Housing stability during pregnancy and within the first three years of a child’s life has lifelong implications for health, brain development and overall wellbeing. Having a safe, reliable home supports many of the conditions young children need to thrive (PDF), such as consistent caregiver relationships, predictable routines and a sense of security. By contrast, housing instability can increase stress for both children and caregivers and disrupt healthy development during a critical period of growth.
Despite the critical role housing stability plays in supporting healthy development during the prenatal-to-three period, infants, toddlers and their families are among the groups most vulnerable to experiencing housing instability and often remain underidentified by homelessness and housing systems (PDF). For many families with young children, housing instability does not always look like chronic homelessness but rather may take the form of frequent moves, overcrowded living conditions, living in motels or doubling up with family and friends. Because these experiences often remain hidden from housing systems, they can be overlooked in policy discussions and service delivery.
Through the National League of Cities’ Prenatal-to-Three (PN3) Impact Lab and its partnership with SchoolHouse Connection, cities are exploring how housing stability affects young children and developing local strategies to better support expectant families and families with infants and toddlers. The examples below illustrate a range of local approaches cities can consider to make young children more visible, create more family-friendly environments and connect families to housing and essential supports.
Three Ways Cities Can Support Families Experiencing Housing Instability
1. Make Young Children Visible
Cities cannot solve a problem they cannot see. Families with young children who are experiencing housing instability are frequently undercounted because many do not enter shelter systems or meet narrow definitions of homelessness. As a result, community leaders lack a clear picture of the number of infants, toddlers and expectant families in need.
Starting with data is critical. Cities can partner with early childhood programs and providers, housing agencies and community organizations to identify families experiencing housing instability, understand unmet needs and incorporate prenatal-to-three considerations into housing planning and policy decisions. Collecting and sharing data across local systems can help ensure this population is visible in local decision-making.
City Example: East Orange, N.J.
As part of its participation in the PN3 Impact Lab, the City of East Orange is conducting a citywide survey of expectant families and families with young children about the challenges they are experiencing and their priorities. The findings will help inform local strategies and ensure that community voices shape future action.
2. Create Infant and Toddler-Friendly Spaces and Services
Beyond just providing shelter, housing stability means creating environments that support healthy development, learning and positive caregiver-child relationships. Shelters, family resource centers and other settings can help meet these needs by incorporating safe play spaces, developmentally appropriate environments and opportunities for caregiver-child interaction. Play is especially important during the earliest years of life because it supports cognitive, social and emotional development while strengthening caregiver-child relationships through serve and return interactions.
Cities can advance these efforts by ensuring that housing and family-serving systems are designed with young children and families in mind and by communicating the importance of the prenatal-to-three years to policymakers, providers and residents.
City Example: New Orleans, La.
New Orleans’ We PLAY Centers and We CONNECT Family Resource HUB, led by Training Grounds, demonstrate how communities can intentionally create spaces that prioritize play, strengthen caregiver-child connections and support family wellbeing. These welcoming, developmentally rich environments provide families with opportunities to learn, connect and play together while strengthening caregiver-child interactions and promoting healthy early childhood development and learning.
This initiative was recently highlighted in a SchoolHouse Connection webinar series. Learn more and view the slides (PDF).
3. Connect Families to Housing and Essential Supports
Families experiencing housing instability often face barriers to accessing not only housing assistance, but also child care, early childhood programs, home visiting services\ and other supports. Documentation requirements, transportation challenges, long waitlists and fragmented systems can make it difficult for families to access the resources they need.
Cities can reduce these barriers by coordinating across housing, early childhood, health and human services. Bringing partners together regularly, aligning eligibility and referral processes and incorporating family voice into decision-making can create more seamless pathways to support. Listening to parents and caregivers with lived experience is particularly important for identifying service gaps and designing effective solutions.
City Example: Akron, Ohio
The Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority prioritizes families with young children on waitlists for public housing assistance. This approach recognizes the unique developmental importance of the prenatal-to-three period and helps families access stable housing during a critical stage of child development.
The benefits of housing stability for young children’s health, development and long-term wellbeing underscore the importance of investing in families during the prenatal-to-three period. By starting with data, centering the needs of infants, toddlers and expectant families, coordinating across systems and learning directly from parents with lived experience, cities can create more responsive supports for families experiencing housing instability and ensure that every child has the stable foundation they need to thrive from the start.
Homelessness and Child Health
Every child deserves a safe, stable home every night. It is a basic need for all children. And yet, a 2021 study found that as many as 1.3 million infants, toddlers and preschoolers — 1 in 18 children under the age of 6 — experience family homelessness each year in the United States. It is crucial to understand the impact of homelessness on infants and toddlers and for city leaders to create and implement responsive intervention programs and policies.
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