The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Homeless Services Awarded $5 Million Grant Toward Homelessness Prevention Initiatives
PHILADELPHIA — The Office of Homeless Services (OHS) has received a $5 million grant from Destination: Home’s Right at Home initiative that will fund OHS’s work to prevent homelessness in Philadelphia. OHS will use the grant’s initial $500,000 installment to develop an innovative program that will help individuals and families who are on the verge of becoming homeless to stay in their current homes.
Philadelphia is one of 10 locations nationwide that Right at Home selected to join its national initiative, which launched in February 2026 with the goal of stopping homelessness before it starts.
“We’re honored that the City has been selected to be part of the Right at Home pilot to create new, effective approaches to prevent homelessness,” said Cheryl Hill, Executive Director, Office of Homeless Services. “This grant validates our belief that the proposal we submitted during the application process clearly demonstrated why we needed the funding and how we planned to capitalize on all its possibilities as we continue our homeless prevention work.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker played an integral role in helping to win the grant during a December 2025 meeting with Right at Home program leaders when they visited Philadelphia and met with Director Hill and the OHS team, the City’s Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela D. Brooks, and additional Housing and Community Development leaders.
“I am excited that I had the opportunity to meet with the Right at Home leaders so I could personally share our vision for preventing and ending street homelessness in Philadelphia,” said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. “While providing emergency shelter is a key component of OHS’s mission, I firmly believe preventing homelessness is the most effective and common-sense approach to ending homelessness for good. It’s critical that we continue to seek public-private partnerships whenever possible and compete for every funding dollar available to supplement our annual budgets so we can get so much closer to our goal to ending street homelessness.”
OHS’s grant application featured the department’s current approaches to prevent homelessness, which have proven instrumental in helping people either stay in their home, move into another home to escape domestic violence or return to their hometown where they have family and support systems. Last year, OHS provided more than 1,700 people with homelessness prevention services, including back rent or security deposit support, and stranded traveler assistance.
“Philadelphia is exactly the kind of community where this work can make a lasting difference,” said Jen Loving, Chief Executive Officer, Destination: Home. “The City has the leadership, partnerships, and commitment needed to build a strong homelessness prevention system, and we’re honored to support that effort as one of our 10 Right at Home partner communities. Together, we have an opportunity to show that by investing early, we can keep more families safely housed and stop homelessness before it starts.”
About The Office of Homeless Services
The mission of the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) is to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. OHS works with more than 70 homeless housing and service providers, as well as city, state, and federal governments. This system provides homelessness prevention and diversion aid, along with emergency and temporary housing, to people who are experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness.