New Castle County, Delaware Family HOPE Project

Social Finance is partnering with New Castle County, Delaware to launch the Family Housing Opportunities for Purposeful Empowerment (Family HOPE) Project. The Family HOPE Project will support 120 families experiencing homelessness at the New Castle County Hope Center with two years of rental assistance, case management, and financial coaching. 

The project is structured as a Pay for Success initiative, with the chance to unlock up to $9.6 million in federal outcomes payments through the Social Impact Partnerships to Pay for Results Act (SIPPRA). New Castle County, one of only six jurisdictions nationwide selected in the 2024 round of SIPPRA funding, was awarded up to $11 million which will fund an independent evaluation of the project and, if outcomes are achieved, fund outcomes payments. 

Goals: 

• Support families in quickly accessing the resources and services they need to stabilize and find a housing placement. 
• Decrease family homelessness and increase family self-sufficiency through rental assistance, case management, and financial coaching. 
• Demonstrate outcomes through rigorous evaluations to unlock federal SIPPRA  

The Work: 

The Family HOPE Project builds on the service infrastructure at the Hope Center, Delaware’s largest emergency housing shelter, including on-site healthcare, afterschool programming, mental health counseling, and employment support. After they depart the Hope Center, families continue to receive services to ensure that they are able to retain housing and become self-sufficient.  

 The Family HOPE Project provides three key services to families: 

1. An extended stay at the Hope Center of up to 90 days, allowing them time to stabilize and engage in the housing search.  
2. Wraparound supports, including case management and financial coaching for up to two years after they move out of the Hope Center.  
3. Two years of direct rental assistance, disbursed to families as cash. This allows families to have greater flexibility to meet their monthly expenses. 

Starting in 2027, Tech Impact, an independent evaluator, will measure the impact of the Project’s outcomes for families over 5 years as required and funded by the SIPPRA grant​. The Project has received a grant from the State of Delaware, along with other upfront funding, as SIPPRA funding is only awarded upon outcomes achieved. 

The Family HOPE Project will measure two payment-linked outcomes — permanent housing retention and avoidance of shelter stays — as well as five learning outcomes. The additional learning outcomes are:  

1. Access to supportive services 
2. Access to preventative healthcare 
3. Client perception of intervention value 
4. Food security 
5. Avoidance of missed rent payments 

If the evaluation finds statistically significant results on payment-based outcomes at six measurement points throughout the Project, the project unlocks payments from U.S. Treasury.