DECEMBER
UNITED STATES INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS
ALL IN:
The Federal Strategic Plan to
Prevent and End Homelessness
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 2
December 19, 2022
Every American deserves a safe and reliable place to call home. It’s a matter of security,
stability, and well-being. It is also a matter of basic dignity and who we are as a Nation.
Yet many Americans live each day without safe or stable housing. Some are in emergency
shelters. Others live on our streets, exposed to the threats of violence, adverse weather, disease,
and so many other dangers exacerbated by homelessness. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the
reckoning our Nation has faced on issues of racial justice have also exposed inequities that have
been allowed to fester for far too long.
At the same time, we know we can do something about it. That is why I’m proud to present the
Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Strategic Plan to reduce homelessness by 25 percent by
January 2025—an ambitious plan that will put us on the path to meeting my long-term vision of
preventing and ending homelessness in America. We need partners at the State and local levels,
in the private sector, and from philanthropies to all play a part in meeting this goal.
My plan offers a roadmap for not only getting people into housing but also ensuring that they
have access to the support, services, and income that allow them to thrive. It is a plan that is
grounded in the best evidence and aims to improve equity and strengthen collaboration at all
levels.
My plan builds on the foundation my Administration has laid since I came to office. When I
signed the American Rescue Plan in March 2021, we provided tens of billions of dollars in rental
assistance to people who were struggling during the pandemic through no fault of their own—
reducing eviction filings and keeping millions of Americans from being thrown out of their
homes. Communities across the country are using American Rescue Plan funds to create more
permanent affordable housing and support State and local initiatives to address homelessness.
But, there’s much more to do. Americans of all backgrounds all across the country are
struggling with housing costs that have far outpaced wage growth. At the same time, often due
to historical inequities, veterans, low-income workers, people of color, LGBTQI+ Americans,
people with disabilities, older adults, and people with arrest or conviction records are at greater
risk of homelessness. They have fewer opportunities to access safe, affordable housing and
health care and face more barriers to fulfilling these basic needs once they lose them.
This plan meets the urgency of the moment. It recognizes that it’s not enough to go back to the
way things were before the pandemic. We must build a better future for all Americans. This
plan also recognizes that homelessness should not be a partisan issue. A great nation has a moral
obligation to ensure housing, but it’s also the smart thing to do.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 3
When we provide access to housing to people experiencing homelessness, they are able to take
steps to improve their health and well-being, further their education, seek steady employment,
and bring greater stability to their lives and to the community that surrounds them. That not only
saves individual lives, it also pays ongoing dividends for neighborhoods, cities, states, and our
entire country. By ensuring more Americans have safe, stable, and affordable homes, we can
build a stronger foundation for our entire Nation.
J
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 4
Message From USICH Chairs
It has been our shared honor to lead the United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness (USICH) through the development of this new Federal Strategic
Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, which will put our country back
on track toward the goal of ending homelessness. Homelessness should not
exist in the richest country in the world. As the former chair (Marcia Fudge,
2021-2022) and current chair (Denis McDonough, 2022-) of USICH, we are
working not just to reduce but to ultimately end homelessness, period.
Homelessness is solvable. We know this because we have seen it done. When
the Obama-Biden administration released the nation’s first comprehensive
strategy to prevent and end homelessness in 2010—titled Opening Doors: The
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness—it launched a period
of focus, resolve, and targeted investment that drove year-on-year reductions
in homelessness, especially for veterans. Since 2010, veteran homelessness
has decreased by more than half,
1
with over 960,000 veterans and their
family members becoming permanently housed or prevented from becoming
homeless. The lessons learned and the innovative practices that emerged
from our work with veteran homelessness serve as a roadmap for solving homelessness among all
Americans. And though in recent years that progress has slowed, we have seen those eorts renewed
with the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021* (ARP) and other federal eorts to address the current
crisis.
The Biden-Harris Administration has made ending homelessness a top priority. The ARP
provided a historic opportunity to invest in short- and long-term solutions to homelessness, with
an unprecedented level of funding going directly to local governments. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) supported new collaborations between health departments and
local homeless Continuums of Care with funding and public health guidance. The Department of
the Treasury distributed emergency rental assistance to millions of low-income renters and gave
state and local governments flexibility to use ARP funds for aordable housing. Under ARP, the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
reimbursed the cost of non-congregate shelter to
reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission in congregate settings. The Department of Education
granted states and school districts funds to better identify students experiencing homelessness
and to connect those children and youth to school and community-based interventions and
wraparound services. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) distributed ARP
funds
2
to nearly 1,400 health centers across the country, which provide health care and support
services to nearly 1.5 million people experiencing homelessness. The Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) distributed emergency housing vouchers and HOME-ARP funding,
focused on strengthening fair housing and tenants’ protections, and doubled its homeless services
budget since President Biden took oce. The Department of Veterans Aairs (VA) used the
additional resources and flexibilities provided under the ARP to prevent and end homelessness
*The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 5
for 69,946 veterans and their family members during fiscal year 2021 and, between January and
September 2022, VA worked with veterans to achieve more than 30,000 permanent housing
placements from homelessness.
In 2021, HUD and USICH launched House America: An All-Hands-on-Deck Eort to Address the
Nation’s Homelessness Crisis to invite mayors, city and county leaders, tribal nation leaders, and
governors into a national partnership to rehouse people and expand aordable housing using
ARP funding and the Housing First approach. Leaders of more than 100 communities joined
this nationwide initiative and committed to setting goals for rehousing and housing production
through the end of 2022. We thank them for their leadership, and we are eager to share the lessons
of their success with even more communities across the country.
Along with these activities across the federal government, USICH engaged in extensive listening
sessions with thousands of leaders, providers, and advocates, and hundreds of people with lived
experience to inform the new Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. We are
proud and pleased to present this new plan, which restores the importance of Housing First; is
grounded in the voices of people who have experienced the trauma of homelessness; and does
more than any previous plan to set a strategic and equitable path toward the systematic
prevention of homelessness.
Solving homelessness means recognizing and confronting the factors that may have led to the
tragic circumstance of homelessness. It means being guided by the data and evidence that some
Americans who face ongoing discrimination are disproportionately overrepresented among
those experiencing homelessness—especially people of color, LGBTQI+ people, and people
with disabilities. It means recognizing that experiencing the crisis of homelessness is a form of
significant trauma that can impact individuals and families for decades and generations. Solving
homelessness means delivering help to the people who need it most and who are having the
hardest time. It means putting housing first, along with the person-centered supports needed to
succeed and thrive.
With this plan, we recommit the federal government to person-centered, trauma-informed,
and evidence-based solutions to homelessness. We are confident in the knowledge that recovery
is possible, that voluntary supportive services are the most eective way to reach people in need,
and that communities across this nation can welcome and treat their unhoused neighbors with
justice, respect, and dignity.
While we acknowledge there is much work ahead, we are proud of the work this administration has
done to address homelessness. Together and with our fellow members of USICH, we look forward
to partnering with and learning from you as we continue our work to end homelessness in America.
VA Secretary Denis R. McDonough
USICH Council Chair, 2022-2023
HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge
USICH Council Chair, 2021-2022
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 6
Message From the Executive Director
Homelessness in the United States is an urgent life-and-death public health
issue and humanitarian crisis. Far too many Americans live—and die—without
a roof over their heads. This is disproportionately true for people of color—
Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Latino
3
people in particular—
reflecting the compounding eects of racial discrimination in housing,
employment, health care, and education that persist to this day. It does not have
to be this way. Homelessness is not inevitable, and it is not unsolvable. At
USICH, we envision a future in which no one experiences homelessness—not even for one night.
USICH believes that housing should be treated as a human right, and that housing is health care.
We prioritize the use of data and evidence for eective policymaking and know that an evidence-
informed approach to ending homelessness will require us to address the barriers and disparities
that people of color and other marginalized groups too often face. Advancing the most eective
policy solutions will require that people who have experienced homelessness firsthand should
be in positions of power to shape federal, state, and local policy. We can prevent homelessness
before it starts by scaling up housing and supports, —both of which are critical to ending
homelessness. The federal government must listen to local needs, support local innovation, and
foster collaboration and partnerships. The United States of America can end homelessness
by fixing public services and systems—not by blaming the individuals and families who
have been left behind by failed policies and economic exclusion.
Many Americans, especially those whose neighborhoods and communities have been most directly
impacted by the homelessness crisis, ask, “How do we end homelessness in the United States?”
This plan outlines a set of strategies and actions for achieving such a vision. The plan is built upon
the foundations of equity, data, and collaboration, and designed around the solutions of housing
and supports, homelessness response, and prevention. It points to a single goal—a 25% reduction
in homelessness by 2025. Achieving this ambitious goal is a critical first step on our national
journey to end homelessness.
This work will require a deep commitment on the part of the federal government as well as state
and local leaders, nonprofits, the faith community, and the business and philanthropic sectors; and
it must be shaped by those closest to the crisis—people who have experienced homelessness.
Homelessness is not a partisan issue. Division and finger-pointing will not solve the crisis. We as
a nation have come together before to tackle dicult challenges, and we can do the same with
homelessness. We must find common ground, scale what works, and develop new and
creative solutions until homelessness is a relic of the past and every American has a safe, stable,
accessible, and aordable home.
Je Olivet
USICH Executive Director
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 7
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................8
Executive Summary
....................................................................................................................................9
State of Homelessness
.............................................................................................................................12
Vision for the Future
................................................................................................................................24
Federal Strategic Plan
.............................................................................................................................. 26
Framework for Implementation
..............................................................................................................70
Appendix A: How This Plan Was Created
................................................................................................72
Appendix B: Inventory of Targeted and Non-Targeted Federal Programs
................................................73
Appendix C: Glossary
...............................................................................................................................88
Appendix D: References...........................................................................................................................96
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 8
Acknowledgements
This plan builds upon the successes and strengths of previous USICH plans as well as the work of our
partners at the federal, state, and local levels.
USICH would like to thank the thousands of people across the country—including sta from local,
state, and national agencies and organizations; community volunteers; advocates; and the more than
500 people with past and current experiences of homelessness—who provided their time and expertise
to ensure this plan reflects a diversity of perspectives. Their continued counsel and partnership will be
necessary for action and implementation.
USICH would also like to thank the 19 federal agencies* that make up the council as well as the White
House Domestic Policy Council, each bringing its own perspectives and priorities to the plan:
1. AmeriCorps
2. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
3. U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
4. U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
5. U.S. Department of Education (Education)
6. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
8. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
9. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
10. U.S. Department of Interior (Interior)
11. U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
12. U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
13. U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
14. U.S. Department of Veterans Aairs (VA)
15. General Services Administration (GSA)
16. Oce of Management and Budget (OMB)
17. Social Security Administration (SSA)
18. U.S. Postal Oce (USPS)
19. White House Oce on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (FBNP)
Special thanks to consultants Colleen Echohawk, Norweeta Milburn, Rhie Azzam Morris, and Jama
Shelton, who partnered with USICH by sharing their expertise and unique lenses to the development of
this plan—and to designers David Dupree and Malcolm Jones of Abt Associates for designing the plan.
For more information on how this plan was created, see Appendix A on Page 72.
* USICH’s federal collaboration is not limited to the 19 agencies that make up the council. USICH also engages with other agencies and oces,
including the U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, White House Council on Native American Aairs, and
White House Oce of National Drug Control Policy.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 9
After steady declines from 2010 to 2016, homelessness in America has been rising, and more
individuals are experiencing it in unsheltered settings, such as encampments. This increase stems from
decades of growing economic inequality exacerbated by a global pandemic, soaring housing costs, and
housing supply shortfalls. It is further exacerbated by inequitable access to health care, including mental
health and/or substance use disorder treatment; discrimination and exclusion of people of color, LGBTQI+
people, people with disabilities and older adults; as well as the consequences of mass incarceration. As our
nation faces the growing threats of climate change, more Americans are being displaced from their homes
and people experiencing unsheltered homelessness face even greater risk to their health and safety as a
result of climate-related crises like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. Even as homelessness response systems
are helping more people than ever exit homelessness, more people are entering or reentering homelessness.
Homelessness has no place in America. All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End
Homelessness (herein referred to as All In) is a multi-year, interagency blueprint for a future where no
one experiences homelessness, and everyone
has a safe, stable, accessible, and aordable
home. It serves as a roadmap for federal action to
ensure state and local communities have sucient
resources and guidance to build the eective,
lasting systems required to end homelessness. While
it is a federal plan, local communities can use it
to collaboratively develop local and systems-level
plans for preventing and ending homelessness. To
reach the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision, the
plan sets an ambitious interim goal to reduce
homelessness by 25% by January 2025 and sets
us on a path to end homelessness for all Americans.
To develop this plan, USICH undertook a
comprehensive and inclusive process to
gather input from a broad range of perspectives.
Through more than 80 listening sessions and
1,500 public comments, USICH received feedback
Executive
Summary
Within this plan, USICH is using the term
“people of color” to be inclusive
4
of all racial
groups other than non-Hispanic white,
including Black/African American; American
Indian/Alaska Native; Asian/Asian
American; Latino/a; and; Native Hawaiian
or Pacific Islander. USICH acknowledges
that the experiences of each of these groups
is not the same and that the needs of each
group must be uniquely considered and
addressed upon implementation. For more
information on terms used in this plan, see
the Appendix C on Pages 88-95.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 10
from organizations and people—including more than 500 who have experienced homelessness—
who represent nearly 650 communities across nearly every state as well as tribes and territories. All of
this input directly influenced All In, which was created by USICH with collective thinking of the 19
federal agencies that make up the council.
Although All In builds o former federal strategic plans to prevent and end homelessness, it is reflective of
the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities. It goes further than any prior USICH federal strategic plan
to comprehensively advance equity and to address systemic racism and the ways in which federal
policies and practices have resulted in severe racial and other disparities in homelessness. While other
plans have mentioned homelessness prevention, this plan includes specific strategies focused on upstream
prevention. And All In aligns with the administration’s existing work to transform social service systems—
including the National Mental Health
5
and National Drug Control
6
strategies. This plan also builds upon
the national Housing Supply Action Plan
7
that seeks to close the housing supply gap in the next five years.
How All In: The Federal Strategic Plan (FSP) Aligns With
Other Biden-Harris Administration Work
Housing Supply Action Plan
Legislative and administrative
actions to close the housing
supply shortfall
National Mental Health
Strategy
A vision to transform how
mental health is understood
and treated
National Drug Control
Strategy
A whole-of-government call
to action to combat overdose
epidemic
FSP identifies ways to reform
zoning and land-use policies and
to reduce regulatory barriers.
See Housing & Supports
Strategy 2: Expand engagement,
resources, and incentives for the
creation of new supportive and
aordable housing.
FSP pilots new approaches,
expands pipeline of providers,
and invests in peer support
models.
See Housing & Supports
Strategy 6: Strengthen system
capacity to address and meet
the needs of people with chronic
health conditions, including
mental health conditions and/or
substance use disorders.
FSP focuses on high-impact
harm-reduction interventions.
See Housing & Supports
Strategies 6 and 7: Maximize
current resources that can
provide voluntary and trauma-
informed supportive services
and income supports to people
experiencing or at risk of
homelessness.
Ending homelessness requires an all-hands-on-deck response grounded in authentic collaboration.
Upon release of this plan, USICH will immediately begin working with federal partners as well as local
and state entities in the public and private sectors to develop implementation plans that will identify
key activities, milestones, and metrics for making, tracking, and publicizing progress. USICH will regularly
measure progress and update the implementation plans. The plan itself, All In, will be annually updated to
reflect evolving evidence, input, and lessons.
This plan is built around three foundational pillars—equity, data, and collaboration—and three
solution pillars—housing and supports, homelessness response, and prevention. Each pillar
includes strategies the federal government will pursue to facilitate increased availability of and access to
housing, economic security, health care, and stability for all Americans.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 11
Summary of All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to
Prevent and End Homelessness
FOUNDATION PILLARS
Lead With Equity
Strategies to address racial and other
disparities among people experiencing
homelessness:
1. Ensure federal eorts to prevent and
end homelessness promote equity and
equitable outcomes.
2. Promote inclusive decision-making and
authentic collaboration.
3. Increase access to federal housing and
homelessness funding for American
Indian and Alaska Native communities
living on and o tribal lands.
4. Examine and modify federal policies
and practices that may have created
and perpetuated racial and other
disparities among people at risk of or
experiencing homelessness.
Use Data and Evidence to Make
Decisions
Strategies to ground action in research,
quantitative and qualitative data, and
the perspectives of people who have
experienced homelessness:
1. Strengthen the federal government’s
capacity to use data and evidence to
inform federal policy and funding.
2. Strengthen the capacity of state and
local governments, territories, tribes,
Native-serving organizations operating
o tribal lands, and nonprofits to
collect, report, and use data.
3. Create opportunities for innovation
and research to build and disseminate
evidence for what works.
Collaborate at All Levels
Strategies to break down silos between
federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial
governments and organizations; public,
private, and philanthropic sectors;
and people who have experienced
homelessness:
1. Promote collaborative leadership at
all levels of government and across
sectors.
2. Improve information-sharing with
public and private organizations at the
federal, state, and local level.
SOLUTION PILLARS
Scale Housing and Supports That
Meet Demand
Strategies to increase supply of and
access to safe, aordable, and accessible
housing and tailored supports for people
at risk of or experiencing homelessness:
1. Maximize the use of existing federal
housing assistance.
2. Expand engagement, resources, and
incentives for the creation of new safe,
aordable, and accessible housing.
3. Increase the supply and impact
of permanent supportive housing
for individuals and families with
complex service needs—including
unaccompanied, pregnant, and
parenting youth and young adults.
4. Improve eectiveness of rapid
rehousing for individuals and families—
including unaccompanied, pregnant,
and parenting youth and young adults.
5. Support enforcement of fair housing
and combat other forms of housing
discrimination that perpetuate
disparities in homelessness.
6. Strengthen system capacity to address
the needs of people with disabilities
and chronic health conditions,
including mental health conditions
and/or substance use disorders.
7. Maximize current resources that can
provide voluntary and trauma-informed
supportive services and income
supports to people experiencing or at
risk of homelessness
.
8. Increase the use of practices grounded
in evidence in service delivery across
all program types.
Improve Eectiveness of
Homelessness Response Systems
Strategies to help response systems
meet the urgent crisis of homelessness,
especially unsheltered homelessness:
1. Spearhead an all-of-government eort
to end unsheltered homelessness.
2. Evaluate coordinated entry and
provide tools and guidance on eective
assessment processes that center
equity, remove barriers, streamline
access, and divert people from
homelessness.
3. Increase availability of and access
to emergency shelter—especially
non-congregate shelter—and other
temporary accommodations.
4. Solidify the relationship between CoCs,
public health agencies, and emergency
management agencies to improve
coordination when future public health
emergencies and natural disasters
arise.
5. Expand the use of “housing problem-
solving” approaches for diversion and
rapid exit.
6. Remove and reduce programmatic,
regulatory, and other barriers that
systematically delay or deny access
to housing for households with the
highest needs.
Prevent Homelessness
Strategies to reduce the risk of housing
instability for households most likely to
experience homelessness:
1. Reduce housing instability for
households most at risk of experiencing
homelessness by increasing availability
of and access to meaningful and
sustainable employment, education,
and other mainstream supportive
services, opportunities, and resources.
2. Reduce housing instability for
families, youth, and single adults with
former involvement with or who are
directly exiting from publicly funded
institutional systems.
3. Reduce housing instability among
older adults and people with
disabilities—including people with
mental health conditions and/or with
substance use disorders—by increasing
access to home and community-based
services and housing that is aordable,
accessible, and integrated.
4. Reduce housing instability for veterans
and service members transitioning from
military to civilian life.
5. Reduce housing instability for
American Indian and Alaska Native
communities living on and o tribal
lands.
6. Reduce housing instability among
youth and young adults.
7. Reduce housing instability among
survivors of human traicking, sexual
assault, stalking, and domestic violence,
including family and intimate partner
violence
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 12
Housing is a social determinant of health,
8
meaning lack of stable housing has a negative impact on
overall health and life expectancy. Tens of thousands
9
of people die every year due to the dangerous
conditions of living without stable housing—conditions that have worsened due to climate change and
the rise in extreme weather. For those who survive, the trauma caused by homelessness can have a lasting
impact—even after a person moves back into housing. Children who have experienced homelessness
are more likely to
10
experience serious health conditions and to become more vulnerable to abuse and
violence.
State of
Homelessness
“
Positive results can be achieved if we treat homelessness as a crisis all the time, not just during a
pandemic.
”
– Person with lived experience from San Diego, California
* https://nationalhomeless.org/category/mortality/#:~:text=People%20who%20experience%20homelessness%20have,mental%20health%2C%20
and%20substance%20abuse
11
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db427.htm#Summary
12
Microsoft Word - MemDayFlyer06.doc (nhchc.org)
13
Homelessness Is Deadly
*
50 Years Old
77 Years Old
People who experience
homelessness die
nearly 30 years earlier
than the average
American—and at
the average age that
Americans died in 1900
People who experience homelessness Average American
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 13
According to HUD, on any given night, more than half a million people sleep in shelters and unsheltered
places not meant for human habitation, such as cars and encampments. But this single night datapoint
only provides part of the picture of who experiences homelessness. While some people experience it for
extended periods, most experience homelessness in shorter episodes. Over the course of a year, more than
a million individuals and families experience homelessness, and many more experience housing instability
placing them at risk for homelessness. For the first time since data collection began, more individuals
experiencing homelessness in the U.S. are unsheltered than sheltered. When considering households
that are “doubled up”—where multiple families or generations are living together out of necessity—or
households that are severely rent-burdened, the number of households experiencing homelessness or
housing instability surges even higher.
