Opening Doors

federal strategic plan to

prevent and end homelessness

2010
united states interagency council on homelessness 

department of agriculture

Secretary Tom Vilsack

department of commerce

Secretary Gary Locke

department of defense

Secretary Robert M. Gates

department of education

Secretary Arne Duncan

department of energy

Secretary Steven Chu

department of health 

and human services

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

department of homeland security 

Secretary Janet Napolitano

department of housing and 

urban development 

Secretary Shaun Donovan

department of interior

Secretary Ken Salazar 

department of justice

Attorney General Eric Holder

department of labor 

Secretary Hilda Solis

department of transportation

Secretary Ray H. LaHood

department of veterans affairs 

Secretary Eric K. Shinseki

corporation for national and 

community service

Chief Executive Officer Patrick Corvington

general services administration

Administrator Martha N. Johnson

office of management and budget

Director Peter Orszag

social security administration

Commissioner Michael J. Astrue

u.s. postal service

Postmaster General John E. Potter

white house office of faith-based 

and community initiatives

Executive Director Joshua DuBois

united states interagency council 

on homelessness

Executive Director Barbara Poppe
It is simply unacceptable for 

individuals, children, families 

and our nation’s Veterans to 

be faced with homelessness 

in this country. 

President Obama

June 18, 2009

Opening Doors

federal strategic plan to

prevent and end homelessness

2010
Photography Credits

Front Cover

top row

left:	 Bob Levy

right: 	 Cathy ten Broeke. Used with permission of The Corporation for

Supportive Housing Minnesota, “Stories from Supportive Housing.”

middle row

left:	 Cathy ten Broeke. Used with permission of The Corporation for

Supportive Housing Minnesota, “Stories from Supportive Housing.”

middle:	 Eric Hylden. Used with permission of Greater Minnesota

Housing Fund, “Portraits of Home: Families in Search of Shelter”

right: Cathy ten Broeke. Used with permission of Greater Minnesota Housing

Fund, “Portraits of Home II: Veterans in Search of Stable Housing.”

bottom row

left: 	 Cathy ten Broeke. Used with permission of The Corporation for

Supportive Housing Minnesota, “Stories from Supportive Housing.”

right: 	 Bob Levy

Back Cover

top:	 Cathy ten Broeke. Used with permission of The Corporation for

Supportive Housing Minnesota, “Stories from Supportive Housing.”

left:	 Ben Garvin. Used with permission of Greater Minnesota

Housing Fund, “Portraits of Home: Families in Search of Shelter”

middle:	 Bob Levy

right:	 Bob Levy

Title Page

Inye Wokoma. Used by permission of United Way of King County, Washington

USICH would like to thank the photographers 

who generously donated use of their work.

other Credits

minnesota profiles, pages 14, 19, 21, 22, 25, 27 and 32 

Interviewer:	 Oral Historian Margaret Miles
Contents

Letter from President Obama

Preface from the Chair

Executive Summary 4

Vision and Development of the Plan 7

Homelessness in America 10

Sources of Data 11

How Many People Experience Homelessness? 12

Families With Children 12

Unaccompanied Youth 15

Individual Adults 17

Veterans 20

Systems 23

The Plan 25

Increase Leadership, Collaboration,

and Civic Engagement 30

Increase Access to Stable and Affordable Housing 35

Increase Economic Security 40

Improve Health and Stability 44

Retool the Homeless Crisis Response System 49

The Steps: Framework for Action 52

References and Endnotes 64
Since the founding of our country, “home” has been the center of the American dream. Stable 

housing is the foundation upon which everything else in a family’s or individual’s life is 

built—without a safe, affordable place to live, it is much tougher to maintain good health, get a 

good education or reach your full potential.

When I took office in January 2009, too many of our fellow citizens were experiencing homelessness. We took decisive action through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by 

investing $1.5 billion in the new Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. 

