Path Home pays back rent and utilities for families during times of emergency. All the families in the Prevention program are employed, and they make enough money to cover their rent on an ongoing basis. But these families have faced emergencies like an unexpected illness and medical bills, or a car that breaks down, or suddenly losing 10 hours a week at work. They don’t have enough income to cover these unexpected emergency costs, and pay rent in Portland’s high-cost rental market.

A federal reserve study from 2017 revealed that 40% of Americans couldn’t come up with $400 in an emergency if they had to. It is this exact lack of a safety net that sends working parents into a tailspin when unexpected costs arise. The average investment to prevent a family from experiencing homelessness is only $1,200 per family.

If it weren’t for Path Home’s prevention program, hundreds of kids and their parents would lose their homes and experience homelessness. But instead, kids get to keep their bedtime routines, have a consistent place to eat dinner, and don’t even know they were about to be homeless.