FY25 Annual Report

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Letter from the CEO

Dear Partners,

You saved more than 2,000 homes across New York City this past year. Thank you!

This achievement increases the total of your impact over the last three years to saving 5,500 homes for 13,000 New Yorkers. FY25 marked the close of our three-year prevention strategy, which determined to show that the innovative approach of stepping in before someone loses their home is a better, faster and more economically sound solution to homelessness than letting a family lose their home and end up in shelter. Evaluation of that period shows that prevention works:

I am excited to share that today, 93% of the New Yorkers you partnered with us to support remain housed.

By preventing these families from losing their homes and going into shelter, you ensured people were able to retain their jobs and their children were able to stay in school, a key step in disrupting and ending intergenerational homelessness. And, by saving homes, you saved taxpayers’ money: your impact is the equivalent of more than half a billion in public spending on shelter.

I invite you to learn more about your impact by reading the client, donor and volunteer quotes and stories throughout this report, as well as the strategy impact evaluation data. From Linda’s and Toni’s struggles to keep safe homes for their families to Charlie’s and Ryan’s commitment to volunteering with the Young Professionals, Molly’s expertise coupled with compassion informing her major donor decision-making and the General Atlantic team’s long time dedication to supporting housing for the most vulnerable New Yorkers, you will see how partnership is the heart of our work and impact.

This year, the communities we serve have faced unprecedented challenges. Federal policy changes that have created job losses or fear of going to work, record high food and rent costs, loss of benefits and simultaneous cuts to nonprofit funding are squeezing the most vulnerable households from all ends. More New Yorkers are falling behind on rent as they struggle to juggle increased food and household costs with income and benefits cuts. Sadly, their pain is only beginning. As is typical in times of crisis or disaster, the housing impact, particularly risk of eviction and homelessness, only comes to fully bear on the most vulnerable households many months after the news cycle has moved on. For many, the dawning of 2026 brings a rolling schedule of policy changes in housing, health and food supports that put them at serious risk of losing their home.

Collectively, we know homelessness is never the right policy. It hurts families and communities, and costs more. The average household arrears bill of $3,500 v. the average shelter cost of $100,000 underscores that preventing homelessness is the most economic and moral approach. To this end, and on foot of three years of data proving that prevention works, we set our new FY26-28 strategy to continue and deepen our Save Homes prevention impact by building prevention partnerships across the most vulnerable city communities.

You have made the vision of preventing NYC homelessness a reality. We are grateful for your innovation, and we are proud to persevere against the challenges ahead and work on your behalf to end homelessness.

Áine Duggan
President and CEO

The Importance of Saving Homes

About The Partnership

Everyone should have a home where they can relax and it's nice we can provide that. I grew up wanting to work in a field that would assist others, so this was a great fit for me.”

–Haike Cai, Program Associate

Values and Mission

The Partnership To End Homelessness’ values – compassion, inclusion, integrity, professionalism and social justice – steer our strategy, decision-making and operations as we work to achieve our mission of ending homelessness by preventing it.

The Partnership is a homelessness prevention organization. Our upstream intervention model combines housing assistance and crisis services with mental health and education programming to prevent people from losing their homes. Our services are available to New Yorkers of any ability, age, family type, gender, national origin, race and sexual orientation who are at risk of, experiencing or recovering from homelessness.

History and Strategy

The Partnership’s 40-year history began with a focus on street homelessness, including overnight shelter and drop-in center services. In response to client demand, the work transitioned to crisis and housing services for New Yorkers most vulnerable to homelessness: women and children of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrant and older New Yorkers. Based on a multi-year assessment of impact, need and service gaps, our team launched a FY23-25 strategy of ending homelessness by preventing it (and changed our name from The Partnership for the Homeless to The Partnership To End Homelessness).

1 in 5 NYC children lives in a home in arrears and is at risk of experiencing homelessness

The Case for Prevention:

Prevention requires ongoing investments in the creation of new affordable housing as well as rental and arrears assistance to maintain affordable housing over time. Our work demonstrates that prevention is the most needed, humanitarian, cost-effective and possible way to end homelessness:

Most NYC homelessness is invisible to most New Yorkers. Homelessness is primarily a story about women and children of color, disproportionately hurt by domestic violence, evictions and overcrowding in a city with a dearth of housing assistance.