How Many People Experience Homelessness in the U.S.?*
1. 25
million
Experienced sheltered
homelessness at
some point in 2020,
the last year for which
complete annual HUD
data are available
1.29
million
People experiencing
homelessness
served by the health
center program
administered by the
Health Resources and
Services Administration
within HHS, including
Health Care for the
Homeless programs,
according to 2020 HHS
data
1.28
million
Students (not including
their parents or
siblings not enrolled
in K-12 schools)
experienced some
form of homelessness
during the 2019-20
school year, according
to Department of
Education data
582,462
Experienced
homelessness on a
single night in January
2022—a .34% increase
from 2020—according
to HUD’s annual Point-
in-Time Count
*The data in this graphic
does not reflect the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Given the pervasiveness of homelessness, most Americans—often unknowingly—have friends, family,
coworkers, or neighbors who are experiencing homelessness today or who have experienced homelessness
at some point in their lives.
*https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2020-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
14
https://data.hrsa.gov/tools/data-reporting/program-data/national/table?tableName=Full&year=2020
15
https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Student-Homelessness-in-America-2021.pdf
16
https://www.hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/ahar/
17
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 14
“
It is time that we quit blaming
people and start blaming
bad policy that has displaced
people since the beginning of
time.
”
– Person with lived experience from
Sacramento, California
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 15
Sheltered vs. Unsheltered Homelessness
*
Portion of the total homeless
population (including
individuals and families) that is
sheltered, living in shelters or
other temporary housing
Portion of the total homeless
population (including
individuals and families) that
is unsheltered, living in cars,
streets, or encampments
While more people experiencing homelessness overall live in sheltered locations, according to the
2022 Point-in-Time Count, for only the second time since HUD started collecting this data, people who
experience homelessness as individuals (versus families) are more likely to live in unsheltered locations.
60%
40%
Homelessness in the United States has surged and receded
18
throughout our nation’s history.
**
The early
1980s marked the emergence of what now may be considered the modern era of homelessness. While
there have been many structural drivers, the evidence shows that homelessness is largely the result of
failed policies. Severely underfunded programs and inequitable access to quality education, health
care (including treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders), and economic
opportunity have led to an inadequate safety net that fails to keep individuals and families from falling
through the cracks when they fall on hard times. Underinvestment in both aordable housing development
and preservation has led to severe shortages of aordable, safe, and accessible housing. Wages have not
kept up with soaring housing costs for many working Americans, leading to persistent housing insecurity
and in some cases exacerbating poverty.
Central to many of these systemic failures are policies and programs that led to discriminatory practices
against people of color and members of marginalized groups. For example, during the 20th century, federal
and local governments implemented discriminatory housing, transportation, and community investment
policies, such as redlining,
*** 19
that segregated neighborhoods, inhibited equal opportunity and wealth
creation, and led to the persistent undervaluation of properties owned by people of color. These federal
policies eroded intergenerational wealth creation for individuals and families across the United States,
leaving many people of color more vulnerable to housing instability and homelessness. Similarly, policies
like forced relocation have put American Indians and Alaska Natives at greater risk of housing insecurity
and homelessness. At the same time, discriminatory policies and practices against marginalized groups—
such as LGBTQI+ Americans, people with disabilities, and people with HIV—have resulted in inequitable
*Data Source: https://www.hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/ahar/
17
** According to Kusmer (2002) and Leginski (2007), the most prominent spikes in homelessness occurred during the colonial period, pre-industrial
era, post-Civil War years, Great Depression, and today.
*** Redlining refers to a discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in
neighborhoods classified as ‘hazardous’ to investment; these neighborhoods have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities, and low-
income residents.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 16
access to economic opportunity, housing security, and an inclusive social safety net.
The impacts of systemic racism
20
and discrimination can be seen in federal homelessness data. While
homelessness impacts people of all ages, races, physical and cognitive abilities, ethnicities, gender
identities, and sexual orientations, it disproportionately impacts some groups and populations. Compared
to their overall proportion of the U.S. population, people of color are overrepresented in the homeless
population. Black Americans are especially overrepresented at a rate of 3 to 1 compared to the general
population. For American Indians and Alaska Natives, the ratio may be as high as 5 to 1. Latinos and
some sub-groups of Asian Americans, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, also experience
homelessness at high rates. Latinos, however, are routinely and drastically undercounted. Building an
ecient and eective homeless services system will require partners at all levels to understand
and address these racial disparities.
The Disproportionate Impact of Homelessness*
50.1%
37.4%
6.1%
1.4%
3.4%
1.7%
61.6%
12.4%
10.2%
6.0%
1.1%
0.2%
Non-Hispanic
White
Non-Hispanic
Black
American Indian
and Alaska
Native**
Native Hawaiian
and other
Pacific Islander
Multiple Races
Asian
Share of Population Experiencing Homelessness, 2022
Share of U.S. Population, 2020
Most people of color are
overrepresented in the
homeless population.
24.1%
18.7%
Hispanic or
Latino***
Data Sources:
* HUD 2020 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report Part 1:
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2020-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
17
U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 Census Illuminates Racial and Ethnic Composition of the Country: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/
improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html
21
Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research - The Rental Assistance Demonstration; The Hispanic Housing Experience in the
United States - Understanding Low-Income Hispanic Housing Challenges and the Use of Housing and (huduser.gov)
3
** This number represents the number of individuals identified as AI/AN during the point-in-time count, which the majority of Tribes do not
participate in and is therefore a significant undercount.
*** All individuals identifying as Hispanic or Latino are included in the Hispanic or Latino category. All other categories exclude those
identifying as Hispanic or Latino.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 17
The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated homelessness, putting more people at risk of losing
jobs and homes, and putting people already living without a home at greater risk of disease and death.
People experiencing homelessness are more likely to have chronic disease, increasing their vulnerability
to COVID-19 and other
22
infectious diseases. The experience of homelessness can also make it more
challenging to access and receive necessary care, which can exacerbate homelessness and poor health
conditions.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many agencies that provide vital supportive services and
benefits closed their oces to protect the health of employees and the public; public restrooms were
locked; and agencies faced severe sta shortages as the trauma of homeless services work intensified and
turnover increased. In the early days of the pandemic, many communities heeded the CDC’s guidance to
avoid clearing encampments. But more recently, in response to unsheltered homelessness becoming more
visible in many communities, there has been a sharp rise in the number of local laws and ordinances that
reverse course and criminalize homelessness.
The pandemic has also made it even more dicult for some to find shelter. Traditional, congregate shelters
drastically cut the number of people that could be served to comply with public health guidelines for
mitigating the spread of COVID-19. To account for that limitation, many communities have implemented
innovative solutions to expand non-congregate shelters by moving people into hotels, motels, and other
previously vacant spaces where they could socially distance from others. This expansion of non-congregate
shelter has provided an opportunity to rapidly and eectively address the needs of people experiencing
homelessness and has advanced new models that could be sustained and replicated.
“
We can never ever go back to sheltering people as we once did. Too much has changed since this
pandemic began. Congregate housing and large shelters didn’t work that well in the first place, did not
support the dignity of the homeless as people. The pandemic has shown us clearly that other ways of
securing housing—such as hotels, small transitional units, and private low-income housing units—are
essential, and more creative thinking needs to be encouraged if we are going to eliminate massive
homelessness.
”
– Person with lived experience from Portland, Maine
People with preexisting health issues are more likely to experience homelessness, and they are more
likely to live in unsheltered locations than shelters. Children who experience homelessness are more at
risk for poor health conditions and developmental delays. Health problems—coupled with lack of access
to quality health care—can contribute to risk of homelessness, and in turn, homelessness can worsen
health, including mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders. While rates of homelessness
for people with mental health
23
conditions and/or with substance use disorders are high, the majority of
people experiencing homelessness
24
do not have a mental health condition and/or substance use disorder.
Furthermore, the majority of Americans with mental health conditions and/or with substance use disorders
do not experience homelessness.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 18
Housing Is Health Care*
Asthma
22.4%
16.7%
Viral, chronic, or
acute hepatitis
29.2%
5.6%
Cerebrovascular
accident
(i.e., stroke)
4.3%
1.0%
5.7%
1.9%
Dementia
Epilepsy
10.9%
3.3%
HIV
5.8%
1.1%
Cirrhosis
7. 2%
1.9%
Tuberculosis
3.2%
0.8%
Chronic obstructive
lung disease
23.0%
10.6%
Certain health conditions are more
common among people experiencing
homelessness, who are up to 7 times
more likely to lack health insurance.
People Who Have Experienced Homelessness
General Population Sample With Similar or Same Reported Age and Gender
* Health Conditions Among Individuals with a History of Homelessness Research Brief | ASPE (hhs.gov)
25
Fact sheet (nhchc.org)
26
CoC_PopSub_NatlTerrDC_2020.pdf (hudexchange.info)
27
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 19
Through the comprehensive input process to inform the development of this plan, USICH heard about the
key challenges to implementation as well as opportunities to advance progress, which are highlighted below.
Challenges
“
Direct service providers are soul-crushingly tired. Please reach out to them. Please listen to them. They
need to know that people in power support them and want to improve the broken systems they’re
working in.
”
– Provider from Fairbanks, Alaska
Lack of Housing Supply
While housing is the solution to homelessness, the United States suers from a severe shortage of safe,
aordable, and accessible rental housing. Prior to the pandemic, there was a shortage of 7 million
28
aordable and available homes for renters with the lowest incomes. The shortage is caused by many
factors,
29
including a shortage of available land and labor, increased costs of raw materials, local zoning
restrictions, land-use regulations, opposition to inclusive development—which is commonly referred to as
“Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY), and the destruction of homes in climate change’s path. Compounding
this, people with housing vouchers or other rental assistance compete for limited housing in a highly
competitive rental market, and they often face stigma, barriers, and/or discrimination from landlords. In
addition, many landlords deny housing to people based on their criminal records and/or credit history.
And many renters of color, LGBTQI+ renters, and renters with disabilities continue to face outright
discrimination when they apply for housing. The lack of accessible housing for some people with
disabilities further complicates the situation.*
Rise of Rent Amid Slow Wage and Income Growth
Wage growth has been slow for the lowest-paid workers for decades, and for many Americans, rental
housing is unaordable because wages have not kept up with the fast rise of rent. According to a 2021
report, in no state
30
can a person working full-time at the federal minimum wage aord a two-bedroom
apartment at the fair market rent. As a result, 70% of the lowest-wage households routinely spend more
than half of their income on rent, placing them at risk of homelessness if any unexpected expenses or
emergencies arise. Housing unaordability disproportionately impacts people with disabilities, LGBTQI+
people, and people of color. Discriminatory employment practices toward these groups further contribute
to these disparities. Similarly, there is no housing market within the U.S.
31
in which a person living solely
on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can aord housing without rental assistance.
Challenges and Opportunities
* The American Housing Survey of 2011 found that less than five percent of housing in the U. S. is accessible for individuals with moderate
mobility diculties and less than one percent of housing is accessible for wheelchair users. Accessibility of America’s Housing Stock: Analysis of
the 2011 American Housing Survey (AHS) | HUD USER
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 20
Inadequate Access to Quality Health Care, Education, and Supportive Services
“Low-barrier,” culturally appropriate, readily available, and accessible supportive services—including
treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders—often are not available or funded
at a level to meet the need. This is particularly true in rural areas. As a result, people seeking these services
may face long waits or may not receive them at all, and service providers may only be reimbursed for a
fraction of the cost of care. Furthermore, collaboration and coordination between homelessness response
and other systems—including health, victim services, workforce development, aging- and disability-
related services, early care and education,*
32
K-12 and higher education—is often not as strong as it
could be, creating silos in service delivery. People of color, especially Black people and other marginalized
populations face greater barriers
33
to receiving the supports they need, which leads to severe health
inequities and disparities in health outcomes.
Limited Alternatives to Unsheltered Homelessness
The number of people living in unsheltered locations is rising, yet there are often not enough safe,
low-barrier shelter or interim housing options for people waiting for permanent housing and support.
Many shelters are full or deny entry to people who are struggling with a mental health condition and/
or who have a substance use disorder, have criminal records, live with a disability or chronic condition,
or identify as LGBTQI+—despite regulations that prohibit this discrimination. People who have
disabilities, pets, partners, or older children (especially male teenagers) have fewer options for sheltering
together. Additionally, shelters often fail to meet the needs of people either because they are not culturally
appropriate or do not have the capacity to provide adequate support and accommodations for people with
significant physical disabilities, mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders. As unsheltered
homelessness increases in some communities, the impact on surrounding neighborhoods has eroded
support for further investments in homeless services.
Criminalization of Homelessness
In some communities, a rise in encampments has resulted in harmful public narratives and opposition to
development of aordable housing and programs that serve people experiencing homelessness. As elected
leaders respond—and not always in the most eective ways—some have resorted to clearing encampments
without providing alternative housing options for the people living in them. Many communities have made
it illegal for people to sit or sleep in public outdoor spaces or have instituted public space design that makes
it impossible for people to lie down or even sit in those spaces. Unless encampment closures are conducted
in a coordinated, humane, and solutions-oriented way that makes housing and supports adequately available,
these “out of sight, out of mind” policies can lead to lost belongings and identification which can set people
back in their pathway to housing; breakdowns in connection with outreach teams, health care facilities, and
housing providers; increased interactions with the criminal justice system; and significant traumatization—
all of which can set people back in their pathway to housing and disrupt the work of ending homelessness.
*Early care and education includes child care, Head Start, home visiting and preschool
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 21
Trauma and Fatigue Among Providers
The pandemic has strained the capacity of service providers—many of whom earn wages low enough
to qualify them for the programs they help administer. Even before the pandemic, housing and service
programs had high sta turnover. These essential workers provide life-saving crisis services while dealing
with stang shortages, navigating evolving guidance for protecting themselves and their clients, and doing
their best to implement best practices and quickly deploy new federal funding. Many are overwhelmed and
exhausted from the pressure and trauma associated with supporting not only the people they serve but
also themselves and their families during a sustained global pandemic.
Opportunities
“
When there is adequate funding and community will to do something, a large dierence can be
made.
”
– Person with lived experience from San Diego, California
Unprecedented Investment of New Funding
The American Rescue Plan—along with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Act—provides billions of dollars for new and existing programs that can move people into housing
and increase the availability of housing and housing subsidies. Section 2001 of the ARP
34
also created
new funding to directly connect students experiencing homelessness with educational and wraparound
supportive services. These resources provide communities with a historic opportunity to innovate and
improve existing systems. Moreover, President Biden’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2023 includes
significant increases in funding for targeted programs, vouchers, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, as
well as new funding to increase the aordable housing supply.
Demonstrated Commitment Through Regulatory Flexibility and Executive
Action
The CARES and American Rescue Plan Acts created regulatory flexibilities that spurred greater
innovation, strengthened partnerships, and created new collaborations. Furthermore, the Biden-Harris
Administration has taken critical action to address the challenges outlined in the previous section.
President Biden has issued several executive orders focused on bold and ambitious steps to root out
inequity within the economy and to expand opportunity for people of color and other marginalized
groups. The White House has also initiated whole-of-government action plans and strategies that address
the nation’s most pressing needs, such as the Housing Supply Action Plan,
7
the National Mental Health
Strategy,
5
and the National Drug Control Strategy.
6
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 22
Many communities are using
American Rescue Plan funds
to convert vacant hotels and
motels into non-congregate
shelters.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 23
Lessons Learned From the Pandemic
COVID-19 has spurred a sense of urgency and innovation across government to keep people safe and
healthy. Federal programs have found ways to rapidly waive requirements that were impeding mitigation
and recovery. As a result, new partnerships have been created and new approaches have emerged,
including the conversion of previously vacant hotels to non-congregate shelter and housing; expansion
of unemployment benefits; use of eviction moratoriums; launch of emergency rental assistance; and
provision of direct cash transfers. The expansion of non-congregate shelter, in particular, and the greater
coordination among public health, health care, aging and disability network organizations, and other
supportive services has provided an opportunity to improve housing stability and health outcomes.
Increased Focus on Racial Equity
The murder of George Floyd during an encounter with law enforcement in 2020 sparked greater awareness
of historic and ongoing racism—especially anti-Black racism—and its impact. A nationwide discourse on
racial justice ensued, demanding urgent change and accountability at all levels of government in public
policies and programs that either intentionally or unintentionally perpetuate racism. Since then, awareness
of racial disparities has risen, along with eorts to correct these inequities, at all levels of government and
in the homelessness sector. While homelessness impacts people of all races, ethnicities, gender identities,
and sexual orientations, it disproportionately impacts some groups and populations, particularly people
of color, and especially Black people. This increased focus, as well as the Biden-Harris administration’s
commitment to a whole-of-government approach to advancing equity, provides an opportunity to hold
federal, state, and local governments accountable for achieving more equitable outcomes for people of
color.
Dedication of Providers
The homeless services sector is comprised of many passionate and compassionate people—many of whom
are volunteers—who dedicate every day of their lives to the work of preventing and ending homelessness in
their communities. This work is dicult under any circumstances, and the pandemic made it exponentially
more dicult. But people continue to show up, persevering through the toughest circumstances.
The following plan oers a roadmap to bring renewed energy to address these challenges and make the
most of these opportunities.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 24
This plan is built upon our vision of a nation in which no one experiences the tragedy and
indignity of homelessness, and everyone has a safe, stable, accessible, and aordable home.
We envision a future where every state and community have the systems and the resources to prevent
homelessness whenever possible, or if it cannot be prevented, to quickly connect people experiencing
homelessness to permanent housing with the services and supports they need to help them achieve and
maintain housing stability.
Achieving this vision for the future will require the transformation of systems and institutions that displace
and exclude people from housing.
National Goal
This plan sets the United States on a path to end homelessness and establishes an ambitious national
goal to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness by 25% by January 2025.* Such a
reduction will serve as a down payment on the longer-term work of ending homelessness once and for all.
Achieving this ambitious national goal is the responsibility of all public systems in partnership with the
private sector and philanthropy—not the homelessness response system alone. It will require a whole-of-
government, cross-system approach to implement. We encourage state and local governments—in
collaboration with people who have experienced homelessness and with local organizations
working to end homelessness—to establish their own, more ambitious goals for 2025.
In the months ahead, USICH will provide guidance on setting local goals and measuring local progress.
It will also provide additional metrics, equity outcomes, and other federal data targets that can be
monitored to measure progress toward the national reduction goal. In the meantime, the Framework for
Implementation on Pages 70-71 can serve as a reference.
Vision for
the Future
* This goal reflects a projected 25% reduction in total overall homelessness in the 2025 Point-in-Time count compared to the 2022 Point-in-Time
count. In January 2022, the total number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night was 582,462. A 25% reduction would mean fewer
than 437,000 people will be counted on a single night in January 2025.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 25
Key Populations and Geographic Areas
This plan recognizes that the needs of people experiencing homelessness vary based on factors like age,
location, disability, race and ethnicity; and it acknowledges that tailored guidance will be needed for key
populations and geographic areas. For the purposes of this plan, this includes:
Racial/Ethnic Groups (“People of Color”)
• American Indians and Alaska Natives
• Asian/Asian Americans
• Black/African Americans
• Hispanics/Latinos
• Multiracial people
• Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders
Marginalized Groups
• Child welfare-involved families and youth
• Immigrants, refugees, and asylees
• LGBTQI+ people
• People with chronic health conditions and co-
occurring disorders
• People with current or past criminal justice
system involvement
• People with disabilities
• People with HIV
• People with mental health conditions
• People with substance use disorders
• Pregnant and parenting youth
• Survivors of domestic violence, stalking, sexual
assault, and human traicking
Subpopulations
• Children (younger than 12)
• Youth (age 12-17)
• Young adults (age 18-25)
• Families with minor children
• Older adults (age 55 and older)
• Single adults (age 25 to 55)
• Veterans
Geographic Areas
• Remote
• Rural
• Suburban
• Territory
• Tribal land/Reservation
• Urban
As the strategies outlined in this plan are implemented, USICH will work with a broad range of stakeholders
to adopt a “targeted universalism”
35
framework that promotes a universal reduction goal with targeted and
tailored solutions based on the structures, cultures, and geographies of certain groups to help them overcome
unique barriers. USICH recognizes that tailored solutions are needed for specific populations and geographic
areas and that individuals and families experiencing multiple barriers often require special consideration and
resources. USICH also recognizes that the federal government will need to rely on those most impacted by
the policies and strategies promoted in this plan to design the tailored actions and guidance.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 26
All In serves as a roadmap for federal action to ensure state and local communities have sucient
resources and guidance to build the eective, lasting systems required to end homelessness. While it is
a federal plan, local communities can use it to collaboratively develop local and systems-level plans for
preventing and ending homelessness. This plan creates an initial framework for meeting the ambitious
goal of reducing overall homelessness by 25% by 2025 and sets the United States on a path to end
homelessness.
