Everyone deserves a safe and stable home.
We help keep children, youth, and families housed—and when a crisis hits, we support ways to resolve it fast and prevent it from recurring.
Preventing homelessness is about both early and rapid intervention. It means stopping first episodes before they begin by addressing risks that can push people into housing instability. And when someone is already in crisis, it focuses on shortening the experience of homelessness and putting safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again. It also means shaping systems that produce better outcomes, informed by centering communities and putting people first.
How We Do It
Building Changes advances prevention by supporting programs and administering funds that keep families housed, strengthen local systems, and scale what works statewide.
- Homeless Student Stability Program (HSSP) – Supports school–housing partnerships that help students and their families remain stably housed so children can stay enrolled and succeed in school.
- Washington Youth & Families Fund (WYFF) – A statewide grantmaking initiative that invests in community-led strategies, testing new approaches and scaling proven prevention solutions across Washington.
- Homelessness Prevention & Diversion Fund (HPDF) – A flexible pool of dollars available to local providers that can be used immediately to resolve housing crises—covering costs like deposits, utilities, or transportation.
- Youth Diversion Infrastructure Project (YDIP) – Provides training, coaching, and resources to service providers so that diversion practices are equitable, effective, and rooted in the strengths and choices of young people and families.