The estimated rental need is based on Enterprise Community Partners’ analysis of economic forecasts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as unemployed assistance currently offered to households.

It starts with design: good resident services programs work with families to develop the programs and services offered, rather than dictating to them what they need.

John Sullivan of Enterprise Community Partners, a national housing advocacy nonprofit, said the Mississippi program for rental assistance was not going well, but that these types of programs are not going particularly well anywhere across the country.