Rapid re-housing, an intervention that helps homeless families exit shelters and get back into permanent housing quickly, provides short-term help with housing expenses and case management focused on housing stability. Rapid re-housing is a relatively new but, as early evidence shows, promising strategy that communities across the country are adopting. Drawing on program data and early findings from evaluations in progress, this brief describes rapid re-housing and lessons from its recent expansion. It finds that most of the evidence points toward rapid re-housing as successful in helping families exit homeless shelters. Rapid re-housing, does not, however, solve long-term housing affordability problems. Moving forward, policymakers need more research on the effectiveness and cost of rapid re-housing compared with other interventions offered by the homeless assistance system.