Home Start, Incorporated

Home Start, Incorporated (doing business as Home Start Inc.), a San Diego-based nonprofit tax-exempt organization, is a federal grant recipient delivering homelessness services, housing assistance, victim support, and volunteer tax preparation to vulnerable populations, predominantly as a prime recipient (68% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient under state and local pass-through entities (32%).

Home Start's federal footprint centers on housing and homelessness services under the HUD Continuum of Care Program (CFDA 14.267), which accounts for the bulk of its prime grant activity. Representative recent awards include a $502,821 Continuum of Care grant from HUD's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development (October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026) supporting permanent housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and supportive services in San Diego; a $949,261 Continuum of Care award (September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025) for similar housing and services components; and a $431,337 Continuum of Care award (October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025) addressing homelessness in the San Diego area. Home Start also operates as a prime recipient under the Internal Revenue Service Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant program, which funds volunteer tax preparation services targeting low-to-moderate-income taxpayers, persons with disabilities, English-as-second-language speakers, Native Americans, rural residents, Armed Forces members and their families, and the elderly. Recent VITA grants include awards in October 2025, October 2024, October 2023, and October 2022. Additionally, Home Start received a five-year project grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (CFDA number not specified) on September 30, 2024, for its Maternity Group Home program, which provides safe shelter, parenting skills training, child development education, and comprehensive life-skills support for pregnant and parenting youth ages 16 to under 22 and their dependent children, with performance through September 29, 2029.

Customer concentration is pronounced and stable. HUD's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development leads with 23 awards, followed by the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs (Victims of Crime program) with 13 awards, the Internal Revenue Service with 11 awards, the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families with 4 awards, and the Department of the Treasury with 2 awards, covering 90% of recent award volume. The combined obligated dollars across all awards total $16.7 million over the source data window.

Home Start operates significantly as a sub-recipient of federal pass-through funding routed through the Office of Emergency Services (California state agency). Sub-recipient work includes crime victim assistance (transitional and permanent housing for crime victims, domestic violence survivors), child abuse and neglect victim support (comprehensive psychotherapy services for child victims and their families), behavioral health services for low-to-moderate-income children in San Diego, and street outreach and rapid rehousing for unhoused populations in El Cajon. Recent sub-awards from the Office of Emergency Services include work beginning February 20, 2026, on psychotherapy services for abuse and neglect victims; January 8, 2026, on permanent housing and trauma-informed services for domestic violence survivors; and December 24, 2025, on transitional housing and supportive services for crime victims. Home Start also receives sub-award funding for street outreach and motel-voucher-based immediate housing in El Cajon (July 1, 2024) and housing stability case management for households with urgent rental and mortgage assistance needs (July 1, 2022).

Activity has grown significantly: from 5 awards in 2022 to 14 awards in 2024, with 7 awards in 2025 and 3 awards in the current year (through February 2026). Only 1 award has an ultimate completion date within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete exposure in that window. The organization has served five distinct federal customer agencies across a sixty-year window of grant activity.