Articles & Guides
Why does furniture matter for families leaving homelessness?
TL;DR
Families leaving homelessness usually move into empty apartments. Researchers call this "furniture poverty," a home in which one cannot cook or sleep, and where children cannot study. Studies link unfurnished housing to increased mental health issues and less stability. Furnished homes are tied to family bonding, pride, and increased retention. It is one of the most fixable pieces of the homelessness crisis, which is exactly what our film Home is about.
What is furniture poverty?
The definition of furniture poverty is being housed without the essentials that make a house livable. Things like a bed, a table, somewhere to sit, tools to cook with. A 2022 study in the Journal of Community Psychology (Nubani and colleagues) followed people who had transitioned out of homelessness into un- or under-furnished housing and found the empty rooms negatively affected mental health, family bonding, and residential stability itself. Having keys is not having a home.
What happens when a family moves into an empty apartment?
Children wind up sleeping on the floor, meals are fast food takeout from a food desert, and the apartment never really feels like it belongs to them. Our film Home walks through the moment that changes. A family that lost everything over a $25 rent increase steps into rooms furnished down to the place settings. The founder of Humble Design, the organization doing the furnishing, started it after learning a friend was sleeping in an empty apartment with her kids.
Does furnishing a home actually keep families housed?
The research shows and the field data says yes. Humble Design reports that around half of families nationally who exit homelessness return to being out on the streets, while 98 to 99 percent of the families whose homes were furnishes stay housed a year later. Other furnishing charities report the same direction of effect. Families describe feeling more stable, hosting visitors again, and treating the home as theirs to protect.
How big is the problem behind it?
Large and growing. The federal 2024 point-in-time count (HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report) found about 770,000 people homeless on a single night, up 18 percent in a year, including roughly 150,000 children. Every family in that count that makes it into housing faces the empty-apartment problem next, which is why our Homelessness hub treats furnishing as part of the way back, and why our Community stories keep returning to the people who show up with a truck and a plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is furniture poverty?
Furniture poverty is the inability to afford or access the essential furnishings that make a home functional (beds, a table, seating, cookware). Research in the Journal of Community Psychology (2022) found that people leaving homelessness for unfurnished housing suffered effects on mental health, family bonding, and housing stability.
Do families return to homelessness after getting housing?
Many do. Roughly half of families who exit homelessness nationally return to it, according to figures cited by the furnishing nonprofit Humble Design, while 98 to 99 percent of families whose homes Humble Design furnishes remain housed a year later. The One Good Story Project film "Home" shows one of those furnishing days from arrival to reveal.
How many people are homeless in the United States?
About 770,000 people were homeless on a single night in the 2024 federal count, up 18 percent in one year and including roughly 150,000 children, per HUD's Annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
How can I help a family leaving homelessness?
Furniture and household donations to furnishing nonprofits are among the most direct ways to help, because an empty apartment is one of the main risks to a family's fresh start. Organizations like Humble Design, featured in the film "Home", turn donated furnishings into move-in days for families leaving shelters.