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Summary

Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) was provided on a one-time basis to pay for rent or utilities through a homelessness prevention call center that screened individuals at risk of experiencing homelessness for eligibility across a range of assistance programs and referred individuals to government and private entities that had funds immediately available.

Individuals in need of EFA to pay their rent or utilities could call Chicago's 3-1-1 hotline, which was routed to the Homeless Prevention Contact Center (HPCC). HPCC intake specialists gathered demographic characteristics from callers and assessed their eligibility for various assistance programs. Crises eligible for EFA had to meet all of the following requirements: (1) were on a list of eligible crises (such as job loss), (2) were linked to imminent risk of homelessness (such as an eviction notice), (3) were solvable with limited financial assistance (typically less than $1,500), and (4) were temporary in nature, evidenced by sufficient future income to pay essential expenses. If the caller was eligible, the intake specialist checked a list of delegate agencies to see if there were emergency funds available that day for a referral. One-time assistance typically was about $900-1,000. 

EFA was implemented in Chicago, IL.

101030-Study of Emergency F
Populations and employment barriers:

Effectiveness ratings

  • Well- supported
  • Supported
  • Mixed support
  • Not supported
  • Insufficient evidence
  • Cannot assess support

Studies of this program

Study quality rating Study counts per rating
Low Low 1
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Implementation details

Organizations implementing program

Chicago Homelessness Prevention Call Center; various government and private agencies with financial assistance programs

The information contained here reflects how the program was implemented at the time of the evaluation.

Local context

The study was conducted in Chicago, IL.

Characteristics of research participants
Black or African American
89%
White
7%
Another race
3%
Hispanic or Latino of any race
8%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

State(s) where implemented

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Canada

Pathways to Work refers to programs by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some program names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.