Locations
Find Shelter Donate

A Closer Look at Our Transitional Housing Program

Covenant House has transitional living programs in 24 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, serving more than 500 youth each night on their path to independence.

Covenant House Anaheim site | anaheim homeless shelter

What Is Transitional Housing?

Our transitional housing programs provide young people facing homelessness with a stable, dependable, and safe place to live for an extended period of time. We also provide them with case management and critical supportive services. Transitional living programs are a proven means to help youth move from homelessness to lifelong stability.

Covenant House Guatemala site

Our Transitional Housing Research

Our research shows transitional housing works. In 2021, Covenant House, along with sister organizations Schoolhouse Connection and National Network for Youth, conducted a study where we analyzed outcomes for 564 young people who exited our transitional living programs in 15 U.S. cities over the course of 12 months. Of those 564 youth, 73% exited the program to stable housing, and 69% were employed or enrolled in school when they left the program.

Read Report
Montclair Covenant House site | Covenant House NJ | montclair new jersey

Transitional Housing Improves Outcomes for Youth Facing Homelessness

Every year, millions of young people experience homelessness across the United States, Canada, and Latin America. We are committed to serving youth facing homelessness and survivors of human trafficking in the most effective ways possible.

Transitional housing is proven to significantly improve outcomes for young people experiencing homelessness. The longer a youth stays in the program, the more likely they are to secure permanent housing, employment, education, and access to services. That’s why our transitional living programs are 18 to 24 months in the United States and Canada, and 12 months in Mexico.  

And there’s more: An analysis of our transitional living programs in 2021 showed that youth who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color experience the highest rates of exiting the program to stable housing and employment. That is critical to advancing racial equity since young people of color are at far greater risk of experiencing homelessness than their white peers.

More Than Just a House

With a safe and stable place to live in transitional housing, young people are free to work on the skills and abilities that will ensure their path to independence. In our transitional living programs, we provide youth supportive services for behavioral health, educational and career development, a savings plan so they can bank money they earn toward permanent housing, financial literacy and planning, life skills, and medical and mental health programs.

Where Are Covenant House’s Transitional Housing Programs Located?

We have transitional living programs in 24 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, serving more than 500 youth each night on their path to independence. We often refer to these programs as Rights of Passage, or ROP. In Mexico City, it is called Programa Departamentos (Apartment Program).

They are located in:

asian homeless youth squatting on street | Ways to Give - Covenant House Donations

“You’re always learning something you need to finally make it. And the great thing is, when you go out on a ledge, and even if you fall a few times, there’s always someone there to catch you and say, ‘It’s ok, try again.’”

—Covenant House Alumni

Shelter Is Only the Beginning

From crisis to care: Find out what it's like when a young person enters our doors.

Take the journey