830K New Yorkers in 332K homes are in arrears

They represent 90% of NYC’s homelessness crisis

New York’s homelessness story includes, less than 1% (4,000 people), experiencing street homelessness; 10% (90K) living in shelters and 90% (830K including 325K children; 1 in 5 city children) living in 332K homes in rental arrears, at risk of eviction.
The almost 90K people currently in shelters comprise slightly more than 44K households, 55% of which are one person households, 40% are families with children and 5% are adult families. Approximately 30K children account for more than one-third (36%) of all shelter residents.
Homelessness is intergenerational. Less than half of children in shelter graduate high school, putting them at a heightened risk of future homelessness with their own children.
Many women at risk of or experiencing homelessness live with complex trauma, due to histories of child abuse and/or domestic violence. Many have not had access to therapy.

Prevention saves lives and money and is good for families, landlords and communities:

Saves money. The average NYC household rent arrears bill is $3,500 v. the cost of shelter provision for a family which is approx. $100,000.
Saves landlords. Prevention saves landlords expensive housing court costs and processing time; rent payments facilitate landlords meeting mortgage payments and other building costs.
Saves and creates affordable housing. When a family loses their home, the cost of that home increases; saving homes retains affordability.
Saves and strengthens communities. When a family loses their home, they lose the stability and support of community, and communities and schools experience fracturing and instability. Saving homes facilitates community safety and development.

Programs

Our upstream intervention program model combines housing and crisis services with mental health, support and education programming to prevent people from losing their homes.

In tandem with these interventions, we stabilize families by providing crisis intervention services and casework to give clients access to government benefits, education access, financial empowerment, emergency food programs, childcare, small cash grants, assistance via our on-site pantry and other emergency services.

Our Save Homes rental arrears assistance program and Safe Homes rapid rehousing program address crises and provide intensive casework to keep New Yorkers permanently housed and our Sound Homes health and well-being program addresses the mental health and emotional well-being needs of our clients. In addition to, and often underlining, the struggle to keep a roof over their heads and survive on low incomes, our clients are surviving trauma and discrimination.

Save Homes:

Our rental arrears assistance program is a full grant payment (no loans) that is accessible to immigrants and citizens, regardless of employment status. We provide rental assistance as a first step to keeping New Yorkers safely housed while we provide them with ongoing support to secure and/or improve their income. This work includes NYC One Shot Deal navigation and related advocacy for all eligible families; landlord negotiations and mediation to secure rent and arrears discounts, new leases, repairs and timely payments; and collaborations with legal services partners to ensure legal representation for clients.

Safe Homes:

Our rapid rehousing program serves clients who are experiencing domestic and gender-based violence that prevents them from remaining in their current homes. We work with New Yorkers impacted by violence to find new safe homes and provide guaranteed rent and supportive services for up to two years to ensure housing and health stability. Services include landlords and broker relations; housing searches and housing quality standards (HQS) inspections; rent reasonableness assessments; lease negotiations; financial assistance for qualifying moving and utility costs; and the development of individual Rapid Rehousing Manuals that explain lease terms, tenant rights and responsibilities and the rental assistance breakdown plan.

Sound Homes:

Our mental health and well-being program provides a trauma-informed environment in which clients can access culturally competent mental health screenings; one-on-one counseling (in-person and via telehealth); peer support; facilitated workshops and groups on topics such as sexual trauma, parenting and tenant’s rights and responsibilities. The program also facilitates connections to primary and mental health care providers to address chronic health conditions potentially exacerbated by, or driving, housing instability. Case management services offered are tailored to the needs of each client and the intensity and duration of the services is adapted to their specific needs and may fluctuate over time.

FY25 Impact

My home is the most important thing I have besides my children…"

–Mery, Client

In FY25, we saved 2,080 homes for 5,200 New Yorkers.

This impact translates to an equivalent savings of more than $200 million in public spending on shelter.

All households served received varied combinations of crisis intervention, housing assistance, benefits navigation, referrals and casework based on their needs.

The Partnership’s upstream intervention program model combines housing and crisis services with mental health, support and education programming to prevent people from losing their homes. The majority of clients served are women and children of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrant and older New Yorkers; many are living with complex trauma.

In FY25, increasing living costs endured, census data showed one in four (2 million) New Yorkers are now living in poverty and city eviction rates increased. Key data on our client households includes:

Women’s households account for 83% of our clients
Almost all (91%) clients identify as people of color
LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers account for three in five (60%) of our Safe Homes rapid rehousing program
The average age of adult clients is 47. Of all head of households, 12% are retirement age (double the number in FY24), 88% of whom are women
More than half (55%) of clients are working
Almost all households (94%) are living below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI), up from 77% in FY24
Clients cite ill-health, loss of employment and death in the family as the top drivers of experiencing rental arrears
More than 2/3 of clients did not have representation in housing court, a steep increase from 47% and 52% without representation in FY23 and FY24
Approximately 2/3 of clients live in Brooklyn and the Bronx and the approximately 1/5 who reside in Manhattan are located in the northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Washington Heights, Inwood and Harlem.

