FAQ’s
What is CSH One Roof ?
Under One Roof, CSH is elevating the visibility of vulnerable, at-risk families and the need for an improved and integrated policy through the availability and targeting of supportive housing for families caught in this cycle.
The Problem
Safe, stable housing and reliable, nurturing care are at the core of healthy child development. Families experiencing housing instability and homelessness are at increased risk for child welfare involvement and relatively poor child welfare outcomes.
And foster care placement is the last thing anyone wants. Among families in the child welfare system, rates of trauma, substance use, mental and physical health concerns are disproportionately high. Families with or at risk for child welfare involvement have high rates of housing and economic insecurity, including frequent moves, shelter stays, substandard housing, and homelessness1.
Housing instability compromises family unity and delays family reunification. For youth who spend time in child welfare, consequences can be lasting. This trauma has lasting, often negative consequences on children as they grow into adults. Children in foster care often do not graduate from high school; have greater rates of adolescent pregnancy and homelessness, and frequently suffer from the same substance abuse and mental health issues their parents did. In order to meet the goal of ending family homelessness, we must break this cycle because it perpetuates circumstances greatly contributing to future trauma and poverty for these families.
The Solution
One Roof is a strategic effort to break the intergenerational cycle of homelessness, housing instability, child welfare involvement, and poor outcomes for vulnerable families with children. Through One Roof, CSH will elevate the visibility of vulnerable, at-risk families and work to ensure an improved and integrated policy response that targets supportive housing for families caught in this cycle.
The overall vision for the One Roof campaign is to transform the lives of children and their parents and change how child welfare and housing agencies collaboratively support these vulnerable families. Through increased awareness, policy and advocacy activities, and programmatic support, supportive housing for families caught at the intersection of homelessness and child welfare involvement will expand across the country.
1 Courtney, M., McMurtry, S., & Zinn, A. (2004). Housing problems experienced by recipients of child welfare services. Child Welfare, 83, 389–392; Dhillon, A. (2005). Keeping families together and safe: A primer on the child protection–housing connection. Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.