We have made record Federal investments in targeted homeless assistance in the FY2010 

budget and FY2011 budget request. And the recently passed Affordable Care Act will provide 

new and more effective methods for targeting uninsured, chronically ill individuals as well as 

children, youth, and adults experiencing homelessness. In addition, through the leadership 

of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, we are coordinating and targeting existing homelessness resources, as well as mainstream programs that can help prevent 

homelessness in the first place.

But there is still much more work to do. Veterans should never find themselves on the streets, 

living without care and without hope. It is simply unacceptable for a child in this country to 

be without a home. The previous Administration began the work to end chronic homelessness. 

Now is the time to challenge our Nation to aspire to end homelessness across all populations—

including families, youth, children, and veterans. 

This will take a continued bipartisan effort, as Republicans and Democrats in Congress have 

collaborated for years to make progress on fighting homelessness.

And preventing and ending homelessness is not just a Federal issue or responsibility. It also 

will require the skill and talents of people outside of Washington—where the best ideas are 

most often found. Tremendous work is going on at the State and local level—where States, 

local governments, nonprofits, faith-based and community organizations, and the private and 

philanthropic sectors are responsible for some of the best thinking, innovation, and evidencebased approaches to ending homelessness. These State and local stakeholders must be active 

partners with the Federal Government, and their work will inform and guide our efforts at the 

national level.

As we undertake this effort, investing in the status quo is no longer acceptable. Given the fiscal 

realities that families, businesses, State governments, and the Federal Government face, our 

response has to be guided by what works. Investments can only be made in the most promising strategies. Now more than ever, we have a responsibility to tackle national challenges like 

homelessness in the most cost-effective ways possible. Instead of simply responding once a 

family or a person becomes homeless, prevention and innovation must be at the forefront of 

our efforts. 

I was excited to receive Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. The 

goals and timeframes set forth in the Plan reflect the fact that ending homelessness in America 

must be a national priority.  Together – working with the Congress, the United States Interagency 

Council on Homelessness, mayors, governors, legislatures, nonprofits, faith-based and community organizations, and business and philanthropic leaders across our country – we will make 

progress on ensuring that every American has an affordable, stable place to call home.
Preface from the Chair

As the Chair of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), I am honored to present the 

nation’s first ever comprehensive Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

As the most far-reaching and ambitious plan to end homelessness in our history, Opening Doors will both 

strengthen existing partnerships—such as the combined effort of HUD and the Department of Veterans 

Affairs to help homeless Veterans—and forge new partnerships between agencies like HUD, HHS, and the 

Department of Labor.

This is the right time to align our collective resources toward eradicating homelessness. We have a legislative 

mandate from the HEARTH Act of 2009 and bi-partisan support to adopt a collaborative approach. Most 

importantly, we now know how to address this important issue on a large scale. Over the past five years, the 

public and private sectors have made remarkable progress in reducing chronic homelessness. By developing 

the “technology” of combining permanent housing and a pipeline of support services, we’ve reduced the 

number of chronically ill, long-term homeless individuals by one-third in the last five years.

I join my fellow Cabinet Secretaries and Council members to call for an alignment of federal resources toward 

four key goals: (1) Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in five years; (2) Prevent and end homelessness 

among Veterans in five years; (3) Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in ten years; 

and (4) Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.

This Plan outlines an interagency collaboration that aligns mainstream housing, health, education, and human 

services to prevent Americans from experiencing homelessness in the future. We propose a set of strategies 

that call upon the federal government to work in partnership with the private sector, philanthropy, and state 

and local governments to employ cost effective, comprehensive solutions to end homelessness. Our partners 

at the local level have already made tremendous strides, with communities across the nation—including over 

1,000 mayors and county executives across the country—having developed plans to end homelessness. In the 

current economic climate, we recognize that from Washington, DC, to Salt Lake City, Utah, everyone is making 

difficult decisions based on the need for fiscal discipline. Working together, we can harness public resources 

and build on the innovations that have been demonstrated at the local level and in cities nationwide to provide 

everyone—from the most capable to the most vulnerable—the opportunity to reach their full potential.

