Evaluation was an integral part of the Sound Families Initiative. To measure the effectiveness of service-enriched housing in helping homeless families achieve stability, evaluators from the Northwest Institute for Children and Families at the University of Washington School of Social Work gathered data on families' experiences of being homeless, their progress toward self-sufficiency, and their quality of life after leaving transitional housing. The evaluation also helped identify the challenges that housing and service providers face.

The evaluation tracks outcomes at three levels—system, organization, and client—and was collected through a participatory process that involved multiple stakeholders in all stages of the evaluation, from initial planning and outcome development to interpretation of the findings.

Final Findings Report: A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Sound Families Initiative – September 2008

The Final Findings comprehensive report is the last and most complete of the Sound Families evaluation reports. It contains data from 52 programs that have served nearly 1,500 families and more than 2,700 children over the seven years of Sound Families. It is the deepest longitudinal study of homeless families in Washington state, and offers details on parent outcomes like income progression, employment status, and use of public benefits, plus greater detail on outcomes for children.

Steering Committee Reflections & Recommended Actions: Ending Family Homelessness Through Improved Systems and Stronger Organizations – March 2008

The Sound Families Steering Committee published its Reflections & Recommended Actions report to document what the committee learned over the course of the seven-year program and to offer its candid reflections on what could be improved. The committee made observations at both the system and organization levels and offered two broad recommendations as a result: to improve the supportive services system that was at the heart of Sound Families, and to strengthen the capacity of nonprofit housing and service providers, housing authorities, and regional funding streams to better serve families.

Final Findings Summary: A Closer Look at Families' Lives During and After Supportive Transitional Housing – December 2007

This report summarizes final evaluation findings on all 1,487 families that entered Sound Families programs through June 2007, and more detailed data on 27 families that were followed for three years after exiting Sound Families units. Our findings were encouraging, but shortfalls remained: although 68 percent of families successfully transitioned into permanent housing after exiting Sound Families programs, we also learned that one quarter of all families did not succeed and were asked to leave their units early.

How Are They Faring? Findings on 51 Families One Year After Exiting Transitional Housing Programs – January 2007

This evaluation report details how 51 families at 10 case study sites were faring one year after graduating from their transitional housing units. This was the first report to provide longitudinal findings on a subgroup of families who had been out of Sound Families for at least one year. The findings were promising; families were sustaining their housing and continuing to increase household incomes.

Breaking the Cycle: Serving Homeless Children in Supportive Housing Programs – January 2007

Based on their continued work, our evaluation partners thought it would be worthwhile to take a deeper look into the experiences of children in Sound Families programs. To that end, our researchers conducted parent and case manager interviews and gathered information to illustrate the experiences of the more than 2,000 children that had been helped by our nonprofit partners at the time of this study. In many ways, the data confirmed what we had long suspected—that supportive housing benefits children in multiple ways:

• Prior to moving into supportive housing, half of homeless children attended more than one school in the previous year. By the time families left supportive housing, only 20 percent had attended more than one school; a year later the percentage dropped to 14 percent.

• Securing supportive housing had a positive effect on children's school absenteeism rates. At intake, 35 percent of children had missed at least three weeks of classes during the during the previous year; one year after exiting the program that number dropped to 11 percent.

• Families experienced a decrease in CPS involvement, from 18 percent at intake to 8 percent six months after exiting Sound Families.

Early Exits: Lessons Learned from Families Asked to Leave Transitional Housing Programs – April 2006

This report presents the earliest evaluation of the Sound Families Initiative. Findings were derived from client intake and exit data; longitudinal client interviews; and interviews with program directors, case managers, and key stakeholders.