This plan is built around six pillars: three foundations—equity, evidence, and collaboration—and three
solutions—housing and supports, homelessness response, and prevention—all of which are required to
prevent and end homelessness. Within each pillar of foundations and solutions are strategies that the
federal government will pursue to facilitate increased access to housing, economic security, health, and
stability. Some agency commitments, cross-government initiatives, and eorts are already underway and are
highlighted throughout.
Upon release of this plan, USICH will immediately begin to develop implementation plans that will
identify specific actions, milestones, and metrics for operationalizing the strategies in close partnership
with its member agencies and other stakeholders representing a broad range of groups and perspectives,
including people with lived experience. For more on this, please see Framework for Implementation on
Pages 70-71.
Federal
Strategic
Plan
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 27
FOUNDATIONS
ALL IN: THE FEDERAL STRATEGIC PLAN:
EQUITY DATA AND
EVIDENCE
COLLABORATION
PREVENTION
CRISIS RESPONSE
HOUSING AND SUPPORTS
SOLUTIONS
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 28
As detailed earlier, discrimination in housing, education, employment, criminal justice, and health care have
led to inequitable access to wealth and economic opportunity and to a greater likelihood of experiencing
homelessness. To acknowledge and address these and other inequities, the following strategies and actions
are intended to ensure that the solutions in this plan will be designed and implemented equitably.
Strategy 1: Ensure federal eorts to prevent and end homelessness promote
equity and equitable outcomes.
In recent years, the homelessness sector has increasingly focused on equity and inclusivity. To achieve
equity, we must build o the work already underway through President Biden’s Executive Order on
“Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”
and take additional steps to armatively advance equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Identify expected equity outcomes with qualitative and quantitative measures and plans for how
programs and agencies responsible for carrying out strategies and actions included in this plan will
collect and report on the information used to measure these outcomes.
• Establish tools and processes for identifying, analyzing and updating agency-specific policies,
practices, and procedures for programs and agencies responsible for carrying out strategies and
actions included in this plan that may inhibit opportunity to advance and promote equity.
• Create a mechanism to publicly report federal actions taken by USICH and its member agencies to
advance equity and support local and state eorts to address disparities.
• Provide messaging and guidance to state and local stakeholders about promising practices that are
having a measurable impact on disparities.
• Ensure all guidance, tools, and websites are designed to be accessible and to ensure eective
communication for people with disabilities; and take steps to ensure meaningful access for people
with limited English proficiency.
• Create learning opportunities across USICH and its member agencies on racial equity, cultural
competence, cultural humility, and disability competence.
• Hire people and partner organizations with a strong equity analysis to inform actions taken under
this strategy.
“
Anti-Black racism continues to be ignored as a root cause of homelessness, and Black people
experiencing homelessness continue to be inadequately protected from housing discrimination,
over-policing, criminalization of poverty, and other systemic forces that contribute to their
overrepresentation in the total population of people experiencing homelessness.
”
– Advocate from Washington, District of Columbia
Lead With Equity
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 29
Strategy 2: Promote inclusive decision-making and authentic collaboration.
It is critical that people who have experienced or who are experiencing homelessness and housing
instability lead and participate in the development and implementation of policies and programs. This
includes not only people of color but other historically marginalized groups that are overrepresented in
homeless populations, especially people identifying as LGBTQI+ and people with disabilities.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Identify existing federal advisory groups, committees, and workgroups that are focused on preventing
and ending homelessness and seek ways to expand membership to include people with lived
experience and for ensuring meaningful participation and compensation for their time and expertise.
• Review federal processes and administrative requirements for contractors that deliver relevant
technical assistance (TA) and capacity-building related to implementation of the strategies within
this plan to allow for an expanded pool of selected contractors and firms with higher diversity of sta
and management and/or people with lived experience.
• Identify ways to conduct accessible outreach to and hire people with lived experience in federal
job announcements for programs and agencies responsible for carrying out strategies and actions
included in this plan.
• Allow for and incentivize inclusive processes that allow for meaningful engagement in all federal
funding grants that directly impact people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
• Create flexibilities in existing federal programs to encourage funding recipients that serve people at
risk of or experiencing homelessness to hire people with lived experience and compensate them on
par with other sta.
• Create flexibilities in existing federal programs to allow recipients to use program funds to
compensate people with lived experience participating on local advisory councils.
How People With Lived Experience Can Shape Policy
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 30
• Examine barriers such as federal program caps on earned income and explore opportunities to
provide flexibilities for people with lived experience to be compensated for their participation in
planning activities and input processes without risking any benefits or assistance that they receive
from the federal government.
• Incentivize, strengthen, and expand opportunities for professional development and mentoring
focused on supporting people with lived experience as they take on new types of roles, especially
leadership roles.
• Create learning opportunities across USICH and its member agencies on creating environments that
will allow people with lived experience to thrive and not be retraumatized.
Strategy 3: Increase access to federal housing and homelessness funding for
American Indian and Alaska Native communities living on and o tribal lands.
Although tribes have exercised inherent sovereignty over their lands, AI/AN communities continue to face
unique challenges today—including federal disinvestment in basic infrastructure, severe housing shortages
that lead to dangerous overcrowding, and complex legal constraints related to land ownership. These
challenges make it extremely dicult to improve housing conditions. Solutions to these challenges must
be developed and designed through consultation and in partnership with tribes and must be culturally
appropriate and adaptive to the unique circumstances of AI/AN communities living on and o tribal lands.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• In accordance with Executive Order 13175 and the Presidential Memorandum on Tribal
Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships,
36
build upon the tribal
consultation that took place to inform the development of this plan and further consult tribes on
strategies and solutions that will impact housing instability and homelessness for American Indian
and Alaska Native communities living on and o tribal lands.
• Explore opportunities to expand Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act
programs (the primary vehicle for developing housing in tribal land).
• Promote and expand opportunities to hire more AI/AN people across agencies responsible for
carrying out strategies and actions included in this plan.
• Coordinate a federal TA strategy to support eorts of tribes and Native-serving organizations
operating o tribal land to address homelessness and increase access to funding streams that are
newly available to tribes.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 31
Strategy 4: Examine federal policies and practices that may have created
and perpetuated racial and other disparities among people at risk of or
experiencing homelessness.
“
Inequitable access is rooted from the top down. The federal government must be tasked with
recognizing and ALLOWING FOR the undoing of systemic and institutional discrimination that
PERMEATES its systems.
”
– Person with lived experience
Policies and practices that may be intended to promote racial neutrality sometimes inadvertently led
to worse housing outcomes for people of color. Our collective response to homelessness should advance
policies and practices specifically designed to eliminate racial inequities in homelessness and housing.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Partner with the agencies responsible for carrying out the strategies and actions within this plan
and review policies and regulations associated with the federal programs and initiatives to assess
whether and how current policies and programs may perpetuate racial disparities or create barriers
for marginalized groups and people of color and identify achievable policy and program changes to
advance equity.
• Develop tools and provide direct TA to help grantees, states, local governments, and U.S. territories
to implement equitable policies and practices and build the capacity of organizations to serve
people of color and marginalized groups who face current and historic discrimination based on race,
disability, class, and gender identity.
• Highlight communities that achieve reductions in racial and other disparities, and create tools,
products, and guidance based on their strategies.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 32
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions
to Lead With Equity
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House
Memo on “Redressing Our
Nation’s and the Federal
Government’s History of
Discriminatory Housing
Practices and Policies”
Issued to Secretary of HUD to declare that the Biden-Harris Administration
will work to end housing discrimination and ensure equitable access to
housing for all
White House
Executive Order 13985:
Advancing Racial
Equity and Support for
Underserved Communities
Through the Federal
Government
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to pursue comprehensive
approach to equity for all, including people of color and others who have
been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely aected by poverty
and inequality
White House
Executive Order 13988:
Preventing and Combating
Discrimination on the Basis
of Gender Identity or Sexual
Orientation
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to address overlapping forms
of discrimination, to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of
gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII, the Fair
Housing Act, and other laws that prohibit such discrimination
White House
Executive Order 14008:
Tackling the Climate Crisis
Abroad and at Home
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to address the climate
crisis proactively and includes the development of the Justice40 Initiative,
which seeks to ensure that disadvantaged communities receive 40% of any
investments made in areas such as clean energy and energy eiciency;
aordable and sustainable housing; and the development of critical clean
water infrastructure
White House
Executive Order 14020:
Establishment of White
House Gender Policy
Council
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to ensure that the federal
government is working to advance equal rights and opportunities,
regardless of gender or gender identity, in advancing domestic and
foreign policy, and to prevent and address gender-based violence in the
United States
White House
Executive Order 14031:
Advancing Equity, Justice,
and Opportunity for
Asian Americans, Native
Hawaiians, and Pacific
Islanders
Established President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders as well as the White House Initiative on Asian
Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders
White House
Executive Order 14035:
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,
and Accessibility in the
Federal Workforce
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to cultivate federal workforce
that draws from full diversity of the nation and establishes procedures to
advance this priority
White House
Executive Order 14045:
White House Initiative on
Advancing Educational
Equity, Excellence, and
Economic Opportunity for
Hispanics
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to advance educational
equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for Hispanic communities
from early childhood until their chosen career
White House
Executive Order 14049:
White House Initiative on
Advancing Educational
Equity, Excellence, and
Economic Opportunity
for Native Americans
and Strengthening Tribal
Colleges and Universities
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to advance equity,
excellence, and justice in our nation’s education system and to further tribal
self-governance
White House
Executive Order 14050:
White House Initiative on
Advancing Educational
Equity, Excellence, and
Economic Opportunity for
Black Americans
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to advance educational
equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for Black/African Americans
and communities from early childhood until their chosen career
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 33
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions
to Lead With Equity
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House
Executive Order 14058:
Transforming Federal
Customer Experience and
Service Delivery To Rebuild
Trust in Government
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to prioritize service delivery
and customer experience and to empirically measure both with on-the-
ground results
White House
Executive Order 14069:
Advancing Economy,
Eiciency, and Eectiveness
in Federal Contracting by
Promoting Pay Equity and
Transparency
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to eliminate
discriminatory pay practices that inhibit economy, eiciency, and
eectiveness of federal workforce and/or federal procurement
White House
Executive Order 14075:
Advancing Equality for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Queer, and
Intersex Individuals
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration combat unlawful
discrimination and eliminate disparities that harm LGBTQI+ individuals and
their families, defend their rights and safety, and pursue a comprehensive
approach to delivering the full promise of equality for LGBTQI+ individuals;
Charges HUD to lead an initiative that aims to prevent and address
homelessness and housing instability among LGBTQI+ individuals, including
youth, and households
HHS
Brief on “Methods and
Emerging Strategies to
Engage People With Lived
Experience”
Identified methods and emerging strategies to engage people with lived
experience in federal research, programming, and policymaking
HUD
Equity Tools for Homeless
Response Systems
Promoted equity by expanding procurement, using current data, and engaging
people with lived experience while developing coordinated investment plans
HUD
Memo on “Eliminating
Barriers That May
Unnecessarily Prevent
Individuals With Criminal
Histories From Participating
in HUD Programs”
Secretary Fudge instructed department to review programs and policies that
may pose barriers to housing for people with criminal records—an
issue that disproportionately impacts people of color
HUD
Equal Access Rule Airmed commitment to the rule, which provides equal access to HUD
programs without regard to a person’s actual or perceived sexual
orientation, gender identity, or marital status
HUD Fair Housing Initiatives
Program (FHIP)
Released four rounds of funding for FHIP agencies to conduct housing
education and outreach and to address fair housing inquiries, complaints, and
investigations
HUD FY 2021and FY 2022 Notices
of Funding Opportunity
for the Continuum of Care
(CoC) Program and the
Housing Opportunities
for Persons With AIDS
(HOPWA) Program
Prioritized equity in these and other Notices of Funding Opportunities
(NOFOs); Allowed Indian Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing
Entities (TDHEs) to participate for the first time in the CoC Program, due to
the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021
Multiple Agencies
Equity Action Plans Released by more than 90 federal agencies to address—and achieve—
equity for all Americans in part by identifying accountability mechanisms,
success metrics, and key milestones toward progress
Multiple Agencies Interagency Task Force
on Property Appraisal and
Valuation Equity (PAVE)
Comprised of federal partners and led by Secretary of HUD and director of
White House Domestic Policy Council; Released action plan for how all
Americans can benefit fairly from homeownership
Multiple Agencies Interagency Working
Groups
These groups coordinate equity policy and include the COVID-19
Health Equity Task Force, chaired by Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, and the
Interagency Working Group on Safety, Opportunity, and Inclusion for
Transgender Individuals, convened by the White House’s Gender Policy
Council and Domestic Policy Council
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 34
This plan is driven by evidence from a growing body of research, data, and perspectives of people who have
experienced homelessness—and a commitment to continue to rely on data and these critical perspectives.
As the evidence and our understanding of what works evolves, so will our plan. By shifting to evidence-
based practices for streamlining connections to housing and ensuring wraparound services, national
homelessness declined by 14% between 2010 and 2017.
Strategy 1: Strengthen the federal government’s capacity to use data and
evidence to inform federal policy and funding.
Collection, analysis, and reporting of quality, timely qualitative and quantitative data is essential for
targeting interventions, tracking results, making strategic decisions, and allocating resources at the federal,
state, and local levels. The federal government must continue eorts already underway and strengthen
its capacity to responsibly integrate data across systems to better understand the scope and dynamics of
homelessness and to break down silos between systems and to promulgate the recommendations put forth
by the Equitable Data Working Group.
37
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Catalyze existing federal infrastructure to leverage underused qualitative and quantitative data
sources that could be utilized to better understand people experiencing homelessness or who are at
risk of or experiencing homelessness to inform federal policy and funding decisions.
• Collaborate to strengthen existing and identify new ways to formally share and use data across all
partner agencies, particularly HUD, DOJ, SSA, DOL, Education, HHS, USDA, and VA.*
• Gather input from a broad range of experts to ensure that federal data-sharing and data-use
strategies do not perpetuate inequities, increase administrative burdens, compromise personal
information, or reduce trust.
• Provide guidance and messaging about how national data can be used to inform state and local
processes and decision-making.
• Create a federal dashboard to track and report relevant data from across various federal data sources
with the goal of making data available sooner and increasing capacity for utilizing data to inform
actions taken in relation to this plan.
• Promote federal actions to create publicly available data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender,
disability, income, veteran status, age, or other key demographic variables while being intentional
about when it is collected and shared while protecting privacy.
“
Bring people of color to the tables where discussions are happening. Don’t just rely on nuanced data
that we know is inaccurate.
”
– Advocate from Texas
Use Data and Evidence to Make Decisions
* Data can be shared with FEMA, for instance, when a presidential declared disaster or emergency has been issued in an area with existing high
rates of homelessness.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 35
Strategy 2: Strengthen the capacity of state and local governments,
territories, tribes, Native-serving organizations operating o tribal land, and
nonprofits to collect, report, and use data.
In recent years, communities have increasingly begun to disaggregate data by race and ethnicity, gender,
household, and other important dimensions. As a result, it is possible to understand specific trends and
needs, and to make strategic decisions about how to use resources equitably. But there is a continued need
for increased coordination across the federal government to streamline processes that reduce the burdens
that data collection and reporting place on state, local, and nonprofit organizations as well as on the
people experiencing homelessness whose information is being collected.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Increase state and local use of Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) and
identify ways to expand coverage, especially of street outreach eorts, to better track unsheltered
homelessness and by expanding coverage by non-traditional partners through incentives and/or
training and technical assistance.
• Expand community capacity to integrate HMIS data with other federal data sources (i.e., VA
HOMES data) as well as state and local administrative data (i.e., Medicaid, corrections, child welfare)
to inform planning and decision-making. Support this by developing standards to permit data
interoperability between data systems while protecting the confidentiality of all individuals.
• Increase state and local capacity to ensure accurate counts of people experiencing unsheltered
homelessness, especially unaccompanied minors, youth and young adults, and families, by leveraging
existing federal resources, such as AmeriCorps volunteers and members.
• Increase state and local capacity to collect additional data related to housing and homelessness
status.
• Ensure that increased use of HMIS and integration of HMIS data with other data sources does not
result in the exclusion of victim service providers from strategic decisions about how to use resources
equitably, considering that they are prohibited from entering client-level data into HMIS and must
use comparable databases instead.*
• Issue guidance on the creation of cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding and on
perceived legal barriers associated with sharing data.
• Coordinate and provide federal guidance, technical assistance, and training for state and local
governments, territories, tribes, Native-serving organizations operating o tribal land, homeless
service organizations, and local school districts on data collection and utilization methodologies
that are culturally appropriate, and trauma informed. Build capacity for robust equity assessment of
compounded experiences and overlapping identities.
• Provide guidance and other resources to support the co-creation, implementation, and analysis of
qualitative data with communities at the federal and community levels.
• In consultation with Tribal Nations and Native-serving organizations operating o tribal land,
identify existing data sources to examine aggregate quantitative and qualitative data on tribal
homelessness and housing instability both on and o reservations. Additionally, explore ways to allow
* Victim services providers that are recipients or subrecipients under HUD’s Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions Grant programs are
required to collect client-level data consistent with Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) data collection requirements.
“
Go to where the community
is. Don’t expect them to come
to you.
”
– Person with lived experience from
Washington, District of Columbia
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 37
for tribal identification within HMIS.
• Engage in eorts to identify more eective ways of collecting data on subpopulations that are
historically undercounted, including older adults; people with disabilities; LGBTQI+ people; homeless
youth; Latinos; people with HIV; and individuals and families residing in rural areas or tribal lands.
Strategy 3: Create opportunities for innovation and research to build and
disseminate evidence for what works.
Federal funding requirements often hinder the ability of state and local governments, territories, tribes,
Native-serving organizations operating o tribal land, nonprofits, CoC leaders, and homeless service
providers to be flexible and innovative. To promote progress at all levels of government and encourage
local adaptation and innovation, federal agencies must allow their funds to be used more flexibly.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Develop a federal homelessness research agenda in collaboration with federal agencies, academic
researchers, people with lived experience, and innovative programs to conduct, compile, and
disseminate research on best practices, the eectiveness of various interventions, and metrics to
measure outcomes.
• Identify promising population-specific interventions* and mobilize public-private partnerships to
fund eectiveness research.
• Identify mechanisms to provide more flexibility, speed up the approval for, and reduce administrative
burdens sometimes associated with waivers.
• Review all COVID-19 flexibilities eectiveness—including the extent to which they increased
equity—and determine the feasibility of extending or making them permanent, based on input from
recipients of federal funding.
• Engage stakeholders, including people with lived experience, to better understand which federal
requirements are most inhibiting to local responses to homelessness and share the findings with
federal agency partners to develop strategies to foster innovation.
• Identify and promote lessons learned through successful programs, such as HUD’s Youth
Homelessness Demonstration Program, HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program VA’s
Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program, and HUD’s Family Unification Program
(FUP).
• Expand eorts to evaluate local and state innovative approaches as well as how tribes are addressing
tribal-specific needs such as overcrowding.
* Population-specific interventions for those key populations and geographic areas highlighted in the graphic “KEY POPULATIONS AND
GEOGRAPHIC AREAS” on page 24.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 38
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions to
Use Data and Evidence to Make Decisions
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House
Executive Order 13994:
Ensuring a Data-Driven
Response to COVID-19 and
Future High-Consequence
Public Health Threats
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to respond to COVID-19
pandemic with eective science- and data-based approaches and by
building back better public health infrastructure
White House
Executive Order 14007:
President’s Council of Advisors
on Science and Technology
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to make evidence-,
science- and data-based decisions and established President’s Council
of Advisors on Science and Technology
ED
Report on Student
Homelessness in America
Published data for school year (SY) 2017-18 through SY 2019-20
HHS
Advancing Contextual Analysis
and Methods of Participant
Engagement (CAMPE)
Project that aims to advance knowledge of and capacity to employ
innovative research and evaluation methods that put participants at the
center of the government’s work to inform program operations and policy
development
HHS
Report on Health Conditions
Among Individuals With a
History of Homelessness
Published research and brief
HHS
Report on SOAR (SSI/SSDI
Outreach, Access, and
Recovery) Program
Published 2021 outcomes of SOAR, which aims to increase access to
Social Security disability benefits for people who are experiencing or at risk
of homelessness and have a serious mental illness, medical impairment,
and/or co-occurring substance use disorder
HHS
Toolkit for Data Sharing for
Child Welfare Agencies and
Medicaid
Oers guidance for development of automated, two-way data
exchanges between information systems for children/youth under
placement and care of title IV-E agency
HHS
Report on Data Trends for
Runaway Crisis Services and
Prevention Report
Highlights trends and challenges of youth reaching out to National
Runaway Safeline
HHS
Housing and HIV-Related
Health Care Outcomes Among
HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS
Program (RWHAP) Clients in
2020
Provides an overview of housing status and health outcomes among
clients receiving Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program services
HUD
Report on Quantitative and
Qualitative Analyses of
Unsheltered Homelessness at
the Community Level
Published in February 2022
HUD
Annual Homelessness
Assessment Report (AHAR)
Part 2. Year-Long Estimate of
Sheltered Homelessness in the
U.S.