Toni’s story demonstrates many of the challenges our clients faced in FY25:

Toni’s Story

When she answered the phone, the sound of her mother’s defeated voice on the other end immediately obliterated every thought in Toni’s head. This fragility was new. As her mother’s voice broke and she started to cry, Toni realized their roles were reversing, permanently.

Toni recalls this moment in 2024 as the beginning of the unraveling that led her family to the brink of homelessness. Her mother, Sierra, having just received a diagnosis of end stage renal disease was raddled by the information that she needed dialysis three times a week. Her main concern was Jairo, her husband. Two years into a bone cancer diagnosis, Jairo was wheelchair-bound and needed around-the-clock care. As Toni explained that she had been doing her best up until that moment to cover the family’s expenses with the little that she earns working in beauty salons, she whispered, “ha sido muy duro todo.” It had indeed been a time of prolonged hardship for the family.

The beginning of their American story dates back almost a quarter of a century. Initially bullied for being LGBTQIA+, Toni was harassed into leaving her job as a police officer in Honduras when she refused to participate in local corruption. When that situation became life threatening, she fled to the U.S. where, over time, she started to rebuild her life. Within the following decade, after her younger brother was killed by the same gangs that had harassed her, Toni begged her parents to join her so that the family could be together, in peace and safety.

For a few years after they arrived in Brooklyn, the family led an ordinary and settled life. Toni, Sierra and Jairo worked in cleaning, restaurant and beauty salon jobs, each earning less than minimum wage but together, they had enough to cover the rent for their small, two-bedroom apartment and afford a modest lifestyle. Even when Jairo became ill with cancer, they recovered from the initial shock and adjusted their lives and schedules to face their new reality. As his illness progressed, Sierra stayed at home to provide the full-time care Jairo needed while Toni balanced three jobs: two beauty salons and an evening cleaning job. They were thankful that Jairo had health coverage as they could barely make ends meet. The rent was eating more than 70% of Toni’s income and the family had little more than $1,000 left each month to cover other basics, including food and transportation. Still, they were making it work.

Then, in the wake of Sierra’s diagnosis, Toni had to temporarily cut her salon hours to ensure care for her father while her mother received medical treatment. The reduced household income could not stretch to cover all the bills as well as Sierra’s transportation costs to attend her thrice weekly dialysis and the extra cost of the special diets both parents now had to follow. Out of options, Toni shortchanged the rent, one month, then two and all too quickly, the arrears gradient steeply inclined to almost $11,000. In the meantime, Toni and her friends came together to make a schedule to ensure care for her father while her mother was at the clinic. Within a few months, Toni was able to get an extra job and rebuild her work hours such that she was able to pay the full rent moving forward. She even paid off more than half of the arrears debt with family assistance and a very timely allocation from a local Sociedad (an informal savings group of close friends).

However, finding it impossible to pay down the remainder of the arrears, the family faced the threat of an eviction that could land them in the streets or in shelter. Toni sought advice in her community and was connected to The Partnership in August 2025. Under the care of our housing team, a crisis resolution plan was put in place to clear the remaining arrears and save the family’s home, while our health and well-being team stepped in to provide the family with longer term supports. Sadly, during this time period, Jairo’s cancer rapidly progressed, and last month, he passed away. Toni has leaned on the team at The Partnership to surround herself and her mother with the organization’s mental health support services as they navigate this loss and find space for their acute grief while figuring out how to carry on.

Our intervention with Toni’s family was made possible by supporters like you. Your support did not solve the family’s poverty or stop Jairo’s cancer. It did save their home. It afforded them the humanity of a safe base, from which Toni has been able to ensure her father could die with dignity and she and her mother can continue to live modestly.

FY23-25 Strategy Impact Evaluation Project

FY25 marked an end to our FY23-25 Strategy and an evaluation of the impact over the three years shows that the organization saved homes for more than 13,000 New Yorkers in 5,500 homes, the equivalent of more than half a billion in public savings on the cost of shelter provision. A total of 93% of served households remain housed and their home stability has facilitated employment and education advancements as children have remained in school and more than half of heads of household are working.

Numbers provide a window into the world of difference our partners make for NYC families threatened with the loss of their home. The families’ stories take you inside that world, like Linda’s:

Linda’s Story

As the 2025 back-to-school season descended, Linda was among the millions of New Yorkers readjusting their schedules to greet the morning a little bit earlier with the fun, stress and chaos of juggling breakfast, last minute homework and hustling children out the door to daycare and school before the workday’s start. For Linda, the adjustment was punctuated by the school day being her workday. As a teaching assistant, Linda is one of the anchors in our communities to whom we entrust our children before running off to catch a subway or bus to work.

