Faced with a growing number of public school students experiencing housing instability in Denver, a cross-sector team from the City and County of Denver, Denver Public Schools (DPS), and Jewish Family Services of Colorado (JFS) set out to find a solution. Scouring the country for the best programs working to address this issue, the team discovered MPHA’s nationally recognized Stable Homes Stable Schools (SHSS) program.

A pioneering partnership between MPHA, the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), along with the YMCA of the North as the service partner, SHSS works to reduce homelessness and housing instability among school-aged youth in Minneapolis. The program is driven by the goals of ensuring all children can reap the benefits of primary education and ending the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Since 2019, SHSS has supported more than 2,200 families representing over 6,200 children.

For the Denver team, SHSS stood out because it addresses homelessness and housing instability from all angles, with both intervention and prevention programming—the same challenges they were hoping to address. Hoping to replicate the successful program, the Denver team contacted MPHA in October 2023 to learn how the agency built and operated SHSS.

“Stable Homes Stable Schools was instrumental in forming the Denver Housing Stability Pilot,” said Cole Chandler, Senior Advisor for Homelessness at the City and County of Denver. “We used the Housing Stabilization model as the building blocks for the Denver Housing Stability Pilot. We are happy to report that our six-month pilot helped to stabilize housing for more than 60 families.”

Using SHSS as the model, Denver built the Denver Housing Stability Pilot, designed to prevent homelessness among DPS families through rental and utility assistance, emergency assistance, and comprehensive case management. The six-month pilot was offered at 15 DPS schools and ran January through May of 2025. In total, 63 families and over 160 kids benefitted from the pilot.

Similar to SHSS, school staff identified families experiencing housing instability and nearing homelessness. Additionally, DPS screened families for eligibility and referred them to JFS. JFS evaluated the families’ needs, provided up to six months of rental and utility assistance, emergency assistance (back pay of rent, fixing a car needed to get to work, or other forms of assistance to keep families in their current housing), comprehensive case management, and public benefits enrollment assistance. A majority of the funding for the pilot came from the City and County of Denver, which prompted supplemental capital from foundation grants.

With the initial Denver Housing Stability Pilot completed, the team is studying the impacts and outcomes of the participating families’ housing status (examining the six- and 12-month marks following enrollment), students’ attendance, and even an economic analysis on public savings from reduced shelter stays through data collection and focus groups.

“Stable Homes Stable Schools is an innovative program that demonstrates the power of partnership in addressing and preventing the impacts of homelessness and housing instability on our children,” said Brandon Crow, Director of Housing Choice Vouchers at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “The successful program is a blueprint for other cities across the country. The Denver Housing Stability Pilot is proof of that, and MPHA stands ready to partner with local leaders, service providers, and funding partners to end homelessness and housing instability in school-aged children.”

While a large program expansion won’t occur until after the program analysis is completed, the Denver effort will support another 35 families across the 15 schools once the 2025-2026 school year begins. The Denver Housing Stability Pilot credits SHSS for being a key influence on the program’s model and its success. SHSS has received national and local attention for its unique approach to both preventing and intervening in student homelessness in Minneapolis.