Compass C-Rent homelessness prevention — charity research

Summary

What do they do? Compass Family Services helps families facing homelessness and housing instability. Its C-Rent program provides back-rent or move-in assistance alongside case management and problem-solving. This estimate focuses on that prevention program rather than every service Compass provides. More

We include Compass C-Rent among our top-ten research candidates because of its:

Direct response to a temporary cash gap that can put a family at risk of losing housing.
Audited program-specific spending, which gives a more concrete cost starting point than an assumed budget.
Related randomized evidence from nearby Santa Clara County supporting the potential of financial assistance to prevent homelessness.

Our main reservations about Compass Family Services are:

Reported prevention families and audited C-Rent spending have not been fully reconciled to a unique-household denominator.
The family health benefit is transferred from a model of veterans rather than measured at Compass.
A new donation needs to fund additional C-Rent assistance rather than replace already available funding or support a different program.

What do you get for your dollar?

GiveBetter sees targeted rent assistance as a promising way to resolve a housing crisis before it becomes more disruptive. FY2025 audited C-Rent expense of $2,008,658 divided by 207 reported prevention-classified families is about $9,704 per family: roughly $5,295 in housing assistance and $4,409 in other program expense. This is a historical accounting ratio, not a quote for an additional family kept housed. Source

The benefit would come from more stable housing and reduced health disruption, not simply making a payment. Our health model starts from an external estimate of 0.144 QALYs per veteran receiving prevention assistance and retains half, or 0.072 QALYs per assisted family, for the uncertain transfer to Compass. It counts one adult-equivalent beneficiary and does not add unmeasured child benefits.

That produces about $1.35 million per 10 QALYs. A separate homelessness model assumes a two-percentage-point reduction in six-month homelessness, implying about $485,000 per additional episode avoided; it is not multiplied into the QALY estimate again. Neither transferred effect is a measured Compass outcome. More

What information has Compass Family Services shared about its program?

Compass shares annual outcome reporting and audited program expenses. The reported 207 prevention classifications are useful activity evidence, but do not establish what would have happened without assistance. An applicant funnel, common follow-up, unique-household reconciliation and current unfunded demand would make the estimate stronger. More

What is GiveBetter’s qualitative assessment of Compass Family Services?

C-Rent is tangible, locally relevant and easier to describe as a specific intervention than an unrestricted gift across many services. Family stability, school continuity and reduced disruption may matter beyond the health captured here. We would pair further donor consideration with confirmation of allocation and additional capacity. More

1. What do they do?

Compass Family Services helps families facing a housing crisis. Its C-Rent program provides back-rent or move-in financial assistance, case management, and problem-solving to help families remain housed.

Identify imminent risk

A San Francisco family with at least one minor child seeks help while facing arrears, eviction, or a move-in barrier.

Assess the cash gap

Staff review eligibility, household circumstances, available aid, and whether a bounded payment can resolve the crisis.

Pay and support

C-Rent may pay back rent or move-in costs and pair the transfer with case management and problem-solving.

Verify housing stability

Stronger evidence would link all eligible applicants to the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and verify their housing status at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months.

Scope of this review. This model covers C-Rent prevention only. It excludes Compass shelter, rapid rehousing, permanent subsidies, housing navigation, childcare, behavioral health, and the separate cash-after-rapid-rehousing trial. The 207 reported families are not assumed to be 207 additional outcomes.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

At-risk families receiving financial support in FY2025

Organization-reported administrative outcome. Compass reports that 207 at-risk families were prevented from becoming homeless through financial support.

Our assessment. The annual report does not explicitly reconcile the 207 to unique C-Rent households, define the follow-up window, or publish a comparison. It is a prevention classification, not 207 additional causal outcomes.

Compass C-Rent in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025

Independent audited functional-expense statement. The audit assigns $2,008,658 of program expense to C-Rent, including $1,095,985 of housing assistance and $912,673 of other program expense. Dividing by 207 reported families yields $9,704 of gross historical expense per reported family.