Published 2021 AHAR Part 1, which reports on Point-in-Time Count—the
annual point-in-time indicator of homelessness trends in America
HUD
Annual Homelessness
Assessment Report (AHAR)
Part 2. Year-Long Estimate of
Sheltered Homelessness in the
U.S.
Published 2020 AHAR Part 2, which reports on annual estimates of the
scale of sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the U.S. at some
point during the year in both 2019 and 2020
HUD
FY 2022 HMIS Data Standards Published to allow for standardized data collection on homeless
individuals and families across systems
Multiple Agencies
Report on Encampments HHS and HUD published to help federal, state, and local policymakers and
practitioners understand encampments, strategies for responding to them,
and costs associated with those strategies
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 39
A core function of USICH is to break down silos and improve coordination across the federal government
and with state and local governments, educational systems and providers, territories, tribes, Native-serving
organizations operating o tribal land, CoCs, public and private organizations, philanthropy, and people
who have experienced homelessness. Interdisciplinary, interagency, and intergovernmental action is
required to eectively create comprehensive responses to the complex problem of homelessness.
Strategy 1: Promote collaborative leadership at all levels of government and
across sectors.
Successful implementation of this plan will only occur when there is broad support and leadership from
all levels of government and all sectors. At the local level, collaboration is necessary between business and
civic leaders, public ocials, faith-based organizations, and mainstream systems and programs that provide
housing, employment, education, legal, human services, and health care.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Engage in a cross-agency media campaign to educate the public on the scope, causes, costs, and
solutions to homelessness.
• Engage state and local leaders in a renewed commitment to prevent and end homelessness and
provide TA and guidance to state and local governments, territories, tribes, and Native-serving
organizations operating o tribal land on how to create local action plans that are aligned with the
federal strategic plan but reflective of local conditions and resources.
• Launch targeted and place-based cross-agency technical assistance strategies to drive progress on
preventing and ending homelessness in regions with highest rates of homelessness.
• Authentically
38
engage people with lived experience and people from historically marginalized
groups in all aspects of planning and implementation. Expand partnerships with philanthropy
to fill resource gaps, leverage government resources, and hold government accountable for better
performance.
• Identify opportunities to engage businesses, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations on relevant
issues related to ending and preventing homelessness.
• Develop and implement strategies to support organizations that receive federal funding to maintain
and increase sta capacity, reduce burnout, increase compensation to a living wage, and promote the
well-being of sta.
“
Homelessness and aordable [housing] supply won’t change without a long-term commitment and
implementation through a partnership of public- and private-sector stakeholders.
”
– Housing developer from Portland, Oregon
Collaborate at All Levels
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 40
Strategy 2: Improve information-sharing with public and private organizations
at the federal, state, and local level.
Communities have been adopting more strategic approaches to prevent and end homelessness—
collaborating eectively, directing resources toward evidence-informed practices, monitoring and making
performance improvements, and targeting interventions based on household needs and strengths. The
federal government should better support this ongoing work by providing the tools and resources needed
for success.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Coordinate relevant federal TA resources and provide information to CoCs, state and local
governments, aging-and disability- network organizations, territories, tribes, school districts, local
housing and service providers, and Native-serving organizations operating o tribal land on how to
access the support they need.
• Launch a coordinated messaging campaign to challenge public narratives that stigmatize, blame, and
dehumanize people experiencing homelessness and to combat local opposition to new aordable
housing development and local laws which criminalize homelessness.
• Make information more readily available and accessible on best practices and strategies to finance
them at scale as well as tailored guidance and tools for key populations and geographic areas.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 41
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions to
Collaborate at All Levels
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House
Executive Order 14015: Establishment
of the White House Oice of Faith-
Based and Neighborhood Partnership
Established Oice of Faith-Based and
Neighborhood Partnership to work with leaders
of dierent faiths and backgrounds—more than 250
of whom committed to increasing awareness of the
Emergency Rental Assistance Program among their
collective reach of more than 5 million people
HUD Oice of Special Needs Assistance
Programs (SNAPS)
Encouraged TA firms to hire and subcontract with
people with lived expertise; partnered with TA
providers to lead and inform development of tools and
products; created two TA provider groups focused on
racial equity and perspectives of people with lived
experience to inform, review, and provide input on all
SNAPS-related TA activity
Multiple Agencies
Housing and Services Resource Center HUD and HHS launched to share tools, resources,
and innovative strategies to help communities improve
access to aordable housing and critical services that
make community living possible
Multiple Agencies
Joint Strategies to End Veteran
Homelessness
HUD, USICH, and VA developed and released in
November 2021 to lead with evidence-based Housing
First approach, reach underserved veterans, increase
supply of and access to aordable housing, ensure
delivery of quality supportive services, and prevent
homelessness among veterans
Multiple Agencies
House America: An All-Hands-on-
Deck Eort to Address the Nation’s
Homelessness Crisis
HUD and USICH launched in September 2021 to help
communities make the most of the American Rescue
Plan; invited mayors, governors, and city, county,
and tribal leaders into national partnership to reduce
homelessness and expand aordable housing
Multiple Agencies
Domestic Violence and Housing
Technical Assistance Consortium
HUD, DOJ, and HHS fund and support unprecedented,
innovative, multi-year approach that brings together
national, state, and local organizations to
provide training, technical assistance, and resource
development for housing/homelessness providers and
domestic violence and sexual assault service providers
Treasury State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Administered and resulted, to date, in:
• Nearly 570 governments committed $11.7 billion
to direct household assistance and/or aordable
housing expansion
• 770,000 households served with rent, mortgage, or
utility assistance
• More than 100,000 households received eviction
prevention services, such as right-to-counsel, housing
counselors, and eviction diversion
• 120 governments committed $3.2 billion to
aordable housing development, preservation, and
innovative approaches to expand housing supply
• 150 governments committed more than $3.2 billion
to help people experiencing homelessness find
housing through permanent supportive housing and
other mechanisms
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 42
The fundamental solution to homelessness is housing. When a person is housed, they have a platform to
address all their needs, no matter how complex. People are most successful when that housing is paired
with the right level of voluntary and accessible support based on their expressed and individualized needs
and preferences. To truly bring Housing First to scale for all populations, communities need access to
housing and wraparound services and other supports that can be oered to implement this approach
with fidelity to the model. The strategies and actions in this section focus on increasing the supply of
and equitable access to aordable housing and tailored supports for people at risk of or experiencing
homelessness. They are aligned with the Biden-Harris Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan,
7
National Mental Health Strategy,
5
and National Drug Control Strategy.
6
Strategy 1: Maximize the use of existing federal housing assistance.
While some federal housing programs are targeted to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness,
most are oered more broadly to low-income people. The number of people eligible for federal housing
assistance far exceeds the availability of it, and many people in need of such assistance wait years,
39
often
falling into or struggling to get out of homelessness in the meantime. To get the greatest impact from all
the resources currently available to end homelessness, communities should use each resource for its best
purpose while utilizing all the resources together in a coordinated and strategic fashion.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Conduct a comprehensive review of available policy mechanisms that can increase access to federal
housing programs among people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, including eligibility,
admissions preferences, referral partnerships, funding incentives, and administrative fees.
• Provide guidance, tools, and technical assistance on a wide range of topics, including strategies for
serving people with complex service needs; move-on strategies
40
; accessibility strategies including the
use of assistive technologies and home modifications; the use of project-based vouchers; and special
housing types, such as single-room occupancy, shared housing, group homes, congregate housing,
manufactured home space rentals, and cooperative housing.
• Launch a federal landlord engagement campaign to help support local eorts to increase available
rental units where housing assistance can be utilized through landlord education and identifying
funding for landlord incentives and risk mitigation.
• Identify and enact the full range of options to reduce documentation as a barrier to housing entry,
including regulatory flexibility for federal housing programs; improving access to identification,
medical, and benefits documentation needed to determine eligibility; and strengthening
collaboration between federal, state, and local agencies. Eliminate federal requirements associated
with having a permanent address and/or bank account to access federal assistance.
“
Services are not eective without housing, but housing is not sustainable without services.
”
– Provider from Summit, New Jersey
Scale Housing and Supports That Meet Demand
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 43
• Encourage partnerships between providers of housing, aging and disability services, and health
care—including treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders—to co-
locate, coordinate, or integrate health, mental health, substance use disorder, safety, and wellness
services with housing and create better resources for providers to connect program participants to
culturally appropriate
41
and gender-arming housing resources.
A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity to
Prevent and End Homelessness
$350 billion
for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund
(SLFRF)
$46.5 billion
for the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA)
Program 1 & 2
$5 billion
for the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV)
Program
$5 billion
for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program
(HOME-ARP), including $25 million for TA
$5 billion
for the Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG-CV) Program, including $10 million for TA
$4 billion
for the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG-CV)
Program, including $40 million for TA
$800 million
for the Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY)
Fund
Read the full list of 30+ programs in the American
Rescue Plan that can address homelessness online
at usich.gov.
43
The resources in the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan could quickly rehouse more people
than ever before—up to 211,000 households. They include:
Strategy 2: Expand engagement, resources, and incentives for the creation of
new safe, aordable, and accessible housing.
Nationally, there are only 37 aordable
1
and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income
renters. In no state can a person working full-time at the federal minimum wage aord a two-bedroom
apartment at the fair market rent.
2
The actions below build o the strategies included in the Housing
Supply Action Plan,
7
which will help close the housing supply gap over the next five years. The federal
government should do whatever it can to implement this plan to support and incentivize the creation of
new supportive and aordable housing while encouraging states, localities and territories to review and
adjust their own policies.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Promote continued aordability of units created with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits after
expiration of aordability covenants.
• Expand availability and supply of accessible and integrated housing opportunities that meet needs of
older adults and people with disabilities.
• Identify and replicate strategies to increase awareness, availability, and use of assistive technology and
home modifications that enable people to address accessibility issues and continue to live in their
homes.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 44
• Work with state, local, and territorial governments to expand rental assistance and low-cost capital—
in part by using State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds—for new construction and rehabilitation of
housing for people experiencing or most at risk of homelessness.
• In consultation with tribal leaders and Native-serving organizations operating o tribal land, explore
opportunities to strengthen the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act
programs for tribes and tribally designated housing entities.
• In consultation with Native Hawaiian leaders, explore opportunities to strengthen the Native
Hawaiian Housing Block Grant Program.
• Encourage use of programs like HOME, HOME-ARP, and National Housing Trust Fund allocations
to support housing development for very low-income units that target people experiencing
homelessness.
• Encourage states to create preferences in their LIHTC Qualified Allocation Plans (QAPs) to increase
investments in housing targeted to people experiencing homelessness and educate local stakeholders
on their ability to influence the priorities in their states’ QAP through the provision of incentives.
• Encourage states and cities to review and update their zoning laws and policies to include more
land for multiple units (like multifamily housing), oer density bonuses to developers, ease height
and density restrictions, create land banks and streamline the permitting and approval process for
missing-middle housing types, such as Accessory Dwelling Units.
• Engage Public Housing Agencies as they pursue strategies to revitalize and create public housing
units to consider their community obligation to help prevent and address homelessness.
• Explore opportunities to strengthen project-based subsidy programs such as Project Based Rental
Assistance (PBRA) and project-based vouchers to increase the creation of deeply aordable housing.
• Improve the Title V Federal Surplus Property Program
43
to increase the number of Title V
properties that are converted for use by the homeless services system.
• Engage the financial and business sector, private sector, health care system, philanthropic
organizations, and faith-based groups that may be willing to donate resources, land, or property for
the purpose of building aordable housing.
• Engage congressional committees on the need to expand federal funding for the development of new
aordable housing.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 45
President Biden’s Proposed Budget for Homelessness
$32.1 billion
To renew all
existing Housing
Choice Vouchers
and expand
assistance to
200,000 more
households
11%
Increase (of
$363 million) in
HUD’s homeless
assistance
grants
$328 million
Increase for
capital funding
to preserve
public housing
30%
Increase (of
$450 million)
for the HOME
Investment
Partnerships
Program
$35 billion
Mandatory
funding for
aordable
housing
production
to increase
the supply of
housing along
with additional
Low-Income
Housing Tax
Credits
$200 million
Develop new
or rehabilitate
aordable Rural
Multifamily
Rental Housing
On March 28, 2022, President Biden proposed a $5.8 trillion budget for Fiscal
Year 2023 that would target $8.732 billion in federal funding for homelessness
assistance programs. Here are highlights:
Strategy 3: Increase the supply and impact of permanent supportive
housing for individuals and families with complex service needs—including
unaccompanied, pregnant, and parenting youth and young adults.
Unlike other assistance, permanent supportive housing has no time restrictions for people with
disabilities who are experiencing homelessness. Using a Housing First approach,
44
housing is oered
without preconditions and with a broad array of voluntary, trauma-informed wraparound services.
When implemented to fidelity, the model is a proven solution that leads to housing stability as well
as improvements in health and well-being. Although the supply of permanent supportive housing has
increased over the years, there is still a shortage of it across the country relative to the need.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Conduct a gaps analysis of permanent supportive housing needs nationally that includes an
examination of racial equity.
• Provide guidance, tools, and technical assistance on eective strategies to braid federal, state and
local funds for the purpose of expanding permanent supportive housing.
• Examine opportunities to streamline the process of braiding federal funding sources within
permanent supportive housing.
• Highlight and promote examples of how state Medicaid, aging, disability, and health care agencies
have coordinated housing assistance with Medicaid-financed health care and supportive services for
people with high acuity of health needs and encourage expansion of Medicaid in states that have not
yet done so.
• Examine requirements (including eligibility and recordkeeping) associated with federally funded
permanent supportive housing to create greater flexibility to serve people with intense service needs,
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 46
including people experiencing chronic homelessness, and ability to tailor programming to meet
needs of specific key populations.
• Promote and amplify lessons learned from the joint HUD/HHS Housing and Services Resource
Center.
• Where federal funds are used to create permanent supportive housing, encourage the creation of
non-discriminatory preferences for property owners that will agree to operating the property using a
Housing First approach and will not further restrict or limit eligibility.
Key Components of Housing First
Fair
Housing
Tenant
Rights
Community
Integration
Quick Housing
Access
Safe and
Aordable
Housing
Respect and
Empathy
Voluntary,
Personalized
Services
Strategy 4: Improve eectiveness of rapid rehousing for individuals and
families—including unaccompanied, pregnant, and parenting youth and young
adults.
Rapid rehousing is an intervention designed to help people quickly exit homelessness and return to
permanent housing. Rapid rehousing assistance is oered without often-discriminatory requirements
for employment, income, sobriety, or clean criminal records; and the resources and services provided
are typically tailored to the unique needs of the person. While the supply of rapid rehousing has
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 47
grown significantly, continued eorts are needed to strengthen eective implementation of the core
components—housing identification, rent and move-in assistance, and case management.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Provide guidance, tools, and technical assistance to communities to assess outcomes being achieved
and tailor their financial subsidy and services practices in order to improve outcomes and to reduce
returns to homelessness among individuals and families, including households residing in high-cost,
low-vacancy markets.
• Promote and amplify lessons learned from VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families program,
HUD-funded programs (including YHDP), and program evaluations and research studies on eective
models.
• Promote eective landlord engagement strategies.
Strategy 5: Support enforcement of fair housing and combat other forms of
housing discrimination that perpetuate disparities in homelessness.
Despite passage and implementation of the federal Fair Housing Act in 1968, many people still face
systemic housing discrimination. The federal government can and should vigorously enforce the Fair
Housing Act and other federal fair housing and civil rights laws that provide housing protections,
including, but not limited to: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination Act, as applicable. In
addition to protecting the federally protected classes under the Fair Housing Act, other federal fair housing
and civil rights laws, and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), agencies should explore ways to protect
people using vouchers and other housing subsidies as well as other groups that frequently encounter
housing discrimination—especially people with criminal records.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Encourage states and localities to adopt and strongly enforce source-of-income anti-discrimination
laws.
• Foster greater collaboration between homeless programs and fair housing programs at the federal,
state, and local levels, including with landlords and property owners.
• Provide data, tools, and guidance in line with the Armatively Furthering Fair Housing mandate so
that communities are able to track key outcomes, including how to evaluate where aordable housing
is being built and who is accessing available housing.
• Provide outreach and education on HUD’s 2016 Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act
Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related
Transactions.
• Provide updated HUD guidance and technical assistance on the intersection between the Fair
Housing Act and Violence Against Women Act.
• Strengthen compliance with and enforcement of housing protections under the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA) and related federal, state, and local laws.
• Provide guidance, training, and technical assistance to state and local governments, and territories on
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 48
the linkages between housing discrimination and homelessness.
• Examine fair housing regulations and policies to identify potential legal barriers to advancing equity
for all groups protected by the Fair Housing Act and include ways to allow communities to adopt and
implement a targeted universalism framework while ensuring compliance with fair housing.
Strategy 6: Strengthen system capacity to address the needs of people
with chronic health conditions, including mental health conditions and/or
substance use disorders.
“
The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that housing is health care.
”
– Advocate from Washington, District of Columbia
People experiencing homelessness have higher rates of HIV infection
45
and are at higher risk for chronic
health conditions like asthma, diabetes, lung disease, and serious heart conditions. People with HIV who
are experiencing homelessness or lack stable housing are also more likely to delay HIV care and less
likely to access care consistently or to adhere to their HIV treatment. Approximately 25%
46
of people
experiencing sheltered homelessness have a mental health condition, and roughly 35% have a substance
use disorder. These rates tend to be higher for people living unsheltered and for people with disabilities.
47
To end homelessness, we must transform our health and supportive services infrastructure to address the
needs of people experiencing homelessness with a mental health condition and/or with a substance use
disorder holistically and equitably. The American Rescue Plan laid the groundwork by providing critical
investments to expand access to primary health care as well as treatment for mental health conditions and/
or substance use disorders.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Invest in accessible programs grounded in evidence and expand the pipeline of providers to address
mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders and improve their geographic distribution
to target areas with the greatest unmet need.
• Pilot new approaches to train a diverse group of paraprofessionals to increase the number of
community health workers, peer support, and other health support workers providing accessible
health care and other services, including treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance
use disorders , in underserved communities.
• Invest in models that include peer support specialists.
• Integrate treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders into primary health-
care settings and other non-traditional settings that lower barriers to services.
• Promote harm reduction and low-barrier models to provide primary healthcare services and
treatment for mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 49
Strategy 7: Maximize current resources that can provide voluntary and trauma-
informed supportive services and income supports to people experiencing or
at risk of homelessness.
“
Local social service entities have a ‘we know what’s best for you’ mentality that is (1) not necessarily
well-informed and (2) certainly not culturally-informed. True Housing First turns this model upside
down by empowering the client (which almost by definition would be culturally-informed).
”
– Provider from Astoria, Oregon
Ending homelessness is dependent not only on an adequate supply of housing but also on the availability
of community-based, high-quality, low-barrier, and voluntary supportive services that are delivered using a
trauma-informed approach. Unfortunately, funds that can pay for supportive services are limited and often
have complex requirements that can create a barrier to access for people who are truly in need of those
services. While new resources for supportive services are identified, there are existing levers that can be
used to maximize the current resources.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Examine policy and program rules to identify ways to encourage earned income, increased savings,
and wealth-building in order to address the “benefits cli.”
• Identify ways to align eligibility criteria across programs (i.e., categorical eligibility) so that people do
not have to apply and qualify for each program separately (e.g., children in households that receive
SNAP are considered categorically eligible for free school meals). Similar categorical eligibility could
be applied for other programs.
• Invest in peer-led housing and service delivery models, like recovery coaches for substance use
disorders, peer specialists in mental health conditions, and youth mentors/sta with lived experience
in youth programs.
• Review federal program requirements and policies associated with programs that serve people at
risk of or who are experiencing homelessness to ensure greater compatibility with a Housing First
approach with a priority on flexibility, accessibility, and personal choice.
• Provide guidance, training, and technical assistance on accessible and inclusive models and
approaches, including but not limited to: person-centered, trauma-informed care, Critical Time
Intervention, gender-arming care, and harm reduction strategies for substance use and health care.
• Identify opportunities to expand upon the federal funding sources that can pay for an array of
supportive services as well as training to ensure they are oered with fidelity to best-practice
approaches.
• Explore opportunities for philanthropic partners to provide funding for flexible and accessible
supportive services.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 50
Strategy 8: Increase the use of practices grounded in evidence in service
delivery across all program types.
Although there is always a need for continued learning and evaluation, there is substantial evidence and
research supporting several service delivery models, such as Critical Time Intervention (CTI) and Assertive
Community Treatment (ACT) teams.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Promote service delivery models—such as Critical Time Intervention (CTI), Assertive Community
Treatment (ACT) Teams, and harm-reduction—that are person-centered, culturally appropriate,
disability competent, support individual choice, and encourage voluntary participation.
• Encourage states to consider Medicaid-financed service approaches and models.
48
• Provide tools, guidance, and technical assistance on cultural responsiveness and humility as well as
disability competence in the context of service delivery.