The Council members and the Administration are fully committed to taking these 

best practices and proven solutions to scale across the federal government. I am 

committed to leading an open dialogue with all stakeholders as we ensure our 

efforts reflect the most current research and data on homelessness.

By working together in new ways, we can—for the first time—set a path to end 

homelessness for the over 640,000 men, women, and children who are without 

housing on any single night in our country. They cannot afford to wait.

Sincerely,

HUD Secretary and USICH Chair Shaun Donovan
executive summary 4

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Executive Summary

Our nation has made significant progress over the last decade reducing homelessness in 

specific communities and with specific populations. Communities across the United States—

from rural Mankato, Minnesota to urban San Francisco—have organized partnerships between 

local and state agencies and with the private and nonprofit sectors to implement plans to 

prevent, reduce, and end homelessness. These communities, in partnership with the federal 

government, have used a targeted pipeline of resources to combine housing and supportive 

services to deliver permanent supportive housing for people who have been homeless the 

longest and are the frailest. The results have been significant.

In many respects, this current period of economic hardship mirrors the early 1980s when widespread homelessness reappeared for the first time since the Great Depression. Communities 

will need all of the tools in our grasp to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness, 

including families and far too many of our nation’s Veterans. In particular, we are concerned 

that recent national data shows a significant rise in family homelessness from 2008 to 2009.1

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, 

and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis declared the vision of the Plan to be centered on the belief 

that “no one should experience homelessness—no one should be without a safe, stable place 

to call home.” The Plan is focused on four key goals: (1) Finish the job of ending chronic 

homelessness in five years; (2) Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in five 

years; (3) Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in ten years; and 

(4) Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.

The goals and timeframes we aspire to in this Plan are an important target for the nation. They 

demonstrate the Council’s belief that ending homelessness in America must be a priority for 

our country. As President Barack Obama has said, in a nation as wealthy as ours, “it is simply 

unacceptable for individuals, children, families, and our nation’s Veterans to be faced with 

homelessness.“ We believe it is important to set goals, even if aspirational, for true progress 

to be made.

This Plan is a roadmap for joint action by the 19-member United States Interagency Council on 

Homelessness along with local and state partners in the public and private sectors. It will provide a reference framework for the allocation of resources and the alignment of programs to 

achieve our goal to prevent and end homelessness in America. The Plan also proposes the realignment of existing programs based on what we have learned and the best practices that are 

occurring at the local level, so that resources focus on what works. We will take action in partnership with Congress, states, localities, philanthropy, and communities around the country.

From years of practice and research, we have identified successful approaches to end 

homelessness. Evidence points to the role housing plays as an essential platform for human 

and community development. Stable housing is the foundation upon which people build their 

lives—absent a safe, decent, affordable place to live, it is next to impossible to achieve good 

health, positive educational outcomes, or reach one’s economic potential. Indeed, for many 

persons living in poverty, the lack of stable housing leads to costly cycling through crisis-driven 

systems like foster care, emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, emergency domestic violence 

shelters, detox centers, and jails. By the same token, stable housing provides an ideal launching 

“Homelessness cannot be

solved by a single agency 

or organization, by a single 

level of government, or by 

a single sector. Everyone 

should be reminded of the 

intricacies of homelessness as 

a policy area, and remember 

that preventing and ending 

homelessness will take real 

coordination, collaboration, and 

a constant exchange of ideas.”

HHS Secretary

Kathleen Sebelius
executive summary 5

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

pad for the delivery of health care and other social services focused on improving life outcomes 

for individuals and families. More recently, researchers have focused on housing stability as an 

important ingredient for the success of children and youth in school. When children have a 

stable home, they are more likely to succeed socially, emotionally, and academically.