Our assessment. The accounts provide a stronger cost anchor than an invented marginal price, but the ratio is not a causal cost per outcome, current marginal cost, or proof that the 207-family denominator maps exactly to the audited program.

Marginally eligible people and families seeking homelessness-prevention assistance in Santa Clara County

Randomized offer of temporary financial assistance. The offer reduced recorded homelessness within six months by 3.8 percentage points from a 4.1% control rate. Effects were larger among people with prior homelessness and households without children.

Our assessment. This is strong but indirect evidence for Compass. C-Rent serves families; eligibility, risk targeting, take-up, payment amounts, services, and outcome recording differ. We therefore use a discounted 2.0-point best guess and retain a plausible null.

Active Compass - Prevention prime contract 1000022894, term July 2021 through June 2027

San Francisco administrative contract record. As of August 20, 2026, the record shows $8,362,796 of award authority, $5,239,918.29 of payments, and $1,805,364.70 of remaining authority.

Our assessment. These are life-to-date public-contract fields. Remaining authority is not annual flow, cash on hand, an unrestricted philanthropic gap, or verified room for more funding.

3. Qualitative assessment

A temporary rent or move-in cash gap can trigger eviction and shelter entry even when a family could otherwise sustain housing. C-Rent pairs direct assistance with case management and problem-solving.

Key reservations

The portfolio mixes prevention, shelter, rapid rehousing, permanent subsidies, housing navigation, childcare, behavioral health, and other services with different evidence and costs.
The FY2025 placement and prevention figures do not publish eligible denominators, duplicate handling, program mix, follow-up, attrition, or a comparison group.
The annual report does not explicitly reconcile the 207 prevention-classified families to unique C-Rent households in the audited program-expense denominator.
Calling a family 'prevented' from homelessness is an administrative classification, not a causal estimate of homelessness avoided.
The audit's $17.17 million housing-assistance line is a transfer or subsidy and must not be treated as service-delivery cost.
Government grants supplied most FY2025 revenue, so the additional activity created by unrestricted philanthropy is unknown.
The ongoing randomized study tests cash after rapid rehousing across Compass and Hamilton and has no published outcome results.
External housing studies differ in subsidy duration, eligibility, geography, housing markets, and comparison services.

Benefits not included in our estimate

Compass's 207 reported prevention classifications as additional causal outcomes
Evictions avoided, housing quality, rent burden, employment, school continuity, and family spillovers
Avoided shelter, healthcare, criminal-justice, and other public costs
Benefits from Compass shelter, rapid rehousing, permanent subsidies, childcare, behavioral health, and other programs
Child, partner, caregiver, school-continuity, safety, and family spillovers
Benefits from Compass programs other than C-Rent homelessness prevention
Any QALY gain beyond one adult-equivalent recipient over the two-year transferred model horizon

4. What do you get for your dollar?

Our current model: roughly $485,000 per additional six-month homelessness episode averted.

The historical cost estimate comes from audited FY2025 C-Rent accounts: $2,008,658 divided by 207 reported prevention-classified families. We then discount the Santa Clara randomized 3.8-point offer effect to a 2.0-point Compass best guess because the family population, targeting, take-up, assistance rules, and outcome systems differ.

A better life is our comparison unit of 10 additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), potentially spread across people. These are uncertain estimates, not measured returns or verified donation offers.

