Placement firm and Cleint wont commit to start job after formal offer letter

I had a national technical placement firm interview me for a position of Program manager for their client on a "contract for hire" role. The placement firm extended a formal offer for a January 16, 2017 start date at the client. I gave formal 30 notice at my prior employer. On the last day of my employment, as I was walking out the door, the placement firm called and admitted that they had issues with their client and that the "job would likely start next week". They have since given me this same line now for 30 days and give no further information on when the "contract to hire" job will start and have left me technically in an unemployed state. Since they issued a formal offer letter that indicated a formal start date and have chosen to ignore the terms of that offer, is there any recourse on this firm? This is a significant impact to my family as I was the sole breadwinner and we now have no Income and I am having to now job hunt and cannot get my old job back