Capitalizing on these insights, this Plan builds on the significant reforms of the last decade 

and the intent by the Obama administration to directly address homelessness through 

intergovernmental collaboration. Successful implementation of this Plan will result in stability 

and permanency for the more than 640,000 men, women, and children who are homeless on a 

single day in America. At the same time, its execution will produce approaches to homelessness 

that are cost‐effective for local, state, and federal government. The Plan’s content presents 

initial goals, themes, objectives, and strategies and was generated through the collaboration 

and consensus of the 19 USICH member agencies. Since the Homeless Emergency Assistance 

and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act requires USICH to update the Plan annually, the 

substance of this Plan represents the beginning of a process toward our goal of preventing and 

ending homelessness.

The Affordable Care Act (Health Reform), a landmark initiative of the Obama administration, 

will further the Plan’s goals by helping numerous families and individuals experiencing 

homelessness to get the health care they need. Medicaid will be expanded to nearly all 

individuals under the age of 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level 

(currently about $15,000 for a single individual). This significant expansion will allow more 

families and adults without dependent children to enroll in Medicaid in 2014. In addition, 

Health Reform will support demonstrations to improve the ability of psychiatric facilities 

to provide emergency services. It will also expand the availability of medical homes for 

individuals with chronic conditions, including severe and persistent mental illness. Expansion 

of Community Health Centers is another major change that will serve many vulnerable 

populations, including those who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

The Plan proposes a set of strategies that call upon the federal government to work in 

partnership with state and local governments, as well as the private sector to employ cost 

effective, comprehensive solutions to end homelessness. The Plan recognizes that the federal 

government needs to be smarter and more targeted in its response and role, which also includes 

supporting the work that is being done on the ground. The federal government’s partners at 

the local level have already made tremendous strides, with communities across the nation—

including over 1,000 mayors and county executives across the country—having developed plans 

to end homelessness. The Plan highlights that by collaborating at all levels of government, the 

nation can harness public resources and build on the innovations that have been demonstrated 

at the local level and in cities nationwide to provide everyone—from the most capable to the 

most vulnerable—the opportunity to reach their full potential.

The Plan includes 10 objectives and 52 strategies. These objectives and strategies contribute to 

accomplishing all four goals of the Plan.

The first section details the development of this first-ever comprehensive federal plan to 

prevent and end homelessness. This section sets out the core values reflected in the Plan 

and the key principles that guided the process. It also describes the opportunities for public 

comment offered during the development of the Plan.

During the year after entering 

supportive housing, formerly 

homeless persons in Portland, 

Maine experienced:

6 77% fewer inpatient

hospitalizations

6 62% fewer emergency

room visits

6 60% fewer ambulance 

transports

6 38% fewer psychiatric

hospitalizations

6 62% fewer days in jail

6 68% fewer police contacts

In Portland, Oregon, the 

experience was similar:

6 58% fewer days in

inpatient medical

hospitalizations

6 87% fewer emergency 

room visits

(Mondello, M., 2007; Moore, T., 2006)
executive summary 6

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

The second section of the Plan provides an overview of homelessness in America. Since 

homelessness takes many different forms by population or geographic area, we provide a 

synopsis of the issues facing these varying groups experiencing homelessness. The section 

also addresses the sources of data used throughout the Plan.

The third section represents the core of the Plan including the objectives and strategies to 

prevent and end homelessness. It provides the logic behind each objective, the departments 

and agencies involved, the key partners, and strategies to achieve the respective objectives.

The Plan concludes with a section that defines the steps USICH partners will take next, 

providing a framework for action. This includes the impact we aspire to have that will require 

active work from many partners at all levels of government and across the private sector. 