How we calculate the estimate

CONDITIONAL COST PER ADDITIONAL HOMELESSNESS EPISODE AVERTED: $9,704 ÷ 2%
= $485,183

Model inputs and assumptions

Audited C-Rent program expense: $2,008,658 (range: Fixed historical value). Compass FY2025 independent audit, statement of functional expenses. This is a historical full-program accounting total, not a marginal price. high for accounting; not marginal.
Audited C-Rent housing assistance: $1,095,985 (range: Fixed historical value). Compass FY2025 independent audit. Housing assistance is a transfer to or for families, not delivery cost. high for accounting.
Reported prevention-classified families: 207 families (range: Fixed historical value). Compass FY2025 annual report. The report says 207 at-risk families were prevented from becoming homeless through financial support, but does not explicitly reconcile the count to unique C-Rent households or publish a comparison group. moderate for reported count; not causal.
Gross accounting cost per reported family: $9,704 (range: Fixed historical value). $2,008,658 audited C-Rent program expense divided by 207 reported prevention-classified families. This is a historical accounting ratio, not a causal cost per outcome or current marginal price. moderate.
Santa Clara randomized offer effect: 3.8% (range: Fixed historical value). A randomized offer of temporary financial assistance reduced recorded homelessness within six months by 3.8 percentage points from a 4.1% control rate. The effect was larger among people without children, limiting transfer to Compass's family population. high for study; indirect for Compass.
MFI estimate of absolute six-month homelessness reduction: 2% (range: 0.2%–5%). Judgmental transfer discounted below the Santa Clara randomized 3.8-point offer effect because Compass serves families and does not publish the C-Rent applicant funnel, take-up, risk targeting, HMIS-linked outcome, or comparison. Five points is a favorable positive-effect scenario, not a Compass estimate. very low.

What would $100,000 buy at FY2025 accounting cost?

Favorable positive effect: 0.52 additional homelessness episodes averted. 10.31 historical-equivalent family cases · $194.1K each
Best guess: 0.21 additional homelessness episodes averted. 10.31 historical-equivalent family cases · $485.2K each
Small positive effect: 0.02 additional homelessness episodes averted. 10.31 historical-equivalent family cases · $4.9M each

Uncertainty. The numeric range is conditional on a positive effect. Compass's 207-family classification has no comparison, and the external randomized effect is not Compass-specific. If C-Rent reaches families who would remain housed anyway, substitutes for other assistance, or does not reduce six-month recorded homelessness, additional outcomes approach zero and cost per outcome has no finite upper bound.

Our current best estimate: about $1.35 million per better life (10 QALYs).

Publish an explicit, very-low-confidence decision estimate of approximately $1.35 million per 10 QALYs. The model starts from a 2024 JAMA Network Open homelessness-prevention model's 0.144 incremental QALYs per veteran receiving temporary financial assistance, applies a 50% central transfer discount for Compass's family population, intervention bundle, healthcare linkage, housing trajectory, mortality, and utility assumptions, and divides the audited FY2025 C-Rent accounting ratio of $9,704 per reported prevention-classified family by 0.072 QALY. This participant-level health transfer is a separate decision model and is not multiplied by the native model's judgmental 2-point six-month homelessness effect. The conditional positive-effect range is approximately $368,000 to $17.4 million per 10 QALYs. A true null remains plausible. This is a best-effort donor estimate, not a measured Compass effect, verified marginal price, or funding recommendation.

EXPLORATORY COST PER 10 QALYS · ONE BETTER LIFE: $9,704 ÷ 0.072 QALY × 10
= $1.35M

QALY conversion assumptions

Modeled donor cost per reported family: $9,704 (range: $5,295–$25,000). The midpoint is the audited FY2025 C-Rent program expense of $2,008,658 divided by 207 organization-reported prevention-classified families. The optimistic floor counts only the audited $1,095,985 housing-assistance line divided by 207. The cautious $25,000 case allows for an uncertain marginal case mix and delivery cost. None is a published current donor price, and the annual-report count is not explicitly reconciled to unique C-Rent households. very low as a marginal price.
VA model QALYs per prevention recipient: 0.144 (range: Published point estimate). A two-year VA simulation estimated 0.144 incremental QALYs and 90.7 additional stable-housing days per homelessness-prevention recipient receiving temporary financial assistance. moderate for model; indirect for Compass.
QALYs per Compass reported family after transfer discount: 0.072 (range: 0.0144–0.144). The midpoint retains 50% of the VA model's 0.144 incremental QALYs per homelessness-prevention enrollee. This explicit discount covers veteran-to-family transfer, different assistance and service bundles, VA healthcare linkage, observational housing transitions and mortality inputs, a stable-housing utility of 1 by assumption, and the absence of Compass-specific utility measurement. The model counts one adult-equivalent beneficiary per reported prevention-classified family and excludes child and caregiver spillovers. The 10%-100% retention range is a decision range, not a confidence interval. very low transfer.