This school year is the beginning of an exciting and nerve-wracking chapter for Isa, who has entered the 8th grade and is already talking about high school options. For Sami, it marks the big adventure of the first grade, and for weeks, he had been giddily asking if he will have new friends. Two-year-old Joel has another year of daycare. Despite the earlier start to her day, Linda was also happy to welcome September because she is back doing the work she loves – and she is being paid again. Typically, the summer months are the most challenging as Linda does not get paid and the family must survive on SNAP (food stamps) and the skeletal cash assistance benefit they receive.

Linda is feeling energized this fall because she knows that at the end of every day a safe home awaits the family. Last year was different when she spent every day terrified that they were going to lose that home. There were many nights when sleep was obliterated by perpetual anxiety about what would happen if they were evicted and forced to live in a shelter far from everyone they knew. She worried that the children’s commutes would be impossible to align and, at best, they would be faced with lateness and absences that would derail their education. Linda also feared that losing their home would cause irreparable emotional damage to the children, and she was feeling crushed by how quickly the family’s world had unraveled.

It had only been a couple of years since the family had moved into this, then, happy home. Her partner, Jay, was working as a truck driver and his income paid most of the rent; Linda contributed what she could from her teaching assistant wages. They considered themselves among the lucky ones, as Jay had not lost work during the Covid years when so many relatives and friends had, and Linda and Sami had survived months of living at the hospital after Sami was born late preterm and had to spend an extended period in the NICU.

One year later, as the couple was expecting their third child, Jay arrived home one day and announced that he was leaving. In shock and heavily pregnant, Linda did not have the time or support to make sense of, or even try to grieve, this loss and abandonment. As Jay stopped paying the $2,200 monthly rent and household bills and was not contributing child support, Linda became more of a rock for their children. She surrounded Isa and Sami with love and reassurance and suppressed her own pain as she became consumed with the practicalities of trying to safeguard their home. Try though she did to cut costs, she was unable to make a significant dent in the bills with her monthly $1,500 earnings, and the arrears started to accumulate. She knew their economic horizon was even bleaker: the imminency of the new baby meant she was facing a period of leave when her monthly income would drop to $200. At the same time, her mother, who had been in remission, was diagnosed with breast cancer again and also needed support. Linda’s heartbreak and anguish over the next several months were only momentarily vanquished by the arrival of baby Joel. Linda felt thankful that Joel was born healthy and full of energy, and Isa and Sami delighted in their new brother. Linda smiled as she watched the three children playing together and determined that she would keep them all safe.

Within a couple of months however, Linda’s schedule was punishing. The only daycare she could find was more than an hour away, and by the time she collected Sami from school and made the round trip to pick up Joel and stop by her mom’s to gather Isa (who went there after school to do homework), it was late and there was barely enough time to eat, bathe and get to bed for a few hours before getting up at 6 am to start the churn all over again. As can often happen in periods of high stress, Linda’s health began to deteriorate, and soon she was recovering from an ulcer procedure while her mom and sister pitched in as best they could to take care of the children. All the while, the arrears kept mounting. Despite Linda’s attempts to pay off little bits here and there, she felt like she was walking up an accelerating down escalator. The letters threatening eviction started arriving in the summer of 2023, and soon thereafter, Linda found herself in housing court. Her arrears now exceeded $30K and with the year’s end rolling in, she feared her children would be spending the holidays in a homeless shelter. She felt trapped and defeated.

Until, without knowing it, you entered her story.

In court, Linda was assigned an attorney who gave her a phone number and a name: The Partnership To End Homelessness. The next day, Linda was in an office talking to members of the organization’s Housing & Crisis team and learning about the NYC Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (FHEPS) and other benefits that she never knew her family was eligible to receive. She felt a rush of hope when she discovered that FHEPS was designed to ensure families just like hers can afford their homes by assisting with arrears and a portion of her rent moving forward. Over a series of months, The Partnership team supported her to navigate the paperwork and applications, a process that can often feel like a byzantine maze when families are under stress, scared and have not previously accessed support systems. Working closely with the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA), the court and her attorney, The Partnership team put a solid foundation under the family. The City paid a majority of the arrears and The Partnership was able to cover the remainder with funding from private donors, like you. The FHEPS program also guarantees the family’s housing stability moving forward, as it is now subsidizing their rent in line with Linda’s earnings.