This section provides a brief summary about the context in which we move forward in terms 

of the economic, policy, and political challenges and opportunities. There is a discussion of 

the measures that will be used to track progress over time toward the Plan goals. Initiatives 

currently under way that help advance the Plan goals are summarized. Finally, the section lays 

out the documents USICH will produce to provide information and transparency to the public, 

Congress, and our partners going forward.
vision and development of the plan 7

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

vision

No one should experience homelessness—

no one should be without a safe, stable place to call home.

goals

 Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in 5 years

 Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in 5 years

 Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in 10 years

 Set a path to ending all types of homelessness

themes

INCREASE Leadership, COLLABORATION, and Civic Engagement

Objective 1: Provide and promote collaborative leadership at all levels of government 

and across all sectors to inspire and energize Americans to commit to 

preventing and ending homelessness

Objective 2: Strengthen the capacity of public and private organizations by increasing 

knowledge about collaboration, homelessness, and successful 

interventions to prevent and end homelessness

INCREASE ACCESS TO Stable and Affordable Housing

Objective 3: Provide affordable housing to people experiencing or most at risk of 

homelessness

Objective 4: Provide permanent supportive housing to prevent and end chronic 

homelessness

iNCREASE economic security

Objective 5: Increase meaningful and sustainable employment for people experiencing 

or most at risk of homelessness

Objective 6: Improve access to mainstream programs and services to reduce people’s 

financial vulnerability to homelessness

IMPROVE HEALTH AND stability

Objective 7: Integrate primary and behavioral health care services with homeless 

assistance programs and housing to reduce people’s vulnerability to

and the impacts of homelessness

Objective 8: Advance health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems

such as foster care and juvenile justice

Objective 9: Advance health and housing stability for people experiencing homelessness 

who have frequent contact with hospitals and criminal justice

RETOOL THE HOMELESS CRISIS RESPONSE SYSTEM

Objective 10: Transform homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent 

homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness

to stable housing
vision and development of the plan 8

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Development of the Plan

The President and Congress charged USICH to develop “a national strategic plan” to end homelessness with enactment of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act in May 2009. This Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 

reflects agreement by the agencies on the Council on a set of priorities and strategies including 

activities initiated by the President in the budget for fiscal years 2010 and 2011.

The Council affirmed six core values to be reflected in the Plan:

 Homelessness is unacceptable.

 There are no “homeless people,” but rather people who have lost their homes who 

deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

 Homelessness is expensive; it is better to invest in solutions.

 Homelessness is solvable; we have learned a lot about what works.

 Homelessness can be prevented.

 There is strength in collaboration and USICH can make a difference.

The Council decided the development of the Plan should be guided by key principles.

It should be:

 Collaborative

 Solutions-driven and evidence-based

 Cost-effective

 Implementable and user-friendly

 Lasting and scalable; and

 Measurable, with clear outcomes and accountability

We stressed the importance of transparency. We encouraged multiple opportunities for input, 

feedback, and collaboration in the development of the Plan from researchers, practitioners, 

state and local government leaders, advocates, people who have experienced homelessness, 

and federal agency staff.

Four workgroups were convened to analyze specific populations:

 Families with children

 Youth

 Veterans

 Individuals experiencing chronic homelessness

A fifth workgroup (Community) analyzed how the federal government can better support 

communities (including public and private sectors) in their efforts to prevent and end 

homelessness. Workgroup members from Council agencies reviewed the literature and talked 

with experts for additional insights into the scope of the problem, its causes and consequences, 

and best practices. They then synthesized the information into recommendations for the Plan.
vision and development of the plan 9

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

We obtained input from more than 750 leaders of regional and state interagency councils and 

stakeholders from across the country during regional meetings held in February and early 

March. Additional input was generated through meetings and conference calls with Mayors, 

Congressional staff, the National Alliance to End Homelessness Leadership Council, and the 

National Health Care for the Homeless Consumer Advisory Board. A number of organizations 

submitted written comments.

We also produced an interactive website for public comment on the Plan’s themes that 

produced 7,734 visits and 2,318 individual comments. The site was promoted in the Council’s 

e-newsletter distributed to more than 19,000 stakeholders, as well as an advertisement placed 

in eight of the North American Street Newspaper Association’s newspapers (with circulation 

over 150,000).