• Given the eectiveness of the SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) model, assess
feasibility of replicating this model for other federal programs and agencies to connect to other
entitlements and benefits.
• Building on the Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery
to Rebuild Trust in Government,
49
identify opportunities to improve the experience of people
experiencing, at risk of, or exiting homelessness in their interactions with key federal agencies,
including SSA, USDA, DOL, HHS, VA, ED, and Treasury.
• Provide tools to help communities evaluate the consumer experience in their own programs and
systems and implement improvements based upon the feedback received.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 51
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions to
Scale Housing and Supports That Meet Demand
Housing
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House
American Rescue Plan Act Signed in March 2021; includes $350 billion in State and Local Fiscal
Recovery Funds, $5 billion for Emergency Housing Vouchers
Program, $5 billion in HOME-ARP grants, $750 million for Native
American and Native Hawaiian programs, and $21.6 billion for
Emergency Rental Assistance Program
White House
Housing Supply Action Plan Released in May 2022; includes legislative and administrative actions that
represent most comprehensive in history to help close America’s
housing supply shortage in five years
HHS
Brief: Supporting Families
Experiencing Homelessness:
Strategies and Approaches for
TANF Agencies
Summarizes dierent approaches that TANF agencies can pursue
to provide housing and related assistance to families experiencing
homelessness
HUD
Tribal HUD-VASH Expansion Awarded $4.4 million in grants to 28 tribes and Tribally Designated
Housing Entities, including $1 million to house 95 additional veterans
HUD
Opportunities to Increase
Housing Production and
Preservation
Released research on innovative strategies for state and local governments
to remove barriers to aordable housing development
Multiple
Agencies
Shallow Subsidy Initiative DOL and VA collaborated to expand Supportive Services for Veteran
Families Program and provide $350 million to grantees, in part from
American Rescue Plan
VA
Permanent Housing Placement
National Challenge
Set goal to house 38,000 veterans experiencing homelessness in 2022
Supports
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House
National Mental Health Strategy Announced in March 2022 to holistically and equitably transform health
and social services infrastructure by strengthening system capacity,
connecting more people to care, and creating a continuum of support
White House
National Drug Control Strategy Announced in April 2022 to create whole-of-government response to
overdose epidemic that focuses on substance use disorder treatment and
drug traicking
White House
Executive Order 140009:
Strengthening Medicaid and the
Aordable Care Act (ACA)
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to protect and strengthen
Medicaid and ACA and to make high-quality health care accessible
and aordable for all
White House
National HIV/AIDS Strategy for
the United States 2022–2025
Announced in August 2022 to provide stakeholders across the nation with
a roadmap to accelerate eorts to end the HIV epidemic in the United
States by 2030
Education
Elementary and Secondary
School Emergency Relief Fund
Distributed $122 billion from American Rescue Plan to help schools in
all 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico safely reopen, address
pandemic’s impact on students, and serve children and youth experiencing
homelessness; while all funds could be used to serve homeless children
and youth, ARP-HCY set aside $800 million for this purpose
Multiple
Agencies
Housing and Services Resource
Center
Launched in December 2021 to coordinate federal resources, guidance,
training, and technical assistance for public housing authorities and
housing providers; state Medicaid, disability, aging, and mental health
agencies; aging and disability network organizations; homeless services
organizations and networks; health-care systems and providers; and tribal
organizations
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 52
“
Homelessness—regardless of a pandemic or other natural disaster—is a crisis, and the response
should be a crisis response until the immediate urgency is addressed.
”
– Provider from Harris County, Texas
Improve Eectiveness of Homelessness Response Systems
A community’s response to homelessness must be urgent and focused. The homelessness response system
is typically coordinated by the local or regional CoCs. An eective homeless response system should
include outreach to unsheltered people, coordinated entry, targeted homelessness prevention and diversion,
emergency shelter, permanent housing including rapid rehousing, and wraparound services during and
after homelessness.
Strategy 1: Spearhead an all-of-government eort to end unsheltered
homelessness.
“
You cannot ignore the major eect of criminalization of homelessness. It makes it harder for
unsheltered people to get housing, and it impacts health by compounding trauma.
”
– Advocate
Unsheltered homelessness—and laws that criminalize it—have been rising, especially in places where the
cost of housing has rapidly increased. In 2020, 4 in 10 people experiencing homelessness on a given night
were in unsheltered locations, and more than half of the unsheltered population lives in the nation’s 50
largest cities. This unprecedented rise in unsheltered homelessness—including visible encampments—
is a direct result of a lack of accessible and low-barrier shelter options, insucient supply of aordable
housing, and voluntary service and support options. Deploying eective programs to meet their diverse
needs takes unwavering commitment and unyielding creativity.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Review requirements for federal programs that fund or support access to basic sanitation supplies
and resources, health care services (including services for mental health conditions and/or substance
use disorders), and other supports and resources that specifically impact areas where unsheltered
people reside to identify barriers to program implementation.
• USICH member agencies that own federal land will promote strong collaboration with local
organizations in response to encampments that form on federal property.
• Deploy targeted funding and technical assistance that fosters collaboration between entities that
include outreach, housing navigation, aging and disability network organizations, public health,
emergency response, law enforcement, health centers and hospitals, and mental health crisis
intervention teams.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 53
• Provide guidance and technical assistance on promising and best practices related to encampments,
eective street outreach, and harm reduction approaches.
• Spotlight program flexibilities that allow states to take immediate action during emergencies and
allow for post-emergency federal approval (with justification) for non-statutory-related requirements,
especially housing costs.
• Promote alternatives to criminalization and provide incentives to state, local, and territorial
governments to adopt such alternatives.
• Identify strategies for housing-focused outreach that connect people to accessible permanent
housing, including rapid rehousing; permanent supportive housing; and aordable and market rent
housing, when appropriate.
• Incentivize, strengthen, and expand opportunities for people with lived experience to serve as
outreach workers and service providers through programs like Peer Recovery Support,
50
Community
Health Workers, and Medicaid HCBS.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 54
The Connection Between Housing Costs and
Unsheltered Homelessness*
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
15
17
18
19
20
14
16
The Connection Between Housing Costs and
Unsheltered Homelessness*
These cities appear for reference—
not accurate geographic location.
The areas with the most unsheltered
homelessness (as seen on Page 55)
are also the most expensive housing
markets (as seen on this map).
The Nation’s Least Aordable
Housing Markets
1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
2. Salinas, CA
3. Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, CA
4. San Francisco-Redwood City-South
San Fran, CA
5. San Diego-Carlsbad, CA
6. Napa, CA
7. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo
Grande, CA
8. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
9. Stockton-Lodi, CA
10. Modesto, CA
11. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
12. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
13. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
14. Bend-Redmond, OR
15. Madera, CA
16. Boise City, ID
17. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
18. Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley, CA
19. Merced, CA
20. Santa Rosa, CA
*Data Sources:
https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/housing-economics/indices/housing-opportunity-index
51
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/xls/2007-2020-PIT-Estimates-by-CoC.xlsx
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 55
Strategy 2: Evaluate coordinated entry and provide tools and guidance on
eective assessment processes that center equity, remove barriers, streamline
access, and divert people from homelessness.
The Connection Between Housing Costs and
Unsheltered Homelessness
CoC Name CoC Number
Unsheltered
Homeless Population
52
CA-600 45,878Los Angeles City & County
San Jose/Santa Clara City & County CA-500 7,708
Oakland/Alameda County CA-502 7,135
Seattle/King County WA-500 7,685
San Francisco CA-501 4,397
San Diego City and County CA-601 4,106
GA-501 3,919
TX-607 3,555
TN-500 3,172
OR-505 2,886
CA-609 2,389
CA-505 2,329
Santa Ana, Anaheim/Orange County CA-602 3,057
New York City NY-600 3,455
Sacramento City & County CA-503 6,664
Phoenix/Mesa/Maricopa County Regional AZ-502 5,029
Las Vegas/Clark County NV-500 2,867
Fresno/Madera County CA-514 2,338
Honolulu HI-501 2,349
Portland, Gresham/Multnomah County OR-501 3,057
San Bernardino City & County
Georgia Balance of State
Oregon Balance of State
Texas Balance of State
Chattanooga/Southeast Tennessee
Richmond/Contra Costa County
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 56
Strategy 2: Evaluate coordinated entry and provide tools and guidance on
eective assessment processes that center equity, remove barriers, streamline
access, and divert people from homelessness.
One key purpose of coordinated entry is to create more fair and standardized processes for access,
assessment, and referral. But upon implementation, an overreliance on scores generated by assessment
tools and a reliance on “matching” households to a specific resource has often resulted in long waiting lists,
rationing of assistance, and exacerbated disparities.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Collaborate with people with lived experience as well as a range of service providers inside and
outside the homeless response system.
• Review and revise federal policies and programs related to coordinated entry to identify inherent
challenges that create barriers.
• Commission a multi-community study to evaluate coordinated-entry implementation and
recommend federal policy changes to remove barriers and improve process eectiveness.
• Create a new overarching framework for eective coordinated entry using a targeted universalism
approach that is inclusive of all key populations, access points, programs, and systems serving people
experiencing homelessness and which allows for local flexibility and tailoring based on the needs and
resources within the specific community.
• Highlight communities adopting a spectrum of assessment activities that center equity in
prioritization, trauma-informed data collection, and oer solutions that tailor assistance based on
what clients need.
• Provide guidance, tools, and TA in partnership with people with lived experience and service
providers on coordinated-entry system design, assessment processes, and performance measurement
that is inclusive of addressing specific needs and goals of dierent key populations.
• Identify ways to test dierent approaches to assessment and prioritization—including the use of
health and other administrative data—and share outcomes and lessons learned.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 57
Strategy 3: Increase availability of and access to emergency shelter—especially
non-congregate shelter—and other temporary accommodations.
“
The pandemic’s opening up of resources, particularly non-congregate shelter beds, demonstrated
that many experiencing homelessness who had previously been resistant to shelter were actually just
resistant to congregate shelter.
”
– Advocate from New York
Emergency shelter—both congregate and non-congregate—serves a temporary and life-saving role for
people in crisis and should be implemented with as few barriers as possible. The key components to
eective emergency shelter include culturally appropriate, gender-arming, and specific, low-barrier access
and housing-focused services aimed at rapid exits back to permanent housing.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Fully implement the Equal Access Rule
53
to reduce barriers for LGBTQI+ people.
• Increase the availability of and access to medical respite care to meet the needs of people who need
recuperative care after hospital discharge.
• Increase the availability of and access to low-barrier, and culturally appropriate shelter, especially
non-congregate shelter.
• Provide guidance, technical assistance, and training related to the Americans with Disabilities
Act and all applicable federal fair housing laws to ensure compliance and that shelters meet the
disability-related needs of people with disabilities, including those with mobility-based disabilities.
• In alignment with the 2022 National Drug Control Strategy,
6
promote the integration of high-
impact harm reduction interventions within emergency shelter.
• Provide guidance on emergency shelter that defines the role of emergency accommodations, the
connection to the larger system, the need to incorporate non-congregate shelter options, bridge
housing, and strategies for downsizing shelter over time.
• Provide guidance, technical assistance, and training for emergency shelter operators, including
faith-based; family-focused; youth-focused; and domestic violence shelters on (1) evaluating and
updating shelter rules, structure, and operations to a low-barrier model that is more accessible and
supportive of the needs of people and (2) providing housing-focused services and integrating health
care and supportive services into the provision of non-congregate shelter. For families with children,
this should also include resources to address the health and developmental needs of children and to
improve the environmental conditions while children are living at a shelter.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 58
Strategy 4: Solidify the relationship between CoCs, public health agencies, and
emergency management agencies to improve coordination when future public
health emergencies and natural disasters arise.
“
Trust and relationships matter at all levels of serving in a crisis. Building those relationships before a
disaster will allow your community to respond more quickly and at a higher level.
”
– Person with lived experience from Punta Gorda, Florida
The pandemic and the increase in natural disasters have demonstrated that most communities do not
have adequate resources to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness during disasters. Given
the multi-faceted needs of people, homelessness response systems should empower all partners—housing
and non-housing—to screen, assess, and make referrals to housing systems that can quickly act and
provide follow-up support.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Encourage CoCs, especially in rural and tribal areas, to have an inclusive community crisis response
plan in the event of an emergency or a local surge in the need for shelter and/or housing placements.
• Enhance and expand technical assistance and training on disaster response and recovery planning
for homelessness systems with special attention to the disparate impact to already unhoused people.
• Facilitate greater collaboration between federal partners that play a key role on disaster and
public health response—including HUD, HHS, and DHS—and national emergency management
associations and trade groups—including the National Emergency Management Association,
International Association of Emergency Managers, and Association of Healthcare Emergency
Preparedness Professionals.
• Continue to encourage state emergency management agencies to include people experiencing
homelessness in their disaster response and emergency management protocols with attention
to particularly vulnerable populations such as older adults and people with disabilities who are
experiencing homelessness. Share resources with cities and counties on how to create multi-system
coalitions that partner with local public health agencies to drive down homelessness and reduce
barriers to permanent supportive housing.
• Increase collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency to focus on better understanding
how climate change will exacerbate the condition of homelessness.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 59
Strategy 5: Expand the use of “housing problem-solving” approaches for
diversion and rapid exit.
Housing problem-solving (HPS)
54
is a set of techniques that support the eective implementation
of diversion and rapid exit strategies
55
and should be integrated into all homelessness response and
coordinated entry systems. HPS is a person-centered approach that seeks to identify flexible and cost-
eective alternative housing solutions that can be implemented quickly. HPS is typically initiated
through an exploratory conversation that can occur during street outreach, emergency shelter intake, or
coordinated-entry access. HPS can increase equity, reduce trauma, and support community eorts to end
homelessness while ensuring housing assistance is prioritized for the people with the highest needs.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Identify federal programs that can be used and adapted to support community eorts to integrate
housing-problem solving into homelessness response systems, ensuring accessibility to all
populations.
• Encourage partners—such as law enforcement, early childhood settings and schools, employment
training centers, and hospitals—to adopt housing problem-solving that is inclusive in its approach.
• Provide guidance, training, and technical assistance on housing problem-solving, providing
accommodations, and associated practices, such as motivational interviewing and mediation to
homeless services providers as well as other community partners such as law enforcement, schools,
employment training centers, and hospitals.
Strategy 6: Remove and reduce programmatic, regulatory, and other barriers
that systematically delay or deny access to housing for households with the
highest needs.
“
Governments, agencies, and nonprofits need to have flexible funding to provide supports to end the
cycle of homelessness. Homelessness is complex and complicated and needs to be addressed with
compassion, flexibility, mindfulness, and without time limits.
”
– Provider from Spokane Valley, Washington
Complicated eligibility and documentation requirements can significantly delay the process of getting
someone o the streets and into housing. The federal government should ensure that programs “fit” people
experiencing homelessness and do not require people experiencing homelessness to “fit” into programs.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Examine ways to ease eligibility and documentation requirements for specific subpopulations, such
as people who are chronically homeless.
• Consider strategies that would streamline eligibility and access processes such as “categorical
eligibility”, which would allow people to qualify for multiple programs at once without duplicative
processes and “conditional eligibility,” which would allow immediate entry into housing with a grace
period for required documentation.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 60
• Provide more training and guidance on fidelity to Housing First and promote examples of successful
implementation.
• Review all programs targeted to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and remove barriers
to implementing Housing First approaches with fidelity.
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions to
Improve Eectiveness of Homelessness Response Systems
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
White House Unsheltered Homelessness Launched government-wide initiative in June 2022 to address
unsheltered homelessness through agency commitments and a place-
based initiative
White House
Executive Order 14074:
Advancing Eective,
Accountable Policing and
Criminal Justice Practices
To Enhance Public Trust and
Public Safety
Established policy of Biden-Harris Administration to strengthen public
safety, build trust between law enforcement and the community, and build
and reform a criminal justice system that respects the dignity and equality
for all
DHS Reimbursement of COVID-19
Non-Congregate Shelter
FEMA oered Public Assistance funds to state and local governments for
certain costs related to COVID-19 mitigation, including non-congregate
shelter so people could move out of shelters and encampments and into
spaces (such as hotel and motel rooms) where they could isolate and
quarantine
HHS
COVID-19 Guidance for
Homeless Populations
CDC issued to support response of local and state health departments,
homelessness service systems, housing authorities, emergency planners,
health facilities, and homeless outreach services
HHS
American Rescue Plan Committed to spending more than $1.6 billion on COVID-19 testing and
mitigation for high-risk congregate settings, including homeless
encampments and shelters for people experiencing homelessness and
people fleeing domestic violence
HUD
Continuum of Care (CoC)
Supplemental Notice of
Funding Opportunity (NOFO)
to Address Unsheltered and
Rural Homelessness
Released a first-of-its-kind package of resources to address unsheltered
homelessness and homeless encampments, including funds set aside
specifically for rural communities
HUD
Emergency Housing Voucher
Program
Provided 70,000 vouchers to local PHAs to help people experiencing
or at risk of homelessness; people fleeing or attempting to flee domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human traicking;
and people who were recently homeless or have a high risk of housing
instability
Multiple Agencies
COVID-19 Guidance for
Homeless Service Providers
USICH published guidance—in collaboration with HHS, HUD, and VA—to
help communities minimize spread and impact of COVID-19 variants
among people experiencing homelessness
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 61
“
So much of the work around houselessness is focused on the emergency of it. That is kind of the
nature of the work, which I understand. But until we can go way upstream, it will always be an
emergency, and people will always be struggling.
”
– Student from Missoula, Montana
Prevent Homelessness
The overall number of people experiencing homelessness will only go down if more people exit
homelessness than enter it. Ending homelessness requires working on both fronts—rehousing people
who are already homeless while preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place. This pillar
focuses on upstream, universal prevention approaches that will require an all-hands-on-deck eort across
government to broadly reduce the risk of housing instability for households most likely to experience
homelessness. Strategies such as increasing availability of and access to aordable and accessible housing
and housing assistance and addressing housing discrimination that perpetuate disparities are both critical
to preventing homelessness and are addressed in the Scale Up Housing and Supports pillar.
The following strategies and actions are informed by the White House Homelessness Prevention Working
Group that convened from October 2021 through January 2022. It is important to note that while this
pillar does include strategies for some specific subpopulations and groups, it is understood that there is
intersectionality between each of these groups and all strategies must be considered together.
Closing the Door to Homelessness*
Preventing homelessness before it starts is critical to ending it.
908,530
Average who entered
homelessness each year
between 2017 and 2020
900,895
Average who exited
homelessness each year
between 2017 and 2020
*Data Source: HUD
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 62
Strategy 1: Reduce housing instability for households most at risk of
experiencing homelessness by increasing availability of and access to
meaningful and sustainable employment, education, and other mainstream
services, opportunities, and resources.
It is necessary to strengthen partnerships between, and connections to, a larger array of federal, state, local,
and private programs that serve low-income households, including programs that address poverty; advance
education and employment opportunities and support upward economic mobility; provide connections
to health, including mental health services; and link people to a range of other programs and systems that
support strong and thriving communities, such as quality early care and education, schools, home and
community-based services, and family and caregiver support.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Increase on-the-job training and apprenticeship opportunities and supported employment for low-
income households most at risk of becoming homeless to ensure access to jobs that pay a living
wage.
• Review federal program policies, procedures, regulations, and administrative barriers to improve
access to employment opportunities and income support for households experiencing housing
instability—particularly for historically marginalized groups, including Black; trans; and non-binary
people.
• Encourage state and local governments, and territories to implement a flexible array of supports
that impact housing stability, including quality case management and care coordination, peer
supports and navigation services, intensive in-home services, mobile crisis and stabilization services,
transportation services, and other home- and community-based services.
• Support communities to increase access to and retention within high-quality education programs,
including quality childcare and early childhood education through elementary, secondary, and post-
secondary education.
• Share examples and best practices on strategies and resources that promote the long-term stability
of people who have entered permanent housing, including employment supports, energy burden
assistance, case management and peer support, emergency financial assistance, transportation,
legal services, early care and education, connection to programs, and other necessary services and
supports.
• Strengthen coordination between early childhood, education, housing, health care and public
health, aging and disability network organizations, employment and vocational rehabilitation, and
homeless services providers as part of a whole-family approach to improve both child and family
outcomes through meaningful connections to community-based programs and resources that target
and prioritize the assessed needs of the entire household, including infants and young children, for
sustained housing stability and economic mobility.
• Promote equitable strategies and expand programs that are focused on preventing evictions,
including legal services; protection and advocacy services; independent living services; elder rights;
and housing counseling services.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 63
Where Do People Go When They Get Evicted?
37.5%
End up living on the
streets
25%
Move into shelter or
transitional housing
25%
Move in with family or
friends
Nearly a million
55
households are evicted every year.
According to a 2018 report
56
by the Seattle Women’s Commission and
the King County Bar Association:
Strategy 2: Reduce housing instability for families, youth, and single adults
with former involvement with or who are directly exiting from publicly funded
institutional systems.