Optimistic transfer: $367.68K. $5,295 per family · 100% of VA QALY estimate retained
Central transfer-discounted estimate: $1.35M. $9,704 per family · 50% of VA QALY estimate retained
Cautious positive transfer: $17.36M. $25,000 per family · 10% of VA QALY estimate retained

The numeric range is conditional on a positive Compass health effect and donor additionality. Compass has not measured preference-based utility or its causal effect, and the VA coefficient may not transfer. If a new private dollar displaces public or restricted funding, reaches families whose housing would remain stable anyway, or causes no QALY gain, the impact price has no finite upper bound. The JAMA model follows veterans through stable housing, unstable housing, and death for two years. It uses observational VA housing transitions, mortality and healthcare costs, an unstable-housing utility of 0.434 from a community standard-gamble survey, and stable-housing utility of 1 by assumption. It does not study Compass, Bay Area families, children, C-Rent, or philanthropy.

5. Funding and previous grants

Audited C-Rent costs provide a stronger starting point than an assumed budget. The estimate does not cover the entire organization. Confirm that a gift can fund additional C-Rent support, reconcile the family denominator and establish current capacity before relying on the modeled return.

Compass has not published C-Rent’s applicant funnel, unique-household reconciliation, HMIS-linked outcomes, source-specific assistance ledger, or a dated marginal plan showing that a new private gift adds rather than displaces aid.

The $100,000 scenario is illustrative. The active city contract's award authority, payments, and remaining authority are life-to-date public-contract fields—not annual flow, cash balance, philanthropic gap, or proof that a private gift adds cases.

This review does not establish a verified marginal funding offer or a complete history of grants.

Donate

Opens the organization’s giving page. A general donation may not fund the specific activity modeled here; confirm allocation with the recipient.

6. Sources

FY2025 Annual Report. Compass Family Services. organization-reported. Published: FY ended 2025-06-30; retrieved: 2026-08-31.
Consolidated financial statements, June 30, 2025 and 2024. Compass Family Services / Hood & Strong. independent audit. Published: 2025-12-18; retrieved: 2026-08-31.
Programs. Compass Family Services. organization-reported program scope. Published: date not displayed; retrieved: 2026-08-31.
The Impact of Homelessness Prevention Programs on Homelessness. The Review of Economics and Statistics. randomized experiment. Published: 2025; retrieved: 2026-08-31.
Supplier Contracts — Compass - Prevention, contract 1000022894. City and County of San Francisco. administrative contract data. Published: data as of 2026-08-20; retrieved: 2026-08-31.
Cost-Effectiveness of Temporary Financial Assistance for Veterans Experiencing Housing Instability. JAMA Network Open. observationally parameterized economic evaluation. Published: 2024-11-05; retrieved: 2026-09-01.
Estimation of Utility Values for Computing Quality-Adjusted Life Years Associated With Homelessness. Medical Care. cross-sectional standard-gamble survey. Published: 2021-12-01; retrieved: 2026-09-01.

Annual expenses: years and sources

Average annual expenses (three consecutive fiscal years): $32,990,477. Organization size is separate from the modeled cost-effectiveness of a donation.

Compass Family Services and Compass QALICB (consolidated)

Audited total expenses; includes the whole organization, not just C-Rent. Fiscal years end June 30.