Input included a broad range of perspectives from both external and federal government 

stakeholders on the challenges, priorities, and strategies for preventing and ending homelessness in America. All input helped to inform the Plan’s priorities and strategies.

We look forward to continuing this important dialogue as we offer opportunities for ongoing 

input. We will work with key stakeholders to implement the Plan, as well as update the Plan 

annually to reflect the most current research and information on homelessness.

Input from the New York stakeholders meeting is captured in

a graphic format by Art of Hosting volunteer Drew Dernavich.
homelessness in america 10

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Homelessness in America

Homelessness takes many forms. The most common face is the person living on the street. 

When we refer to people who are unsheltered, we are referring to people who live on the 

streets, camp outdoors, or live in cars or abandoned buildings. Some people stay in emergency 

shelters or transitional housing, a group referred to as sheltered. A third group is staying 

temporarily with family or friends, a group referred to as doubled up.

This Plan provides a framework for addressing the needs of peopleconfronted by homelessness. 

While everyone needs safe, stable housing, health care, income, and community support, 

there are specific approaches and programs that are designed to help each of the subpopulations identified above.

The Plan acknowledges and supports the full range of federal definitions of homelessness as 

prescribed in statute, as each plays an appropriate and essential role in supporting and 

stabilizing those whom they are intended to help. A common language is necessary for this 

Plan to be understandable and consistent. This language does not embrace or negate the 

definitions used in different programs. The challenge then is how to speak with one voice that 

helps all families and individuals in need without creating fractures in the systems intended to 

improve their circumstances. If we are to truly end homelessness, we must use all resources 

that exist—both those that are intended for targeted homeless populations and those that are 

available for a broader segment of the population—to create lasting bridges across current 

gaps in housing and services.

The number of people experiencing homelessness has grown.2

 Thirty years ago, homelessness 

was predominantly experienced by single adults. Homelessness among children did not exist 

in the same way it does today. Economic downturns have historically led to an increase in the 

number of people experiencing homelessness. In the last three decades, however, the number 

of people experiencing homelessness has remained high even in good economic times.

The increase in homelessness is the result of a convergence of three key factors: the loss of 

affordable housing and foreclosures; wages and public assistance that have not kept pace with 

the cost of living, rising housing costs, job loss and underemployment, and resulting debt; and 

the closing of state psychiatric institutions without the concomitant creation of communitybased housing and services.

In the meantime, the federal response to homelessness has changed. Initially, a spike in 

the number of people experiencing homelessness was viewed as a short-term crisis. The 

response was emergency shelter. Later, the strategy of a continuum of care was implemented, 

the theory being that people experiencing homelessness would progress through a set of 

interventions, from outreach to shelter, into programs to help address underlying problems, 

and ultimately be ready for housing.

Over the last decade, there has been a movement for communities to create 10-year plans 

to end homelessness and a focus to use funds strategically on ending chronic homelessness 

through housing and services. People experiencing chronic homelessness represent 17 percent 

of all people experiencing homelessness according to the annual point-in-time count conducted 

across the country. They spend long periods of time—often years—living in shelters and on 

Low Income Units VLI

Units ELI Units

712,258

3,077,016

9,557,813

AMI

Shortage

Surplus

Figure

Shortage and Surplus of Units 

by Income Threshold

Source: Pelletiere, D., National Low Income

Housing Coalition, 2009

Everyone needs safe, 

stable housing, health 

care, income, and 

community support.

AMI: Area Median Income

ELI: Extremely Low Income 

(<=30% AMI)

VLI: Very Low Income

(<=50% AMI)

Low

Income: (<=80% AMI)

Units are affordable within an income 

category if rent and utilities cost 30% 

or less of top threshold income. The 

numbers shown reflect the absolute 

shortage or surplus of units for 

households in each income group.
homelessness in america 11

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

the streets, or cycling between hospitals, emergency rooms, jails, prisons, and mental health 

and substance abuse treatment facilities at great expense to these public systems. Permanent 

supportive housing has emerged as the solution for people facing the greatest challenges to 

housing stability including serious and persistent physical and behavioral health problems. 