Many people experiencing homelessness have prior involvement with or are exiting directly from publicly
funded institutional systems, including child welfare and foster care, juvenile and adult corrections,
long-term care, health, and mental health and substance use treatment facilities. Ending homelessness
will require a whole-of-government approach to close gaps and provide greater support to increase the
likelihood of housing stability and decrease the likelihood of a subsequent occurrence of homelessness.
Because people of color are often overrepresented in the criminal justice system and child welfare system,
failure to address the pipeline from these publicly funded institutions into homelessness will further
racial disparities among those experiencing homelessness. Reducing housing instability for people exiting
publicly funded institutional systems will also reduce disparities among homeless populations.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Strengthen cross-system partnerships and expand upon existing initiatives and programs that target
or primarily serve youth, individuals and families who have current or prior involvement with a
publicly funded institutional system.
• Pursue Executive actions, legislative amendments, and policy changes around eligibility and
other definitions that limit access to programs for youth, individuals and families who have prior
involvement with a publicly funded institutional system.
• Increase intergovernmental collaboration on existing programs that serve youth, individuals and
families who have prior involvement with a publicly funded institutional system including older
adults and adults with disabilities who have been in contact with protective services.
• Provide guidance and technical assistance to local systems of care for better integration of housing
stability screening to allow for earlier intervention and support.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 64
The Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline
• In a given year, almost 20,000 foster youth age
out of care.*
• Between 31% and 46% youth exit foster
care and experience homelessness by age 26.**
Strategy 3: Reduce housing instability among older adults and people with
disabilities—including people with mental health conditions and/or substance
use disorders—by increasing access to home- and community-based services
and housing that is aordable, accessible, and integrated.
“
Housing IS health!
”
– Person with lived experience from Redmond, Oregon
Poor housing conditions are shown to worsen health conditions—especially for older adults and people
with disabilities—which in turn can lead to homelessness. Older adults and people with disabilities
face dual health and housing crises and need more access to community-based health care and support
services, such as mental health care, outpatient treatment for substance use disorders, transportation,
assistive technology, and personal care assistance. This is particularly true for people of color, especially
Black people, and other marginalized populations.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Provide guidance and technical assistance to states and local governments on service improvement
and the provision of housing-related supports for older adults and people with disabilities—
especially those in rural communities, people transitioning out of institutions and into integrated
community-based housing, and people at risk of institutionalization.
• Explore feasibility of expanding the scope of programs that provide housing-related supports
to allow for greater flexibility in terms of allowable costs and eligibility to ensure people at risk
of homelessness are covered. This could include expanding use of funds to cover home repairs,
modifications, renovations, and costs to address disability-related needs, such as innovative
accessibility features, to reduce likelihood of housing insecurity and potential health impacts.
• Expand housing options for people with disabilities and older adults by providing guidance,
technical assistance and expanding and enforcing requirements related to accessibility of housing.
• Expand cross-agency collaboration on the development of guidance, tools, and technical assistance
opportunities to strengthen partnerships across disability, aging, health, and housing sectors to
Data Sources:
*Foster Care Statistics 2019 (childwelfare.gov)
57
**Homelessness During the Transition From Foster Care to Adulthood | AJPH | Vol. 103 Issue S2 (aphapublications.org)
58
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 65
prevent homelessness and increase access to culturally appropriate aordable housing and high-
quality, accessible housing and community-based supports.
• Strengthen coordination between CoCs, Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), Centers for Independent
Living (CILs), Aging and Disability Resource Centers/No Wrong Door Systems, housing, Social
Security, healthcare, AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers, and homeless service providers to improve
housing stability for older adults and people with disabilities who are experiencing homeless or at
risk of homelessness.
• Promote the use of flexible funding to cover first or last deposit for renters with reliable sources of
income such as Supplemental Security Income which provides for little to no discretionary spending.
Veteran Homelessness
6.9%
Adults experiencing homelessness who are veterans of the U.S. military*
Veteran women are
more than twice as likely
as non-veteran women to experience homelessness.**
Strategy 4: Reduce housing instability for veterans and service members
transitioning from military to civilian life.
Veterans are more likely than civilians to experience homelessness, especially if they have mental health
conditions and/or have substance use disorders or disabilities that impact successful reintegration,
particularly into the civilian workforce. Veterans are also at higher risk of experiencing traumatic brain
injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which are some of the most significant
59
risk factors for
homelessness.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Increase and improve coordination between DoD, VA and other partner agencies to identify
opportunities to strengthen appropriate housing connections with follow-up services for
transitioning service members (TSMs).
• Provide information and outreach to military communities and legal service providers about federal
foreclosure and eviction protections for service members and veterans.
• Broaden community outreach and marketing of VA’s resources to promote health, volunteerism and
national service, wellness, education, employment, economic mobility, and legal assistance.
• Strengthen and build partnerships across federal, state, and private entities to expand housing stock
availability as identified in the VA Homeless Programs Oce Strategic Plan for 2021-2025.
60
• Promote the use of tools and provide guidance on how to screen for housing instability for TSMs
Data Sources:
*Homelessness_in_America._Focus_on_Veterans.pdf (usich.gov)
61
**Women Veterans and Homelessness, July 2016 (va.gov)
62
Tribal communities
experience severe housing
shortages, geographic
isolation, and limited job
opportunities near family
and community support
networks.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 67
sooner to refer to appropriate supports to avert a housing crisis that could lead to homelessness.
• Support expansion of VA partnerships with community-based legal providers (including those
following the medical-legal partnership model) that help veterans with civil legal problems.
Strategy 5: Reduce housing instability for American Indian and Alaska Native
communities living on and o tribal lands.
Tribal communities experience severe housing shortages, geographic isolation, and limited job
opportunities near family and community support networks. It is imperative to support tribal governments
in identifying barriers to housing instability in their communities and designing and implementing
culturally responsive solutions.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Consult with tribes, in accordance with Executive Order 13175
63
and the Presidential Memorandum
on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, and will build o the
tribal consultation that took place to inform the development strategies and recommendations
to increase housing stability for American Indians and Alaska Natives, including policy
recommendations related to programs funded under the Native American Housing Assistance and
Self Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA).
• Reengage the USICH Interagency Working Group on American Indian and Alaska Native
Homelessness and work to implement the strategies set forth in the action plan
64
for interagency
coordination and collaboration for setting a path for ending homelessness among American Indian
and Alaska Native communities living on and o tribal lands.
Strategy 6: Reduce housing instability among youth and young adults.
“
Wraparound services are very needed, especially dealing with youth. They don’t have the background
knowledge to fall back on, and this is usually their first time trying to navigate the systems during a
crisis situation.
”
– Provider from Ames, Iowa
A nationwide study released by Chapin Hall
65
in 2017 found that 700,000 youth (ages 13-17) and 3.5
million young adults (ages 18-25) had experienced some form of homelessness—including couch-surfing
and doubling up—over a 12-month period. Addressing housing instability among youth and young adults,
especially those who are LGBTQI+, requires a holistic and developmentally appropriate approach that
explores the unique intersections that aect young people.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and relevant member agencies will:
• Explore feasibility of expanding existing programs that target youth or young adults, including
programs for foster youth with and without disabilities aging out of foster care, and pregnant and
parenting youth, to focus on activities that will increase protective factors that will reduce the
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 68
likelihood of experiencing housing instability and subsequent occurrence of homelessness.
• Provide targeted technical assistance to communities to strengthen partnerships and collaboration
for the prevention of youth homelessness with entities including schools and local educational
agencies, child welfare, and other local systems of care that have regular and direct contact with
this population to promote more collaborative relationships, seek to strengthen familial ties and
support networks for youth, and allow for earlier identification of young people at increased risk of
experiencing a housing crisis.
• Support the creation of pilot programs that are focused on the use of housing problem-solving and
the provision of direct cash assistance as a means of preventing youth and young adult homelessness.
• Promote the creation of local youth advisory councils comprised of young people, including those
who are at risk, to partner and lead the design and implementation of programs that focus on youth
homelessness prevention.
Strategy 7: Reduce housing instability among survivors of human traicking,
sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence, including family violence and
intimate partner violence.
Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness, especially among families, in the United States.
Survivors of sexual assault also face unique challenges to obtaining and maintaining stable housing.
Additionally, survivors of human tracking are often part of marginalized populations and left financially
insecure, which, in turn, makes them susceptible to re-exploitation. In addition, people experiencing
homelessness—especially youth and young adults—are at increased risk of being tracked. Conversely,
experiencing human tracking places youth and others at a greater risk for becoming homeless.
To accomplish this strategy, USICH and its member agencies will seek to align with and build
o of the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality and the National Action Plan to
Combat Human Tracking
66
and will:
• Expand federal collaboration and partnerships with federally funded technical assistance groups
on opportunities to reduce housing barriers for survivors of human tracking; sexual assault; and
domestic violence (including family and intimate partner violence) and explore additional strategies
to prevent homelessness among survivors, such as strategies to prevent evictions resulting from
crime-free programs and nuisance property laws.
• Support the creation of pilot programs that promote supportive housing and services models for
survivors of human tracking, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence.
• Explore feasibility of expanding existing programs that focus on helping survivors access and
maintain long-term, safe, stable, and aordable housing to reduce housing instability and avoid
occurrences of homelessness.
• As recommended by the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Tracking 2021 report, increase capacity
of providers serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to also serve human tracking
survivors.
• Develop tools and provide collaborative technical assistance on topics such as increasing aordable
housing stock, engaging landlords, and family interventions specific to this population through policy
academies, learning collaboratives, and expert panels.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 69
Recent Biden-Harris Administration Actions to
Prevent Homelessness
Agency/Entity Policy/Program/Initiative Action
HHS
Pandemic Emergency
Assistance Fund
Provided $1 billion to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Program to help families with a range of pandemic-related needs, including
support for people behind on rent or experiencing other housing insecurity
due to the pandemic
HUD
Foster Youth to
Independence (FYI)
Initiative
Awarded nearly $15 million to PHAs (in partnership with public child welfare
agencies) in Housing Choice Vouchers for 18- to 24-year-olds experiencing
or at risk of homelessness who left or will leave foster care within 90 days
HUD
Eviction Protection Grant
Program
Awarded $20 million in first-of-their-kind grants for 10 legal service
providers that oer no-cost services to low-income tenants at risk of or subject
to eviction in areas—including rural—with high eviction rates
Treasury
Economic Impact
Payments
Provided millions in direct cash assistance, also known as stimulus checks,
for people experiencing homelessness; Reduced overall poverty by 45% (20.1
million people) in 2021, when combined with state payments
In addition to the actions taken above, the White House convened the White House Homelessness Prevention Working Group
from October 2021 through January 2022. The following are some of the commitments that were made through that eort.
Agency Commitment
HHS Encourage grantees to exercise existing flexibilities to change or create policies that support people when they
gain additional income that may result in ineligibility or benefit reductions known as “benefit clis”
HUD Identify barriers—and develop strategies to reduce barriers—to using Low-Income Housing Tax Credits for
the creation of housing that serves extremely low-income households and to highlight examples of successful
state policies
DOL Identify opportunities in the workforce system to incentivize screening for housing instability and to promote
system coordination during employment services intake and service provision
HHS Promote child welfare funding and services that support families who are at risk of homelessness and
child welfare involvement
HUD Partner with DOJ Oice of Justice Programs to develop tools to improve reentry/discharge planning by
using DOJ and HUD resources to support prevention programs for people likely to become homeless for the
first time
DOJ Seek to enhance discharge planning from jails/prisons/correctional facilities to reduce the number of people
exiting institutions without stable housing
HHS Identify opportunities for service improvement and provide progress measures to achieve program goals
related to housing-related supports for individuals transitioning out of institutions, supporting community-
based housing for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and building partnerships between state
Medicaid systems, aging and disability network organizations, and state level housing agencies through Money
Follows the Person
SSA Streamline the SSI application to reduce the number of required questions under current program rules and
create an online intuitive application that will make it easier to apply for benefits
VA Support expansion of VA partnerships with community-based legal providers (including those
following the medical-legal partnership model) to assist veterans with civil legal problems (e.g., evictions, child
support payments) and continue connecting veterans with legal services to address issues that could result in
eviction or housing crisis
DOJ Coordinate with VA to provide outreach and training on Fair Housing Act protections for housing-vulnerable
veterans and their service providers
HHS Collaborate with federal partners to explore pilot opportunities focused on initiating prevention strategies for
youth and young adults at risk of experiencing homelessness, including those aected by domestic violence,
sexual assault, and human traicking
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 70
Framework for
Implementation
This is a multi-year roadmap to create the systemic changes needed to end homelessness in our country.
This plan establishes an initial goal to reduce overall homelessness by 25% from the Point-in-Time Count
in 2022 by 2025. To drive progress toward this ambitious goal, USICH will develop implementation work
plans and begin putting the strategies in the plan into action during FY 2023. These implementation work
plans will include:
• Specific action steps;
• Expected outputs and outcomes; and
• Timelines for when action steps will be completed.
USICH has already started to convene working groups comprised of our member agencies and other
stakeholders to implement the plan and develop mechanisms for reporting on progress. As we move
toward implementation of All In, we are committed to partnering with and incorporating regular input
from people with lived expertise and stakeholders representing a broad range of groups and perspectives,
including: CoCs and homeless and victim service providers; Native-serving organizations operating on and
o tribal lands; health, transportation, and school systems; aging and disability network organizations; the
business, faith, and philanthropic communities; leaders from local, state, territorial, and tribal governments
and organizations in rural and urban areas; technical assistance providers; and national organizations.
Measuring Progress
All In represents a long-term commitment, and implementation of it will be dynamic, results-driven, and
transparent. Progress will be assessed regularly, and the implementation work plans will be adapted in real-
time to reflect new actions and commitments as well as new data and information that can inform future
work. USICH will also publish an annual update to the plan that will include progress toward the 25%
reduction goal, adjustments to the plan, and updates on implementing strategies at the federal level and
across the country. USICH will share information as it is available on its website: usich.gov, and report to
the USICH Council and the public on progress and actions taken to implement this plan.
USICH will also work with its federal partners and other stakeholders to identify additional data sources
and qualitative and quantitative metrics for measuring overall impact. As a starting point,* USICH will
focus on available federal data including the following:
* USICH and its member agencies will work to further identify measures and metrics to ensure that we are using all available data to inform action and
implementation and is inclusive of key populations and marginalized groups including, but not limited to, people with disabilities and older adults.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 71
• The total number of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the annual
Point-in-Time Count
• The number of children and youth, including students in families and unaccompanied students,
identified as experiencing homelessness at some point during the school year
• Changes across the following HUD system performance measures:
» Length of time people remain homeless
» Returns to homelessness within 6 to 12 months and within 2 years
» Number of people who become homeless for the first time
» Number of homeless people
» Successful placement in and retention of housing from street outreach
» Racial disparities in homelessness, including inflow, length of time homeless, and successful
housing placements
Recognizing that much of this data is only reported annually, USICH and its member agencies will be
working to identify additional metrics and benchmarks for measuring progress nationally and locally.
Going forward, this data and information will be used to inform future work plans, the USICH annual
performance management plan, annual updates to the federal strategic plan, and reports to Congress and
the White House.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 72
Appendix A: How This Plan Was Created
People experiencing homelessness have the most knowledge about their needs but have historically had
the least opportunity to shape homelessness policies and programs. USICH recognizes the need to have
people with lived experience of homelessness actively involved in the design of policies and programs,
decisions about solutions, and allocation of budgets at all levels of government.
That is where this plan started.
Between August and December 2021, USICH requested and analyzed feedback from more than 500
people with lived experience of homelessness. Their wisdom, which has been shared throughout this
document, heavily influenced the development of this plan.
During the same period, USICH solicited input from a wide range of additional stakeholders, including:
• CoC representatives, leadership, and board members
• Direct services provider organizations and frontline sta
• Leaders in racial equity, criminal justice, and health care
• National organizations committed to the rights of people experiencing homelessness
• Advocates for LGBTQI+ individuals, youth and young adults, and people with disabilities
• State, city, county, territory and tribal ocials
• Regional and state Interagency Councils on Homelessness
• Organizers and volunteers for mutual aid and housing justice
The People Who Influenced This Plan
Through more than 1,500 online
comments and 80 listening sessions,
USICH received feedback from people and
groups in nearly every state, including
649 communities and
more than 500 people with
lived experience.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 73
Appendix B: Inventory of Targeted and Non-Targeted
Federal Programs to Prevent and End Homelessness
AGENCY
Agriculture
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Food and Nutrition Service
Rural Development
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Emergency Food Assistance Program
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• Community Facilities Programs
• Rural Development Single-Family Housing Programs
• Rural Development Multi-Family Housing Programs
• 4-H & Positive Youth Development
• Child and Adult Care Food Program
• National School Lunch Program
• School Breakfast Program
• Summer Food Service Program
• The Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program
• The WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness: USDA collects information on housing status as
part of the certification process for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
USDA Oers New ERA Incentives and Support for Property Owners | United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness (USICH)
» With state and local governments struggling to deliver emergency rental assistance (ERA) to renters and
landlords, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced new incentives and support for property
owners, property management agents, and USDA field sta. “USDA will now oer:
− Additional support to property owners waiting to receive the U.S. Treasury’s Emergency Rental
Assistance funds by allowing them access to reserves for operating shortfalls;
− Financial incentives to property management agents that tap ERA to clear arrearages; and
− Increased support from USDA field sta to amplify ERA to local leaders and public housing authorities
in rural communities.”
• SNAP Benefits - COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov)
» Separate from COVID-19, Congress directed USDA to study the costs required to purchase a healthy diet. As a
result, SNAP benefit amounts have been permanently adjusted as of Oct. 1, 2021, to provide 40-cents more per
person, per meal.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 74
AGENCY
AmeriCorps
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps Seniors
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• AmeriCorps VISTA
• AmeriCorps NCCC
• AmeriCorps State and National
• AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program
• AmeriCorps Seniors Senior Companion Program
• AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP Program
AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country’s most pressing challenges through
national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations
dedicated to the improvement of communities, including reducing and preventing homelessness. AmeriCorps helps
make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Find out more about AmeriCorps.
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
AmeriCorps as resource to ending Homelessness - Home Again Richmond
» In the state of Virginia, AmeriCorps VISTA members have played a critical role in the fight against
homelessness. Under the Virginia Housing Alliance, members have served in a variety of ways and at
dierent levels; some support the eorts of local planning groups, such as the New River Community Action
Coalition, or the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care; and others serve in specific agencies like Homeward,
HomeAgain, and St. Joseph’s Villa.
AGENCY
Commerce
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Census Bureau
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
The Opportunity Project
Census Bureau
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness: The U.S. Census Bureau provides an opportunity
for people experiencing homelessness to participate in the decennial Census. Data are combined with total
population counts. The Census Bureau publishes counts of the people staying at emergency and transitional shelters;
however, it does not publish separate reports or estimates on the total population experiencing homelessness.
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
How the 2020 Census Counts People Experiencing Homelessness
» The U.S. Census Bureau conducted special operations to provide an opportunity for people experiencing
homelessness in communities across the country to participate in the decennial census. Specially trained
census takers counted people Sept. 22-24 at emergency and transitional shelters, soup kitchens and mobile
food van stops in an operation called Service-Based Enumeration. Census takers counted people who lived
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 75
outdoors, in transit stations, and at other locations where people were known to sleep in an operation called
Targeted Non-Sheltered Outdoor Locations.
AGENCY
Defense
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Military-Civilian Transition Oce
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves
• Military OneSource
• Transition Assistance Program
• Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program
• DoD Safe Helpline
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness: The Department of Defense collects data on the
number and percentage of transitioning service members with inadequate housing plans who were provided a warm
handover to VA, DOL, or another agency for post-transition services and support.
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
DoD Safe Helpline is a secure, confidential, and anonymous crisis support service specially designed for members of
the DoD community aected by sexual assault. Safe Helpline is available 24/7, worldwide. Safe Helpline sta receive
highly specialized training on providing help to members of the military community. Safe Helpline sta provide
emotional support, help with long- and short-term safety planning, listen to a visitor’s needs and concerns, provide
information about specialized resources and, if desired, connect the visitor with local help.
AGENCY
Education
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Oce of Elementary and Secondary Education
Oce of School Support and Accountability
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program
• American Rescue Plan Homeless Children and Youth Program
• National Center for Homeless Education
Legislation:
• McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B and Part C
• Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
• Data from the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program found that in School Year
2019-20, public schools identified 1,280,886 students who experienced homelessness.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 76
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
Education Department Distributes ARP ESSER and ARP-HCY Funds to All 50 States | United States Interagency
Council on Homelessness (USICH)
» The Department of Education approved every state’s plan for American Rescue Plan Homeless Children
and Youth (ARP-HCY) funds and distributed $800 million targeted to serving homeless children and youth.
This was in addition to the $122 billion in funding for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency
Relief (ARP ESSER) distributed to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico before the end of
December which also serves special populations of students most impacted by the pandemic
AGENCY
Energy
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Oce of Weatherization Assistance and Intergovernmental Program
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Weatherization Assistance Program/State Energy Program
• Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Oce
» Utility bills burden low-income communities and can cause homelessness. Energy and environmental justice
are core to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) mission. DOE is dedicated to helping communities
overcome barriers to energy justice by pairing meaningful community engagement with the latest science and
technology through programs such as the Weatherization Assistance Program and the State Energy Program.