Being up to date on her rent for the first time in a few years, Linda felt a sense of relief and strength and began accessing more of The Partnership’s services, first to find Joel a daycare much closer to home, which allowed her to take on more hours at work and then to engage in The Partnership’s therapeutic services which have assisted her to regain her confidence and footing. She no longer feels guilty about the child support process the City initiated against Jay, and she has made a long-term financial stability plan. Through the early months of 2025, she put away a little bit of money every pay period, ensuring that she has enough money heading into the summer months to keep affording the basics for her children.

Today, she is thrilled to be back in the classroom where she enjoys working with the students and the entire school community, and she feels free to dream again: the goal she has put on hold for years, to go back to school herself so she can become a full-time teacher, has been at the forefront of her mind in recent weeks. In the near term, she is focused on achieving Isa’s goal this year: it brings tears to her eyes when she talks about Isa having repeatedly asked for a desk. Isa loves school, she recently joined the school choir and she likes to have a quiet corner away from her brothers to do her homework. This fall, Linda is quietly saving a little bit extra every pay period (on top of her ongoing summer months fund) as she is determined to get Isa that desk by the year-end holidays.

Working In Partnership

We’re proud to stand with The Partnership To End Homelessness because housing is the foundation for opportunity. Our community is only as strong as our most vulnerable members and The Partnership gives people the stability and support to ideally maintain continuity in their home”

–Andrew Crawford, Managing Director, General Atlantic (The Partnership Board Chair)

The beating heart of The Partnership is our community of partners: the thousands of businesses, foundations, government agencies and individuals who have worked together through our programs to solve homelessness differently. Our partners have made our upstream homelessness prevention approach possible.

Our support is provided by individuals, foundations, corporations and government partners, including Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, Trinity Church, General Atlantic, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Citi, Hagedorn Fund, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Emergency Management Agency, NYS Office of Temporary Disability Assistance and thousands more in our list of FY25 Partners.

Individual Supporters

Our individual supporters understand that leaving from and returning to a safe home every day is an essential and cherished foundation in all of our lives, and they work through The Partnership to extend that safety to the families we serve across New York City.

Molly’s Story:

I worked in homelessness services for nearly a decade before becoming a donor for The Partnership To End Homelessness. And while I’m so proud of the work that my organization and others are doing to serve our neighbors as they navigate the often self-defeating complexity of the NYC housing system, over time I began to see that the simplest, most cost-effective, and most community-oriented approach to ending homelessness wasn’t opening more shelters. It was simply ensuring that no one ever wound up on the street in the first place. The evidence is clear: prevention works. It saves lives, it saves time, it saves money, and it secures the safety and opportunity for thousands of New Yorkers living precariously as costs rise and wages stagnate.

–Molly Seeley, Major Donor

Volunteers

Our volunteers increase the reach and impact of The Partnership through events and activities, bringing our message into communities and sourcing supplies and resources for the families we serve. Our Young Professionals junior board brings together emerging leaders from across New York City’s corporate sector who are passionate about advancing The Partnership’s mission through education, engagement and fundraising. In FY25, the 15 inaugural members collectively raised nearly $70,000 through a series of successful fundraising events, company matches and in-kind donations. Our second cohort has grown to 16 members, including both returning and new participants, who are committed to building on this strong foundation and continuing the group’s momentum.

Ryan’s Story:

I joined The Partnership To End Homelessness Junior Board to learn more about homelessness and how we can make a difference. In 2024, 86% of The Partnership’s clients were women and 68% were working. They’re doing all they can to provide for their families, just like you and me. Knowing our work at The Partnership has helped even one of these women or families stay in their home has meant so much. Growing up, my dad often quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” By volunteering for The Partnership, I’ve contributed to something larger than myself and given directly back to New York City. I’ve had the honor of putting together events that raise awareness and funds, like founding our annual pickleball tournament, which has raised nearly $5,000. We see homelessness every day, but rarely do we have the opportunity to do something meaningful about it. The Partnership provides that opportunity, and I’m incredibly grateful to be involved.

–Ryan Champeau, Analyst, General Atlantic (Young Professionals member)

Charlie’s Story:

Growing up in DC, homelessness was a widespread, visible crisis. Since settling in New York City, the challenges have only become more urgent - yet it often feels like we're powerless to do anything about them. The scope of the problem is immense, and for most of us, the day-to-day realities of homelessness can seem distant. But as I've felt like more and more of a New Yorker and encountered ordinary acts of kindness - at local shelters, food drives, and beyond - it's clear that all of us have the power to help. And supporting The Partnership is a chance to do just that. The junior board has been incredibly rewarding, and I'm excited to continue advancing the organization's mission and impact in the years to come.

–Charlie Graham, GTM and Operations Lead, Sola (Young Professionals Co-President)