LOS ANGELES (July 23, 2026) — A new study from the nonpartisan California Policy Lab (CPL) finds that Rapid Re-Housing (RRH), a program that provides short-term rental assistance to people experiencing homelessness, significantly reduced future homelessness among adults, youth, and families in Los Angeles County. The study found that these reductions continued long after the rental assistance ended, with researchers following participant outcomes for four years.
Published in the Journal of Urban Economics, the study used records from multiple public programs and services in Los Angeles County to examine the long-term effects of RRH on homelessness, health, employment, public assistance, criminal justice involvement, and other outcomes. Researchers compared people who successfully used an RRH subsidy to help pay for a rental with otherwise similar people who enrolled in the same program but did not use the subsidy.
People who successfully used RRH to rent were much less likely to experience homelessness in the years that followed, even years after their short-term rental assistance ended.
Key findings:
- Single adults and youth who successfully used RRH to rent experienced a 30% reduction in future homelessness over four years compared with similar participants who enrolled in the program but did not use the subsidy.
- Families who successfully used RRH to rent experienced a 25% reduction in future homelessness over four years compared with similar participants who enrolled in the program but did not use the subsidy.
- For families, these reductions persisted throughout the entire four-year study period. For individuals, the effects gradually diminished after approximately three years.
- Families who successfully used RRH to rent also experienced better health outcomes, less involvement with the criminal justice system, and increased income from public assistance programs.
- Researchers found no evidence that receiving short-term rental assistance disincentivized employment or reduced earnings for either individuals or families.
- Despite these benefits, there is room for program improvement; 37% of RRH enrollees did not successfully use their subsidy to rent.
“Rapid Re-Housing is one of the most widely used strategies to help people exit homelessness, yet we’ve had little evidence about its long-term effects,” said co-author Brian Blackwell, Senior Data Scientist at the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site. “Our findings show that even a relatively short period of rental assistance can reduce homelessness for years afterward, especially for families.”
Participants who successfully used RRH received an average rental subsidy of approximately $1,500 per month for seven months, although families generally received larger and longer subsidies than individuals.
“Housing assistance may last only a few months, but its effects can last much longer,” said co-author Dr. Max Gross, Senior Researcher at the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site. “Following participants for four years allowed us to understand those longer-term outcomes and to provide policymakers with better evidence about what Rapid Re-Housing can achieve.”
The paper, Does Rapid Re-Housing Reduce Homelessness? builds on previous California Policy Lab research on Rapid Re-Housing and was published in the August 2026 issue of the Journal of Urban Economics.