AGENCY
General Services Administration
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Oce of Real Property Utilization and Disposal
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• Federal Real Property Assistance Program (jointly administered with HHS and HUD)
Legislation: McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
Non-Targeted Programs: N/A
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
Homeless Assistance (gsa.gov)
» Pursuant to Title V of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, state and local governments, as well as
nonprofit organizations, are eligible to apply for land and buildings that have been determined to be “suitable
and available.” Properties may be used for a wide variety of programs and services for homeless people,
including, but not limited to, emergency shelters, transitional programs (with occupancy limited to 24 months),
food banks, job training, storage facilities, or administrative space.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 77
AGENCY
Health and Human Services
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Administration for Children and Families
Administration for Community Living
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• Grants for the Benefit of Homeless Individuals
• Health Care for the Homeless Program
• Programs for Runaway and Homeless Youth Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness: Basic Center
Program; Transitional Living Program; Maternity Group Home Program; Street Outreach Program
• Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness
• Treatment for Individuals Experiencing Homelessness (TIEH)
• SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR)
• The National Communication System for Runaway and Homeless Youth (i.e., National Runaway Safeline)
Legislation: Public Health Service Act, Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, Social Security Act, Aordable Care Act
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Adult Protective Services
• Child Care and Development Fund
• Child Support Enforcement Program
• Community Mental Health Services Block Grant
• Community Services Block Grant
• Demonstration Grants to Strengthen the Response to Victims of Human Tracking in Native Communities
Program
• Domestic Victims of Human Tracking Services and Outreach Program
• Emergency Response Grants
• Family Violence and Prevention Services
• Head Start
• Health Center Program
• Independent Living Programs (including State Independent Living Councils and Centers for Independent Living)
• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
• Low Income Household Water Assistance Program
• John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (the Chafee program), including the
Education and Training Voucher Program
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Children’s Health Insurance Program
• Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
• No Wrong Door Programs (including Aging and Disability Resource Centers)
• Older Americans Act funded programs and formula grants to State Units on Aging and Area Agencies on Aging
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 78
• Older Americans Act Title VI programs (programs that support American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native
Hawaiians)
• State Protection and Advocacy Systems Programs
• Promoting Safe and Stable Families
• Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program
• Social Services Block Grant
• State Assistive Technology Act Programs
• State Developmental Disabilities Council Programs
• State Opioid Response Grants
• Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program
• Tracking Victim Assistance Program
• Transitional Living Program for Older Homeless Youth
• Tribal Opioid Response
• University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Programs
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
• Head Start collects data on the number of children experiencing homelessness who are served during an
enrollment year. Through the Chafee Program, data is also available on older youth who are in or have exited foster
care and their experiences with homelessness.
• Oce of Child Care collects data as part of the Child Care and Development Fund reporting requirements. States
and territories submit monthly case-level data describing the characteristics of the populations they serve, including
whether the family is experiencing homelessness.
• HRSA collects data on patients of Health Center Program grantees identified as experiencing homelessness (based
on definition used by HRSA; see Appendix A: Glossary for more information) through the Health Center Uniform
Data System.
• HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau collects data on housing and HIV-related health care outcomes among HRSA’s Ryan
White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) clients.
• HRSA’s MIECHV Program works with parents/families experiencing homelessness
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
HRSA Health Center Program
» In fiscal year 2022, HRSA will award $481 million to Health Care for the Homeless health centers to support
services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
» On August 17, 2022, HRSA released the FY 2023 National Training and Technical Assistance Partners
(NTTAP) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Through this NOFO, HRSA will award approximately $23.5
million to fund 22 organizations. The purpose of this funding is to support the development and delivery of
training and technical assistance that assists health centers to deliver comprehensive care; address emergent
public health issues and health needs; improve operational eectiveness and quality; and advance health equity.
Up to $2.4 million will be designated to support two NTTAPs focused on the homeless population.
• HHS Expands COVID-19 Testing and Mitigation for Homeless Shelters and Encampments | United States
Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
» With coronavirus cases on the rise, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that
it will invest more than $1.6 billion in testing and mitigation for high-risk congregate settings, including
homeless encampments and shelters for people experiencing homelessness and for people fleeing domestic
violence.
• Populations Experiencing Homelessness | COVID-19 | CDC
» The CDC issued guidance to support response to COVID-19 by local and state health departments,
homelessness service systems, housing authorities, emergency planners, healthcare facilities, and homeless
outreach services serving people experiencing homelessness.
• Housing and Services Resource Center | ACL Administration for Community Living
» HUD and HHS created the Housing and Services Resource Center to make community living a reality for all.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 79
This partnership will expand accessible, aordable housing; help people exit homelessness; improve home and
community-based services; and address the institutional bias in America’s long-term care system. The Center
will implement a federally coordinated approach to providing resources, program guidance, training, and
technical assistance to public housing authorities and housing providers; state Medicaid, disability, aging and
mental health agencies; the aging and disability network organizations; homeless services organizations and
networks; health care systems and providers; and tribal organizations.
AGENCY
Homeland Security
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Federal Emergency Management Agency
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• Emergency Food and Shelter Program
Legislation: McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
Non-Targeted Programs:
• FEMA Public Assistance
• FEMA Individual Assistance
• FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
• FEMA Extends Coverage of COVID-19 Response Costs | United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
(USICH)
» On June 28, 2022, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided updated sheltering guidance
by issuing the Emergency Non-Congregate Sheltering (NCS) Memorandum. Please refer to this Memorandum
for FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Policy and guidance on NCS at Public Assistance Disaster-Specific Guidance
- COVID-19 Declarations | FEMA.gov.
AGENCY
Housing and Urban Development
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Oce of Community Planning and Development
Oce of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
Oce of Multifamily Housing
Oce of Policy, Development, and Research
Oice of Public and Indian Housing
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• Continuum of Care Program
• Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program and Emergency Solutions Grant Program-CARES Act (ESG-CV)
• HUD-Veterans Aairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) and Tribal HUD-VASH
• Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program
• Emergency Housing Vouchers provided by the American Rescue Plan
Legislation:
• McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
• Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 80
• SUPPORT Act
Non-Targeted Programs:
• HOME Investment Partnerships Program and HOME-American Rescue Plan
• Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program
• Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program
• Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
• Public Housing
• Family Unification Program Voucher Program
• Foster Youth to Independence Initiative
• Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) and HOPWA-CV
• HUD-DOJ Pay for Success Permanent Supportive Housing Demonstration
• Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program
• National Housing Trust Fund
• Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and CDBG-CV
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
• The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress found that 580,466 people experienced homelessness
in the United States on a single night in 2020.
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
FYI | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
» The Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) initiative makes Housing Choice Voucher assistance available to
Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) in partnership with Public Child Welfare Agencies. Under FYI, PHAs provide
housing assistance on behalf of: Youth at least 18 years and not more than 24 years of age (have not reached
their 25th birthday) who left foster care, or will leave foster care within 90 days, in accordance with a transition
plan described in Section 475(5)(H) of the Social Security Act, and are homeless or are at risk of becoming
homeless at age 16 or older.
• House America | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
» House America: An All-Hands-on-Deck Eort to Address the Nation’s Homelessness Crisis is a federal initiative
in which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Interagency Council
on Homelessness (USICH) are inviting mayors, city and county leaders, Tribal Nation leaders, and governors
into a national partnership. House America will utilize the historic investments provided through the American
Rescue Plan to address the crisis of homelessness through a Housing First approach.
• HUD Awards $20 Million For Eviction Protection and Diversion | United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness (USICH)
» The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced $20 million in inaugural grants from
the Eviction Protection Grant Program. The funding will be awarded to 10 legal service providers that oer no-
cost services to low-income tenants at risk of or subject to eviction in areas with high eviction rates, including
rural areas.
» HUD Rearms Commitment to Equal Access to Housing, Shelters, and Other Services Regardless of Gender
Identity | United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
− In April 2021, HUD announced that it is rearming its commitment to upholding the Equal Access
Rule.
» Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program
− The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) is an exciting new initiative designed to
reduce the number of youth experiencing homelessness. The goal of the YHDP is to support selected
communities, including rural, suburban, and urban areas across the United States, in the development
and implementation of a coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth
homelessness. Additionally, HUD is committed to sharing that experience of YHDP communities and
mobilizing communities around the country toward the same end.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 81
AGENCY
Interior
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Bureau of Indian Aairs
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Housing Improvement Program
• Tiwahe Initiative
• Public Law 102-477 Demonstration Project
• Tribal Transportation Program
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
Housing Improvement Program | Indian Aairs (bia.gov)
» The Housing Improvement Program is a home repair, renovation, replacement and new housing grant program
administered by the Bureau of Indian Aairs and federally recognized Indian Tribes for American Indians and
Alaska Native individuals and families who have no immediate resource for standard housing.
AGENCY
Justice
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Oce on Violence Against Women
Oce of Justice Programs
Civil Rights Division
Oce of Community Oriented Policing Services
Oce for Access to Justice
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• Transitional Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and
Stalking Program
• Tribal Governments Program
• Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Human Tracking
Relevant Legislation:
• Violence Against Women Act
• Fair Housing Act
• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Oce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Second Chance Act Program
• Oce on Violence Against Women administers 19 grant programs designed to prevent and end domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking
• The Second Chance Act Pay for Success Initiative
• Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 82
• Community Policing Development (which includes funding for crisis intervention teams)
• Access to counsel in evictions and eviction diversion initiatives
• Oce for Victims of Crime currently administers 8 grant programs (FY2022) to support victims of human tracking
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
• Justice Department Awards $34 Million to Support Community Crisis Response | OPA | Department of Justice
» The Department of Justice’s Oce of Justice Programs announced grant awards totaling $34 million to help
communities address crises involving homelessness, mental health conditions and/or substance use disorders,
and other public health and public safety emergencies.
• Justice Department Awards Nearly $87 Million to Combat Human Tracking and Help Victims
» The Justice Department’s Oce of Justice Programs (OJP) announced almost $87 million in FY2021 in
funding to combat human tracking, provide supportive services to tracking victims throughout the United
States and conduct research into the nature and causes of labor and sex tracking. This includes the Housing
Assistance Grants for Victims of Human Tracking program; under this program, the Oce for Victims of
Crime (OVC) awarded approximately $15 million to provide safe, stable housing and appropriate services to
victims of human tracking. OVC has awarded over $50 million in the past two fiscal years (FY2020-FY2021)
to support transitional housing for survivors of human tracking.
• Justice Department Announces Nearly $225 Million in Grants to Support Coordinated Community Responses
to Domestic and Sexual Violence on the 28th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act | OPA |
Department of Justice
» The Department of Justice announced $224.9 million in grants designed to enhance victim services and
justice solutions for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. This includes 73
grants totaling $36,195,932 to provide housing and related wraparound services to survivors and their children
under the Transitional Housing Program.
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness: N/A
AGENCY
Labor
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Veterans’ Employment and Training Service
Employment and Training Administration
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
• Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program
Legislation:
• McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
• Non-Targeted Programs:
• Indian & Native American Program
• Job Corps
• Jobs for Veterans State Grants (JVSG)
• National Dislocated Worker Grants (NDWGs)
• Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) Program
• Wagner-Peyser Employment Service
• WIOA Adult & Dislocated Worker Programs
• WIOA Youth Program
• YouthBuild
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 83
• Labor Department Awards $52M to Help Homeless Veterans | United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
(USICH)
» The Department of Labor announced more than $52 million in grants to help veterans experiencing
homelessness reenter the workforce. The money can be used to provide training, skills development, career
support, and other services for veterans who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of it. It’s part of the
Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program and administered by the department’s Veterans’ Employment and
Training Service (VETS).
» In addition to working with VETS, grant recipients will partner with the Department of Veterans Aairs’
Supportive Services for Veteran Families program and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s
Continuum of Care program.
AGENCY
Oce of Management and Budget
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Oce of Management and Budget
AGENCY OVERVIEW
The Oce of Management and Budget does not administer any programs. The agency is responsible for producing
the President’s budget, coordinating the interagency review of all significant Federal regulations from executive
agencies, and coordinating the clearance of legislative and other materials, including agency testimony, legislative
proposals, and other communications with Congress, and coordination of other Presidential actions.
• FACT SHEET: The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 | The White House
» The President’s Budget for fiscal year 2023 and Administration actions demonstrate a strong and enduring
commitment to building evidence capacity across the Federal Government and engaging in high-quality
evaluations to learn and improve. The Budget supports Federal Agencies in using evidence to advance their
missions and operations and in building evidence where it is lacking. This budget would invest $8.732 billion
in federal funding for homelessness-related programs.
AGENCY
Social Security Administration
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Social Security Administration
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Old Age and Survivors Insurance
• Supplemental Security Income
• Social Security Disability Insurance
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
• People Facing Barriers:
» SSA identified several at-risk and marginalized groups who face barriers to service including people who are
homeless or at greater risk of homelessness. These groups include the aged, children with disabilities, people
with limited English proficiency, people diagnosed with mental illness, veterans, and people recently released
from incarceration. SSA uses its network of national public aairs specialists, advocate and interagency
collaboration, social media and other online messaging, and additional strategies, to reach people in these
communities directly and through organizations who support them. Initiatives listed in this strategic plan also
support SSA’s People Facing Barriers Initiative. SSA will continue to implement and monitor progress of its
Equity Action Plan in support of the President’s Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for
Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 84
• Third-Party SSI Claims Taking and Outreach:
» During the pandemic, SSA experienced a reduction in applications for SSI benefits. SSA was particularly
concerned about reaching underserved Americans, especially due to pandemic-related operating procedures
that reduced in-person services. SSA was able to help some people in person by appointment only in limited
critical situations. SSA partnered with, and trained, third-party organizations to help complete and submit SSI
claims. SSA resumed in person services, both walk-in and by appointment, on April 7, 2022. SSA is evaluating
the eectiveness of the claims-taking initiative by engaging with partner groups.
• SSI Administrative Simplification:
SSA is undertaking a thorough review of the SSI filing experience, business process, policy, regulations, law, and
software capability. For instance, SSA is exploring ways to make filing the SSI application easier by considering how
customers experience the application process. SSA is researching how SSI applicants understand the application
questions, how the user interacts with SSA and the application, and will use this data to inform how the application
and process should look. SSA plans to deliver an application that is user-centered, responsive, intuitive, equitable, easy
to use, and accessible online. This will make it easier to apply for benefits. For example, in April 2022, SSA launched
a new online option, which takes five to ten minutes, to request an appointment to file for SSI for oneself or another
adult or a child.
AGENCY
Transportation
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Federal Transit Administration
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program
• FTA Tribal Transit Competitive Program
• FTA’s Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development Planning
• FTA Formula Grants for Rural Areas
• FTA All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP)
• FTA’s Areas of Persistent Poverty (AoPP) Program
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness: N/A
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
“Transportation Leaders Against Human Tracking” initiative (https://www.transportation.gov/stophumantracking)
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) combats human tracking by working with public and private
sector stakeholders to empower transportation employees and the traveling public to recognize and report possible
instances of human tracking.
»
AGENCY
Treasury
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Internal Revenue Service
Community Economic Development
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 85
• Child Tax Credit
• Earned Income Tax Credit
• Emergency Rental Assistance Program
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
November Set New ERA Record as Evictions Remained Below Pre-Pandemic Levels | United States Interagency
Council on Homelessness (USICH)
» Using Treasury Department funding, state and local governments provided a record amount of emergency
rental assistance (ERA) to a record number of people in November—$2.9 billion to approximately 665,000
renters and landlords.
• More Than Half of Recent Economic Impact Payments Go to Harder-to-Reach People | United States Interagency
Council on Homelessness (USICH)
» The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of the Treasury, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service
disbursed more than 2.2 million Economic Impact Payments in the last six weeks.
» More than half, about 1.3 million, of the recent payments went to harder-to-reach people who the IRS
previously lacked enough information for, which includes people experiencing homelessness who may lack a
permanent mailing address and/or bank account. Neither are required to receive Economic Impact Payments.
AGENCY
US Postal Service
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
US Postal Service
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation: N/A
Non-Targeted Programs:
• USPS Homeless Mail Service: Receive Mail Without an Address
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
Is there Mail Service for the Homeless? (usps.com)
» People experiencing homelessness may submit an application for PO Box™ service to a local Post Oce™.
The Postmaster may approve the application under certain conditions.
AGENCY
Veterans Aairs
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
Homeless Programs Oce
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs:
•
Community Resource and Referral Centers
• Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans Program
• Grant and Per Diem Program
• Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program
• Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team
• Homeless Veterans Community Employment Services
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 86
• Homeless Veterans Dental Program
• HUD-VASH
• Supportive Services for Veterans Families
• Veteran Justice Outreach Initiative
• Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness Grant Program
Legislation:
• Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-387)
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Compensated Work Therapy
• Enhanced Use Lease Program
• National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
VA outlines new goals towards ending Veteran homelessness
» To support, revitalize, and streamline VA’s investment in and commitment to end veteran homelessness and
ensure veterans at risk of becoming homeless are safeguarded from this crisis, VA established a nationwide goal
to permanently house 38,000 homeless veterans during calendar year 2022.
• VA Designates Flexible Funding for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness | United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness (USICH)
» Through a time-limited congressional authority, VA Medical Centers can use these funds for safety and survival
and to support stability and health for transportation and communications equipment and services. VAMCs
have used the funds for groceries, meals, apartment start-up kits, furniture, merchandise vouchers, and laundry
vouchers, and to create a nationally coordinated rideshare program to help veterans who need transportation
assistance to meet health, housing, legal, and employment needs.
• VA Partners With Uber and Lyft to Oer Rides to Veterans Experiencing Homelessness | United States Interagency
Council on Homelessness (USICH)
» Referrals are required, and VA providers coordinate the rides, which can bring veterans to and from their place
of employment, health appointments, and home following their discharge from care.
• VA Provides Relief for Veterans in High-Cost Rental Markets | United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
(USICH)
» The Department of Veterans Aairs has amended its regulations governing the Supportive Services for Veteran
Families grant program. Under the amended regulations, which apply in certain high-cost communities, the
SSVF grant will cover up to 50%—an increase from 35%—of veterans’ “reasonable rent” for two years without
recertification. The new rule also increases the allowed length of stay in veteran emergency housing from 45 to
60 days.
AGENCY
White House Oce of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
KEY PROGRAM OFFICES
White House Oce of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
AGENCY OVERVIEW
Targeted Programs: N/A
Legislation:
Non-Targeted Programs:
• Training and technical assistance for faith-based groups
• Mobilizing faith leaders and community members around key issue
Data Collected on Populations Experiencing Homelessness:
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 87
Agency-Specific Initiatives:
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Celebrates First Anniversary of the Reestablishment of the White House
Oce of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships | The White House
Over the course of the last year, the White House Oce of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships has worked
with leaders of dierent faiths and backgrounds who are the frontlines of their communities in crisis and who can
help us heal, unite, and rebuild. Eorts include helping prevent evictions by increasing awareness of the Emergency
Rental Assistance Program among faith and community leaders across the nation, including outreach commitments
from more than 250 faith and community partners representing reach to more than 5 million people.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 88
Appendix C: Glossary
Aging and Disability Network Organizations:
67
The aging and disability networks are made up of
local, state, and national organizations and committed advocates working to support older adults and
people with disabilities. Some organizations focus on a particular type of disability, age group, or type of
service, whereas others have a more comprehensive mission.
Chronically Homeless:
68
An individual or head of household with a disability who has been living in a
place not meant for human habitation, in an emergency shelter, or in a safe haven for at least 12 months
either consecutively or cumulatively over four occasions in a three-year period of time.
Congregate Shelter: Emergency shelter where residents share a common sleeping and bathing areas.
Continuum of Care (CoC):
69
Defined at 24 C.F.R. 578.3 to mean the group organized to carry out the
responsibilities required by HUD to carry out the components of the CoC Program interim rule and
is composed of representatives of organizations, including nonprofit homeless providers, victim service
providers, faith-based organizations, governments, businesses, advocates, public housing agencies, school
districts, social service providers, mental health agencies, hospitals, universities, aordable housing
developers, law enforcement, organizations that serve homeless and formerly homeless veterans, and
homeless and formerly homeless persons to the extent these groups are represented within the geographic
area and are available to participate.
Coordinated Entry (CE):
70
Commonly understood as the process that provides a consistent, streamlined
process for accessing the resources available in the homelessness response system. The core elements
of coordinated entry are access, assessment, prioritization, and referral. The CoC Program interim rule
at 24 C.F.R. 578.3 defines centralized or coordinated assessment as the following: “…a centralized or
coordinated process designed to coordinate program participant intake assessment and provision of
referrals. A centralized or coordinated assessment system covers the geographic area, is easily accessed by
individuals and families seeking housing or services, is well advertised, and includes a comprehensive and
standardized assessment tool…”
Criminalization of Homelessness:
71
Policies, laws, and ordinances that make functional behaviors
illegal, dicult, or impossible when they occur outside of the home or shelter—such as sleeping in public,
going to the bathroom, and eating.
Critical Time Intervention:
72
A time-limited evidence-based practice that mobilizes support for
society’s most vulnerable individuals during periods of transition. It facilitates community integration and
continuity of care by ensuring that a person has enduring ties to their community and support systems
during these critical periods.
