New Report Shares Key Insights from 2025 National Child Health and Wellbeing Learning Collaborative

By Julie Walker, NLIHC Project Manager, Opportunity Starts at Home 

The Corporation for Supportive Housing, Casey Family Programs, and Chapin Hall released a report, “Housing as a Foundational Element of Family Well-Being,” that shares key insights and lessons from a 2025 six-month national learning collaborative. The cohort convened in response to mounting evidence that family housing instability and homelessness are significant drivers of child welfare system involvement and offered a shared learning space for state housing and child welfare leaders to align resources, policy, and practice. Cross-sector leadership teams from Colorado, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Oregon participated in monthly cohort meetings and received individualized technical assistance. Each state left the cohort with actionable next steps to apply to their work, and participants highlighted that the cohort was a valuable space to break down silos and collectively solve problems. The report provides an overview of the cohort, policy context and challenges, summaries of each state team, key themes and successes from the cohort, and resources to help housing and child welfare leaders in other states.  

The report highlights that housing hardship is one of the most reliable predictors of involvement with the child welfare system, and cost burden and housing instability are strong predictors of investigated child neglect reports. Conversely, increased access to affordable housing is associated with improved child welfare outcomes. The 6-month cohort consisted of technical assistance for each state team of housing and child welfare leaders and monthly full cohort meetings where all state teams were brought together to engage in peer learning and discussion. Cohort participants identified several challenges in effectively supporting family housing and child welfare, including a lack of affordable housing in their jurisdiction, insufficient housing programs and supportive services, and limits on data available to track the housing needs of child-welfare involved families. The cohort also identified that cross-sector initiatives between housing and child welfare departments are a key part of preventing families from entering systems of care. The teams also identified promising strategies for meeting families’ housing needs, including developing joint messaging for decision-makers, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and exploring how to blend and braid funding to better support families. 

Drawing on insights from the cohort, the report includes a Menu of Housing Interventions for Families Worksheet and Library of Resources that partners shared during meetings. These resources can help other leaders evaluate their local housing resources, identify gaps, and develop targeted strategies to keep families stably housed. 

Read the report here.