LOS ANGELES — A new study published in the Journal of Urban Economics provides some of the strongest evidence to date that Rapid Re-Housing programs can produce lasting reductions in homelessness, finding that short-term rental assistance continued to benefit participants years after subsidies ended while improving health outcomes and reducing criminal justice involvement for many families.
The research, conducted by the nonpartisan California Policy Lab using linked administrative records from Los Angeles County, followed participants for four years after they entered Rapid Re-Housing (RRH), a cornerstone of the Housing First model. Researchers concluded that even temporary rental assistance substantially reduced future homelessness, particularly among families, while finding no evidence that housing assistance discouraged employment or reduced earnings.
The findings arrive as homelessness continues to rise nationwide and policymakers debate the future of federal investments in Housing First programs. Rather than relying on short-term snapshots, the study tracked participants across homeless services, health care, criminal justice, employment and public assistance systems, offering one of the most comprehensive evaluations yet of Rapid Re-Housing’s long-term effectiveness.
The study examined more than 3,500 Rapid Re-Housing enrollments in Los Angeles County during 2019. Researchers compared people who successfully leased housing using an RRH subsidy with otherwise similar participants who enrolled in the same program during the same month but ultimately did not secure housing through the subsidy. Participants who leased up received an average rental subsidy of approximately $1,500 per month for seven months, with families generally receiving larger and longer subsidies than individuals.
Researchers found that individuals and transition-age youth who successfully obtained housing through Rapid Re-Housing experienced a 30 percent reduction in future homelessness over four years compared with similar participants who never leased up. Families experienced a 25 percent reduction over the same period.
For families, those reductions persisted throughout the full four-year study period. For individuals, the positive effects gradually diminished after roughly three years but still demonstrated meaningful long-term gains well after assistance had ended.
The researchers also documented benefits beyond housing stability. Families that successfully leased housing experienced better health outcomes, less criminal justice involvement and increased income from public assistance programs. At the same time, the study found no evidence that receiving rental assistance reduced employment or earnings for either individuals or families, addressing one of the common criticisms of housing assistance programs.
The study also identified challenges with program implementation. Approximately 37 percent of participants who enrolled in Rapid Re-Housing never successfully used their subsidy to obtain housing, suggesting that barriers in the rental market, provider capacity or other factors prevented many eligible participants from benefiting from the program.
“Rapid Re-Housing is one of the most widely used strategies to help people exit homelessness, yet we’ve had little evidence about its long-term effects,” said co-author Brian Blackwell, senior data scientist at the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site. “Our findings show that even a relatively short period of rental assistance can reduce homelessness for years afterward, especially for families.”
Co-author Dr. Max Gross said the extended follow-up period made it possible to evaluate the program beyond the period when participants were receiving assistance.
“Housing assistance may last only a few months, but its effects can last much longer,” Gross said. “Following participants for four years allowed us to understand those longer-term outcomes and to provide policymakers with better evidence about what Rapid Re-Housing can achieve.”
Rapid Re-Housing is a central component of the Housing First approach, which seeks to move people experiencing homelessness directly into permanent housing without requiring sobriety, employment or treatment as preconditions. Unlike permanent supportive housing, which provides long-term subsidies and ongoing supportive services for people with the highest needs, Rapid Re-Housing provides temporary rental assistance, housing navigation and case management intended to stabilize households until they can maintain housing independently.
The study notes that Rapid Re-Housing has expanded dramatically over the past decade. Nationally, the number of RRH beds increased by more than 100,000 between 2014 and 2024, while its share of permanent housing beds doubled. Because subsidies are generally limited to no more than 24 months, the program is often viewed as a lower-cost and more scalable alternative to permanent supportive housing.
The researchers sought to determine whether those shorter-term investments continued producing benefits after assistance ended. Their analysis found that participants who leased up were substantially less likely to return to homelessness than comparable participants who enrolled in the same programs but never obtained housing through the subsidy. Researchers linked homeless services records with state employment, earnings, public assistance, health care and criminal justice records to measure outcomes over four years.
The study also examined why families appeared to experience stronger and more durable outcomes than individuals.
Families generally received larger monthly subsidies and assistance lasting about one month longer than individuals. The study found an association between more generous subsidies and better long-term housing outcomes.
Families also experienced gains extending beyond housing. Increased public assistance income, improved health and reduced criminal justice involvement may have reinforced one another, creating greater long-term housing stability. Individuals, who generally did not experience those additional improvements, saw housing gains fade after several years.
The report places its findings within a broader body of homelessness research.
Previous randomized studies have consistently demonstrated the effectiveness of permanent supportive housing, while evidence surrounding Rapid Re-Housing has been more limited and sometimes mixed, particularly for families. The California Policy Lab study argues that differences in implementation, subsidy amounts and participant characteristics may help explain those earlier results and concludes that Rapid Re-Housing can produce meaningful reductions in homelessness across multiple populations when participants successfully obtain housing.
Researchers acknowledge limitations in the study.
Because participants were not randomly assigned to lease housing, the researchers relied on extensive administrative records and statistical methods to compare similar participants while accounting for housing market conditions, provider capacity and other factors that influenced whether someone successfully leased a unit. The authors found that participants who leased up and those who did not were similar across more than 30 pre-program characteristics, strengthening confidence in the findings.
The findings have significant implications as California and local governments continue searching for strategies to reduce homelessness amid severe housing shortages and rising rents. The research concludes that relatively short-term rental assistance can produce measurable reductions in homelessness that persist years after subsidies end, particularly for families, while improving health outcomes and reducing criminal justice involvement without reducing employment or earnings.
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