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 A New View on Preventing Homelessness

How Cash Assistance Helps Formerly Homeless People Stay Housed

A Closer Look at Proven Solutions to Homelessness

You’ve seen homelessness. It may be a crisis in your city, or you may know someone affected. We all have beliefs about its causes and solutions, but without lived experience, our views are limited.

We invite you to look closer, from the bigger picture to the personal stories, the challenges to the proven solutions.

Perspective is everything… Here’s ours.

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 At First Glance

We’ve been taught to see homelessness as a crisis without context—someone else’s problem. But when we’re detached, we make assumptions instead of observations. We see tents instead of shelter. Poor choices instead of painful stories. Personal failures instead of people in need. A problem too big to solve, instead of bad policy.

But there are solutions—housing programs, transitional financial support, like our Rapid Rehousing Cash Assistance Program (RCAP), and policies that strengthen the system. The problem isn’t just what we see, but how we see it.

A New View shifts how we perceive and solve homelessness. Explore the crisis from the big picture to the lived experiences of people who exited homelessness through Abode’s Rapid Rehousing Cash Assistance Program (RCAP) program.

Shift the Lens. Get a New View.

 

 Zoom Out:
The Big Picture

Consider expert perspectives on the root causes of the homelessness crisis and the evidence-based housing and cash assistance programs that benefit communities, support unhoused people, and contribute to economic stability.

Expert Insights

Cash Assistance Benefits Families

Homelessness is not solved by housing alone, especially for families living on the edge. Lasting stability requires ongoing support.

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Why Cash Keeps People Housed

In the Bay Area, where soaring costs make housing loss devastating and hard to recover from, even a small emergency can push families out of stable homes.

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Cash Assistance is Cheaper than Crisis

Leaving someone chronically homeless costs communities up to $90,000 a year, while supportive housing and targeted cash assistance cost a fraction of that and prevent a crisis from happening before it spirals.

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What Happens When We Trust People with Cash?

By addressing the real causes of homelessness and reinvesting directly in local communities, cash and supportive housing solutions deliver both human and economic returns that benefit everyone.

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When we zoom out, we see how policies and systems shape outcomes. Homelessness isn’t random. It’s structured. The solutions must be too.

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 Zoom In:
The Community Impact

Learn how caseworkers’ daily work with people experiencing homelessness shapes their views on solutions like RCAP, and why they believe these programs are important for helping individuals and communities do better.

Bay Area View

A Practical Solution

By treating participants with dignity and filling the gap between wages and the Bay Area’s high cost of living, RCAP dispels harmful myths and helps people stay housed for good.

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More Than Money

By replacing judgment with trust, RCAP prevents crisis, meets real-life needs, and gives participants confidence, autonomy, and hope for lasting change.

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Everyone is Deserving of Dignity

By recognizing the barriers that keep chronically unhoused people from accessing support, Kevin Fagan illustrates how stability and compassion can transform lives and allow people to thrive indoors.

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Progress is Worthwhile

Kevin Fagan challenges the myth that homelessness services exist to sustain the problem, pointing instead to systemic failures like unaffordable housing and decades of disinvestment in social support.

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So many survival stories stem from a systemic failure. RCAP lifts neighbors who fall through the cracks—because strong communities need strong support.

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 A Close Up:
The Lived Experience

Behind every statistic is a story. Hear RCAP participants share their experiences with homelessness and how rapid rehousing and RCAP support are helping them rebuild stability and move toward lasting success.

Human Stories

Meet Gina

Gina’s story shatters the myth that homelessness is a choice, revealing the danger and heartbreak of being unhoused due to family dynamics.

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Meet Brendan

Brendan’s story shows how quickly life can unravel and how powerful trust can be in helping someone rebuild it.

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Meet Martinique

Martinique’s story shows how rising rents and job loss can push a hardworking parent into homelessness, and how RCAP can be the difference between losing housing and staying stable.

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Meet Phillip

Phillip’s story dismantles the myth that helping people with addiction is a waste by showing how stability enables transformation.

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Meet Caitlin

Caitlin’s story reveals how quickly a crisis can upend a life, and why housing alone is not enough to keep families stable.

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Meet Sophia

Sophia’s story shows how quickly unforeseen crises can push a family to the brink, and how fragile stability can be without support.

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Survival should never be a measure of resilience. RCAP helps people move from struggle to stability, with the autonomy and dignity they deserve.

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 Homelessness is not unsolvable. 

But first, we have to understand it.

The stories we’ve been told about homelessness are incomplete.

But when we change how we see the problem, we change what we believe is possible.

Join us in shifting the lens—and the narrative.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Rapid Rehousing Cash Assistance Program (RCAP)

  • RCAP is a pilot study providing unrestricted, unconditional monthly cash assistance to households exiting Rapid Rehousing (RRH) programs. Developed with the University of Notre Dame, it evaluates how guaranteed basic income supports long-term housing stability.

  • Eligible households must be exiting Rapid Rehousing (RRH) programs and have received at least three months of rental subsidy.

  • RCAP offers 12 direct monthly payments that vary by participant and are deposited into debit cards. Some receive up to $16,000/year, while all participants receive at least $50/month on a reloadable card. Payment amounts depend on the pilot study design and assignment.

  • Participants can use funds freely with no reporting requirements, supporting dignity and autonomy. Most use the money for essential needs and daily living expenses.

  • After Rapid Rehousing (RRH) programs end, families face high costs for childcare, food, transportation, and debt. RCAP provides flexible financial support that helps cover essential and unexpected expenses that could otherwise threaten housing.

  • Housing costs in the Bay Area are a major driver of homelessness. 28% of households exit Rapid Rehousing (RRH) programs into unstable housing or homelessness, and research shows cash assistance reduces poverty and improves well-being.

  • RCAP strengthens local economies by increasing household spending and reducing reliance on costly crisis systems. Leaving one chronically unhoused person without support costs more per year than providing support.

  • RCAP demonstrates that homelessness results from systemic barriers rather than personal failings. Data and participant stories help counter myths and show that evidence-based solutions are possible.

  • Rents in the Bay Area are more than 60% higher than the national average. A minimum-wage worker would need three jobs to afford a two-bedroom apartment, and nearly 70% of low-income households spend over half their income on rent, making housing loss likely without added support.