in nicely to have that research component to the program,” Harris says. “With schools across the district making referrals into the program, it’s important to know what impact this is having.”  

“EHIP shows what’s possible when people come together and ask, ‘What can we do to support families before crisis hits?” Harris says. 

Prevention doesn’t just change lives. It also makes economic sense. 

“For one-sixth the cost of placing a family in shelter, we can keep them housed and stable,” Larry says. “It makes sense financially, it makes sense from a compassion standpoint, and it makes sense for the long-term future of children.” 

“You end homelessness by preventing it.”