Key Takeaways from the Innovative Responses to Family Homelessness Panel

Earlier this month, Compass Family Services gathered with community members at Manny’s to discuss a question: 

What becomes possible when public systems and private partners work together to address family homelessness? 

Speakers Erica Kisch, CEO of Compass, and Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director of San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), discussed the scale of family homelessness in San Francisco and how innovative solutions to the crisis emerge when government, philanthropy, and providers align. 

The Scale of Family Homelessness in SF 

Erica opened the evening’s discussion by reflecting on how dramatically the landscape has changed over the past three decades. Back in the mid-1990s, the family shelter wait list fit on a whiteboard. Families could move from shelter to housing within a few weeks. 

Today, Erica said, “The need is tremendous. It now takes four or five minimum wage jobs to afford a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco.” The family shelter waitlist recently reached around 400 families, meaning more than a thousand parents, children, babies, and pregnant people were waiting for a safe place to stay. 

At Compass alone, more than 500 families are housed each night across shelter, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, and permanent supportive housing. The organization served more than 11,000 parents and children last fiscal year and is on track to exceed 12,000 this year. Most of these families are surviving in conditions other San Francisco residents never see: sleeping in cars, garages, overcrowded rooms, and temporary arrangements that strain both parents and children. 

Director McSpadden grounded the conversation in system-wide data. In fiscal year 2024-2025 alone, more than 6,700 families with children were served by San Francisco’s homelessness response system. Families accounted for about 13% of households experiencing homelessness that year, and the number of families seeking services continues to rise. 

Family homelessness is an issue of poverty,” Shireen said, “and San Francisco’s a very expensive place to live.” 

The Innovation Gap 

Both speakers named the same tension: families need flexible, timely support, but traditional funding streams are often constrained. Erica noted that HSH is Compass’ largest and most essential partner. Public funding provides the foundation for shelter, housing programs, eviction prevention, and mental health services. But she also noted that government funding is not always as flexible as needed.  When families are facing immediate barriers — medical debt, income loss, eligibility cutoffs, or other unexpected setbacks — those constraints can mean the difference between stability and crisis. 

That gap is where innovation becomes critical. 

The Importance of Public-Private Partnerships 

McSpadden emphasized that innovation often requires philanthropic partnership: 

“For things that are really innovative and new, it’s really helpful to have philanthropic partners or donors who can come in and say, ‘let’s try something out and see if this works.’” 

Government provides scale and structure. Philanthropy provides agility. Providers bring direct knowledge of what families are experiencing in real time. Erica put it simply: 

“We couldn’t do the work we do without our government partners, and there’s so much more we can do when we layer on these more creative, innovative and flexible approaches, doing things that government can’t do.” 

This is not about replacing public systems. It’s about strengthening them: testing new approaches, evaluating results, and scaling what works. 

Compass’ Innovative Solutions 

Erica outlined four initiatives that reflect this partnership model in action. 

Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) targets a vulnerable transition point for families when they exit time-limited rental subsidies. Through a randomized control trial, participating families receive $1,000 per month for one year. The initiative is funded by Google, evaluated by NYU and the Turner Center, and implemented by Compass and Hamilton Families. While long-term data is still forthcoming, early indicators are promising. 

The Family Stability Fund fills gaps traditional systems cannot. Supported by a single donor, the Fund has distributed more than $2 million to remove barriers to stability by covering unique, one-time needs like tuition, medical bills, workforce training, and other critical expenses. Eighty-five percent of participating families report increased stability. As Erica described it, the Fund allows Compass to respond quickly and holistically when families face destabilizing challenges. 

Compass Housing Location Services (CHLS) provides housing support to those who aren’t being served by the homelessness response system. It was created to support families who would otherwise be falling through the cracks including those not eligible for services through Coordinated Entry or not well served by Coordinated Entry, but experiencing or on the brink of homelessness. Through hands-on housing search support, Compass Housing Locators work directly with families to identify units, engage landlords, and move families into housing. Compass also provides financial counseling for these families, and is in the process of adding shallow subsidies to aid families on the path to stability. 

The Family Homelessness Prevention Pilot, launched with support from Tipping Point Community and in partnership with four sister organizations, adapts the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) model to reach families early and with more flexibility. Over the past year, Compass served 27% more families through this approach, with 242 families supported across partner agencies.  

Across all four initiatives, the philosophy remains consistent. “We are committed to Housing Fist, but not housing only,” Erica said. “A family needs more than a lease and a key.” 

Looking Ahead 

The conversation at Manny’s underscored both the scale of the challenge and the promise of partnership.  

Public funding provides the backbone of the homelessness response system. Philanthropic investment provides the flexibility to test, refine, and strengthen that system. Providers bring direct insight into what families actually need to stabilize. 

When those pieces work together, innovation becomes possible, and families move more quickly from crisis to lasting stability.