Cultural Competency:
73
Integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of
people into specific standards, policies, practices, and attitudes used in appropriate cultural settings to
increase the quality of services and produce better outcomes.
Cultural Humility:
74
Cultural humility is a lifelong process of self-reflection and discovery in order to
build honest and trustworthy relationships and must be combined with a willingness to learn directly from
individuals with cultural dierences and experiences.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 89
Culturally Appropriate:
75
Programming and policy that respond to the cultural and linguistic needs of
the community being served as defined by the community and demonstrated through needs assessment
activities, capacity development eorts, policy, strategy and prevention practice implementation, program
implementation, evaluation, quality improvement and sustainability activities.
Dating Violence:
79
Violence committed by a person— (A) who is or has been in a social relationship of
a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and (B) where the existence of such a relationship shall be
determined based on a consideration of the following factors: (i) The length of the relationship. (ii) The
type of relationship. (iii) The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
Disability:
76
The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a person with a disability as a person who
has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity, including
people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability. It also
includes individuals who do not have a disability but are regarded as having a disability. It is unlawful to
discriminate against a person based on that person’s association with a person with a disability. .
Disability Competence:
77
The ability to provide person-centered and appropriate treatment, services,
supports and related accommodations to individuals with disabilities while ensuring that the individual’s
goals, values, interests and preferences inform the design and delivery of care.
Disparities:
78
The Cambridge Dictionary defines “disparity” as “a lack of equality or similarity, especially
in a way that is not fair.”
Domestic Violence: The use or attempted use of physical abuse or sexual abuse, or a pattern of any
other coercive behavior committed, enabled, or solicited to gain or maintain power and control over a
victim, including verbal, psychological, economic, or technological abuse that may or may not constitute
criminal behavior, by a person who is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim (or
similarly situated to a spouse of the victim), is cohabitating or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse
or intimate partner, shares a child in common with the victim, or commits acts against a youth or adult
victim who is protected from those acts under a jurisdiction’s family or domestic violence laws. Cite: See 34
U.S.C. 12291(a)(12).
Emergency Shelter:
80
Facility with the primary purpose of providing temporary shelter for people
experiencing homelessness and which does not require occupants to sign leases or occupancy agreements.
Equity:
81
The consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including
individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black,
Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other
persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning or queer,
intersex, and more, (LGBTQI+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and
persons otherwise adversely aected by persistent poverty or inequality.
Fair Market Rent (FMR):
82
Cost to rent a moderately-priced dwelling unit in a local housing market,
which is calculated by HUD as the 40th percentile of gross rents for typical, non-substandard rental units
occupied by recent movers in a local housing market. A Small Area FMR allows for FMR rate to be based
on specific zip codes in areas with significant voucher concentration or market conditions where using a
Zip Code-based FMR would increase opportunities for voucher holders.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 90
Gender-Arming Care: Utilization of a gender armation framework in providing care, treatment, and
support services. Gender armation describes processes whereby a person receives social recognition,
value, and support for their gender identity and expression.
Harm Reduction:
83
A proactive and evidence-based approach to reduce the negative personal and public
health impacts of behavior associated with alcohol and other substance use at both the individual and
community levels. Harm reduction approaches have proven to prevent death, injury, disease, overdose, and
prevent substance misuse or disorder. Harm reduction is an eective approach to addressing the public
health epidemic involving substance use as well as infectious disease and other harms associated with drug
use.
Homelessness: In general, a situation in which an individual or family lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence. There are several Federal statutory definitions of homelessness.
• The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009
84
amended the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and updated the definition of homelessness
for use in the Emergency Solutions Grants Program and the CoC Program. HUD’s Final Rule on
Defining Homeless defines homelessness into four categories:
◊ Category 1: Literally Homeless Individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence, meaning: (i) Has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or
private place not meant for human habitation; (ii) Is living in a publicly or privately operated
shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements (including congregate shelters,
transitional housing, and hotels and motels paid for by charitable organizations or by federal,
state and local government programs); or (iii) Is exiting an institution where (s)he has resided
for 90 days or less and who resided in an emergency shelter or place not meant for human
habitation immediately before entering that institution
◊ Category 2: Imminent Risk of Homelessness: Individual or family who will imminently lose
their primary nighttime residence, provided that:
- (i) Residence will be lost within 14 days of the date of application for homeless
assistance;
- (ii) No subsequent residence has been identified; and (iii) the individual or family
lacks the resources or support networks needed to obtain other permanent housing
◊ Category 3: Homeless under other Federal statutes refers to unaccompanied youth under 25
years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless
under this definition, but who:
- (i) Are defined as homeless under the other listed federal statutes;
- (ii) Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent
housing during the 60 days prior to the homeless assistance application;
- (iii) Have experienced persistent instability as measured by two moves or more
during in the preceding 60 days; and
- (iv) Can be expected to continue in such status for an extended period of time due
to special needs or barriers
* HUD anticipates promulgating regulations to reflect the amendments to the Category 4 homeless definition, as required by the reauthorization
of VAWA in 2022.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 91
◊ Category 4
*
: Fleeing/Attempting to Flee Domestic Violence is defined as any individual or
family who:
- (i) is experiencing trauma or a lack of safety related to, or fleeing or attempting to
flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or other dangerous,
traumatic, or life-threatening conditions related to the violence against the indi-
vidual or a family member in the individual’s or family’s current housing situation,
including where the health and safety of children are jeopardized;
- (ii) Has no other safe residence; and
- (iii) Lacks the resources to obtain other safe permanent housing.
◊ Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act,
85
which is used by the
Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services Oce of Head
Start and the Oce of Child Care, defines homeless children and youths as follows:
◊ The term “homeless children and youths”—
- A. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence
(within the meaning of section 11302(a)(1) of this title); and
- B. includes—
» i. children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to
loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels,
hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative
adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are
abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
» ii. children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a
public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 11302(a)(2)
(C) of this title);
» iii. children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned
buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
» iv. migratory children (as such term is defined in section 6399 of title 20) who
qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are
living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii)
• Section 330 (h)(5)(A) of the Public Health Service Act,
86
42 U.S.C. 254b(h)(5)(A), part of the
statutory authority for the Health Center Program, defines “homeless individual” as an individual
who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including
an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility
that provides temporary living accommodations and an individual who is a resident in transitional
housing.
• The Runaway and Homeless Youth Final Rule
87
youth experiencing homelessness as an individual
who cannot live safely with a parent, legal guardian, or relative, and who has no other safe alternative
living arrangement. For purposes of Basic Center Program eligibility, a homeless youth must be less
than 18 years of age (or higher if allowed by a state or local law or regulation that applies to licensure
requirements for child- or youth-serving facilities). For purposes of Transitional Living Program
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 92
eligibility, a homeless youth cannot be less than 16 years of age and must be less than 22 years of age
(unless the individual commenced his or her stay before age 22, and the maximum service period has
not ended).
Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS):
88
An information system designated by the
Continuum of Care to comply with the HMIS requirements prescribed by HUD.
Housing First:
89
An approach to quickly and successfully connects individuals and families experiencing
homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety,
treatment or service participation requirements. Voluntary supportive services are oered to maximize
housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness as opposed to addressing predetermined treatment
goals prior to permanent housing entry.
Housing Problem-Solving:
90
Approach and set of techniques that support eective implementation of
diversion and rapid exit strategies that should be part of every coordinated entry (CE) process and oered
as alternative housing pathways for all populations.
• Diversion: Avoiding emergency shelters or unsheltered homelessness.
• Rapid exit: Reducing shelter stays by identifying safe and stable alternative housing for people who
don’t require deeper levels of assistance.
Human Tracking:
91
Human tracking, also known as tracking in persons or modern-day slavery,
is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in
commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological. Exploitation of a
minor for commercial sex is human tracking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion
was used.
LGBTQI+:
92
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning or Queer, Intersex, and more. This is an
inclusive way to refer to people who broadly fall into the queer community and is used throughout this
report except when sources cited specifically used other terminology.
Limited English Proficiency: The inability to read, write or understand English well, by a person who
does not speak English as their primary language. Limited English proficient individuals may be proficient
in English for certain aspects of communication (e.g., speaking, or understanding), but still be limited for
other purposes (e.g., reading or writing).
Low-Barrier Shelter and/or Services:
93
Shelter or service provision that are designed to screen-in
rather than screen-out applicants with the greatest barriers and assistance is provided without service
participation requirements and restrictive rules related to pets, partners, possessions, etc.
Mainstream Benefits: Publicly-funded assistance for a variety of needs—including food, health care,
housing, and childcare, Head Start—for people who meet eligibility criteria and are generally low-income.
Marginalized:
94
Marginalized communities are those excluded from mainstream social, economic,
educational, and/or cultural life. Examples of marginalized populations include, but are not limited to,
groups excluded due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, language, and/or
immigration status. Marginalization occurs due to unequal power relationships between social groups.
Medical respite care:
95
Acute and post-acute care for people experiencing homelessness who no longer
have a clinical reason to remain in a hospital but are too ill to recover on the streets.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 93
Moving On:
40
A strategy that enables individuals and families who are able and want to move on from
PSH to do so by providing them with a sustainable, aordable housing option and the services and
resources they need to maintain continued housing success
Native-serving organization: Native-led organizations that primarily serve AI/AN, Native Hawaiian or
Pacific Islander tribal members o of tribal land in rural and urban areas.
Not In My Backyard (NIMBY):
96
Actions taken by people who designate certain changes—especially
new development (e.g., an emergency shelter, supportive housing, a group home) or change in occupancy
within an existing development—as undesirable within their local area, typically based on assumed
characteristics of the population that would be living in the development.
Non-Congregate Shelter (NCS):
97
Emergency shelter that provides private units or rooms as temporary
shelter to individuals and families experiencing homelessness and do not require occupants to sign a lease
or occupancy agreement.
People of Color:
4
For the purposes of writing this plan, this term is used to be inclusive of racial and
ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic White and includes people from the following racial and ethnic
groups:
• American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous
• Asian and Asian American
• Black, African American, or African
• Latino/a
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
People With Lived Experience/Expertise:
98
Individuals who have personally experienced homelessness
either previously or currently.
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH):
99
Permanent supportive housing means permanent housing in
which supportive services are provided to assist homeless persons with a disability to live independently.
Person-Centered Strategies:
100
Identification of individual strengths, goals, preferences, needs, and
desired outcomes that sta, family, and other team members use to help people access paid and unpaid
services.
Point-in-Time (PIT) Count:
101
a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness
on a single night during the last 10 days in January. HUD requires that CoCs conduct a biennial count
of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and sheltered homelessness, including those who are
sheltered in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and Safe Havens.
Primary Health Care:
102
Health services that cover a range of prevention, wellness, and treatment for
common illnesses, including reproductive health services.
Primary Prevention:
103
Universal strategies broadly aimed at reducing the risk of housing instability and
homelessness “upstream” and before an individual requires assistance from the homelessness response
system. Activities may include increasing income, increasing familial connections, increasing availability
of and access to aordable housing, providing legal protections for people facing discrimination, and
ensuring increased overall access to quality health and behavior health services.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 94
Public Health:
104
Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and
their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury
prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases. Overall, public health is
concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local
neighborhood, or as big as an entire country or region of the world.
Public Housing Agency (PHA):
105
Any State, county, municipality, or other governmental entity or
public body, or agency or instrumentality of these entities, that is authorized to engage or assist in the
development or operation of low-income housing under the 1937 Act.
Publicly Funded Institutional System: For the purposes of this plan, this term is used to encompass
foster care and institutions including corrections, hospitals, mental health conditions and/or substance use
disorders treatment facilities.
Rapid Re-housing (RRH):
106
An intervention designed to help individuals and families to quickly
exit homelessness and return to permanent housing. Rapid re-housing assistance is oered without
preconditions (such as employment, income, absence of criminal record, or sobriety) and the resources and
services provided are typically tailored to the unique needs of the household. The core components of a
rapid re-housing program are housing identification, rent and move-in assistance, and case management.
While a rapid re-housing program must have all three core components available, it is not required that a
single entity provide all three services nor that a household utilize them all.
Redlining:
107
An illegal practice in which lenders deny or discourage applications or avoid providing loans
and other credit services in neighborhoods based on the race, color, or national origin of the residents of
those neighborhoods.
Sexual assault:
82
Any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including when
the victim lacks capacity to consent.
Social Determinants of Health:
108
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the
environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that aect a wide range of
health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.
Sheltered Homelessness:
109
Situation in which individuals or households are staying in emergency
shelters, transitional housing programs, or safe havens.
Stalking:
79
Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable
person to— (A) fear for his or her safety or the safety of others; or (B) suer substantial emotional distress.
Systemic Racism:
110
Policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization, and
that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment
of others based on race.
Targeted Universalism:
35
Setting universal goals pursued by targeted processes to achieve those goals.
Within a targeted universalism framework, universal goals are established for all groups concerned. The
strategies developed to achieve those goals are targeted, based upon how dierent groups are situated
within structures, culture, and across geographies to obtain the universal goal. Targeted universalism is goal
oriented, and the processes are directed in service of the explicit, universal goal.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 95
Technical Assistance (TA): The process of providing targeted support to an organization that is a
recipient of funding from a Federal agency and is commonly provided by entities that have entered into an
agreement or a contract with the Federal agency to deliver this service. The purpose of technical assistance,
generally, is to help build the capacity of the recipient organization and can be done in a variety of forms
such as one-on-one direct technical assistance; the provision of guidance, training and tools; or the
facilitation of peer-to-peer collaborative workshops.
Transitional Housing (TH):
111
Programs that provide a temporary place for people experiencing
homelessness that provides supportive services to facilitate the movement into permanent housing.
Trauma-Informed Care:
112
A framework for organizational and individual service delivery across the
homelessness services system that acknowledges and responds to the trauma experienced by all members
of the household. Trauma-informed practices are policies, procedures, interventions, and interactions
among clients and sta that recognize the likelihood that a person receiving services has experienced
trauma or violence. For eective service delivery and stable housing placements, organizations and sta
must understand the impact of trauma on individuals and families and learn how to eectively minimize
its eects and respond appropriately with cultural awareness and competence, without contributing to
further trauma.
Unsheltered Homelessness:
113
People with a primary nighttime location—public or private—that is not
designated for sleeping, such as vehicles, parks, or streets.
Unaccompanied Youth:
114
Individuals up to 24 years old who are not accompanied by their parent
or guardian and who have no children. For purposes of housing programs, unaccompanied youth also
includes pregnant and parenting youth.
Veteran: Adult who served on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, including the military reserves and the
National Guard, regardless of how long they served or the type of discharge they received.
Waiver: Temporary change or opportunity to modify otherwise-required provisions. Unless specifically
permitted, waivers apply only to regulations and policies—not to statutory provisions.
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 96
Appendix D: References
1. “New Data Shows 11% Decline in Veteran Homelessness Since 2020—The Biggest Drop in 5+
Years”. USICH. (2022). https://www.usich.gov/news/new-data-veteran-homelessness-drop
2. “American Rescue Plan – Funding the Fight Against COVID-19 in Underserved Communities.”
Health Resources and Services Administration, 2022, https://www.hrsa.gov/.
3. Aiken, Claudia, et al. “Understanding Low-Income Hispanic Housing Challenges and the Use of
Housing and Homelessness Assistance.” Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, vol.
23, no. 2, 2021, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27039955.
4. Mcleod, J. (2021, March 11). Understanding Racial Terms and Dierences. National Institutes of
Health. https://www.edi.nih.gov/blog/communities/understanding-racial-terms-and-dierences
5. FACT SHEET: President Biden to Announce Strategy to Address Our National Mental Health
Crisis, As Part of Unity Agenda in his First State of the Union. The White House. (2022). https://
www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/01/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-
announce-strategy-to-address-our-national-mental-health-crisis-as-part-of-unity-agenda-in-his-first-
state-of-the-union/
6. President Biden Releases National Drug Control Strategy to Save Lives, Expand Treatment,
and Disrupt Tracking. The White House. (2022). https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-
room/2022/04/21/president-biden-releases-national-drug-control-strategy-to-save-lives-expand-
treatment-and-disrupt-tracking/
7. President Biden Announces New Actions to Ease the Burden of Housing Costs. The White House.
(2022). Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/
president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/
8. “Housing Instability.” Housing Instability - Healthy People 2030, https://health.gov/healthypeople/
priority-areas/social-determinants-health/literature-summaries/housing-instability.
9. “Homeless Mortality Toolkit.” National Health Care for the Homeless Council, 2021, https://nhchc.org/
wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Homeless-Mortality-Toolkit-FULL-FINAL.pdf.
10. Smith-Grant, J., Kilmer, G., Brener, N., Robin, L., & Underwood, J. M. (2022). Risk behaviors and
experiences among youth experiencing homelessness—youth risk behavior survey, 23 U.S. states and
11 local school districts, 2019. Journal of Community Health, 47(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-
021-01056-2
11. Remembering Those Lost to Homelessness. National Coalition for the Homeless. (2018). https://
nationalhomeless.org/remembering-those-lost-to-homelessness/
12. Murphy, S. L., Kochanek, K. D., Xu, J. X., & Arias, E. (2021). Mortality in the United States, 2020.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db427.
htm
13. The Hard, Cold Facts About the Deaths of Homeless People. National Health Care for the Homeless
Council. (2006). https://nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/HardColdFacts.pdf
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 97
14. The 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress Part 2: Estimates of Homelessness in
the United States. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). https://www.huduser.gov/
portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2020-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
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gov/tools/data-reporting/program-data/national/table?tableName=Full&year=2020
16. U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Student Homelessness in America School Years 2017-18 to
2019-20. National Center for Homeless Education. https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/
Student-Homelessness-in-America-2021.pdf
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to Congress. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. https://www.hudexchange.info/
homelessness-assistance/ahar/
18. Kusmer, K. L. (2003). Down and Out, On the Road: The Homeless in American History. Oxford
University Press.
19. Rothstein, R. (2018). The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated
America. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company.
20. Olivet, J., Wilkey, C., Richard, M., Dones, M., Tripp, J., Beit-Arie, M., Yampolskaya, S., &
Cannon, R. (2021). Racial Inequity and Homelessness: Findings from the SPARC Study. The
ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 693(1), 82–100. https://doi.
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21. Marks, R., Ramirez, R., Ríos-Vargas, M., & Jones, N. (2021, August 12). 2020 Census Illuminates Racial
and Ethnic Composition of the Country
. U.S. Census. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/
improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html
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org/10.1503/cmaj.200834
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mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
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United States. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2011). https://www.
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current-statistics-prevalence-characteristics-homelessness.pdf
25. Sutherland, H., Ali, M. M., & Roseno, E. (2021). Health Conditions Among Individuals with a History
of Homelessness Research Brief. Oce of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. https://
aspe.hhs.gov/reports/health-conditions-among-individuals-history-homelessness-research-brief-0
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nlihc.org/gap
Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 98
29. Zhang, J., Cummungs, R., Maury, M., & Bernstein, J. (2021). Alleviating Supply Constraints in the
Housing Market. The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2021/09/01/
alleviating-supply-constraints-in-the-housing-market/
30. Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing. National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2021). https://
nlihc.org/sites/default/files/oor/2021/Out-of-Reach_2021.pdf
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32. “Early Care and Education Supports for Young Children Experiencing Homelessness.” The
Administration for Children and Families, 2020, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/early-care-and-
education-supports-young-children-experiencing-homelessness.
33. Cogburn, C. D. (2019). Culture, race, and health: Implications for racial inequities and Population
Health. The Milbank Quarterly, 97(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12411
34. Guide to American Rescue Plan Funding That Impacts People Experiencing Homelessness. U.S.
Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2021). https://www.usich.gov/tools-for-action/a-guide-to-
american-rescue-plan-funding-that-impacts-people-experiencing-homelessness/
35. University of California, Berkeley. (n.d.). Targeted Universalism. Othering & Belonging Institute.
Retrieved from https://belonging.berkeley.edu/targeted-universalism
36. Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships. The
White House. (2021). https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/
memorandum-on-tribal-consultation-and-strengthening-nation-to-nation-relationships/
37. A Vision for Equitable Data Recommendations from the Equitable Data Working Group. White
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data.pdf
38. COVID-19 Homeless System Response: Engaging Individuals with Lived Expertise. U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/
COVID-19-Homeless-System-Response-Engaging-Individuals-with-Lived-Expertise.pdf
39. Acosta, S., & Gartland, E. (2021). Families Wait Years for Housing Vouchers Due to Inadequate
Funding. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/families-
wait-years-for-housing-vouchers-due-to-inadequate-funding
40. Moving On. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). https://www.hudexchange.
info/programs/coc/moving-on/
41. Reina, Vincent, and Claudia Aiken. “Fair Housing: Asian and Latino/a Experiences, Perceptions, and
Strategies Fair Housing.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, vol. 7, no.
2, 2021, https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2021.7.2.10.
42. Guide to American Rescue Plan Funding That Impacts People Experiencing Homelessness. U.S.
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Photos are courtesy of Getty Images, Shutterstock, and the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris
County.