Short- and medium-term resources now exist to prevent homelessness for families who are at 

risk of losing their homes, and to rapidly re‐house those who could return to stable living with 

immediate assistance.

Sources of Data

Data in this Plan comes from the most recently available sources. It is drawn predominantly 

from HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) for 2009. This data predates the full 

impact of the current recession. The AHAR data is the most comprehensive national data that 

tells us something about the profile of people experiencing homelessness. AHAR uses data 

from two sources:

 The first is a point-in-time count conducted by most communities every January.

It only counts people who are unsheltered or in emergency shelters or transitional 

housing. Families, youth, and other individuals who are doubled up are not included.

 The other source of data is an annualized count of everyone reported in Homeless 

Management Information Systems (HMIS) over the course of a year. These annualized 

figures, based on a representative sample of communities and weighted to represent 

the entire nation, show the number of people that come into contact with a homeless 

residential assistance program and reveal a more accurate picture of who is experiencing homelessness than can be understood from just one night. These figures do 

not include people who do not use shelter or transitional housing at any point during 

the year. They do not include women who use domestic violence shelters, which are 

exempted from reporting for reasons of safety.

The Department of Education requires all state educational agencies and local educational 

agencies to report school enrollment information in order to determine the extent to which 

states ensure that homeless children and youth have access to a free, appropriate public 

education (Title VII, Subtitle B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (the Act), also 

authorized as Title X, Part C, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended). 

The purpose of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program under the Act 

is to improve educational outcomes for children and youth. All of the more than 15,000 public 

school districts have a required designated homeless liaison. These officials conduct outreach, 

identification, and coordination with other agencies serving homeless children and youth.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also collects information on Veterans using its 

targeted programs, and some limited information about Veterans using programs not operated 

by the VA.

The Homeless Management 

Information System (HMIS)

databases are operated 

at the local or state level 

and are required by the 

Department of Housing 

and Urban Development 

to receive funding for HUD 

homeless programs.
homelessness in america 12

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

How Many People Experience Homelessness?

The 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR)3

documents that on a single night, 643,067 people were 

homeless. Of those, 63 percent were sheltered, 37 percent were unsheltered. Individuals made up 63 percent 

and people who presented within family groups were 

37 percent.

Over the course of the year, the AHAR reports 1,558,917 people used emergency shelters or 

transitional housing programs. Most had relatively short lengths of stay in emergency shelters. 

A small number of people (about one percent) were served in shelters for both families and 

individuals during the same year. The total number of people experiencing homelessness as 

noted in the table above is adjusted to avoid double-counting them.

African Americans accounted for a disproportionate share of people experiencing homelessness. While African Americans represent 12.4 percent of the total U.S. population in 2008, they 

represented 39 percent of the total sheltered homeless population.

In 2009, more than two-thirds of all people in shelters were located in large cities.4 Most shelters are located in urban areas; this number tells us more about shelter capacity than where 

people experiencing homelessness live. While homelessness exists in communities all across 

America, it is concentrated in several states and large cities. One out of every six people in 

HUD’s 2009 point-in-time count lived in the Greater Los Angeles/Orange County area, New 

York City, Las Vegas or New Orleans while only eight percent of all Americans resided in these 

areas. Over half of all people experiencing homelessness were in California, Florida, Nevada, 

Texas, Georgia, and Washington as compared to representing just 31 percent of the general 

population.5

According to the Council for Affordable and Rural Housing, rural homelessness tends to have 

a distinctive profile.6 They report that most people in rural areas who would otherwise be 

homeless live in cars, doubled up, or in grossly substandard housing. Rural areas have fewer 

shelters or resources for people to turn to, although individuals in these areas tend to have 

larger extended family and friend networks.

Most individuals who become homeless in rural areas are experiencing homelessness for the 

first time and tend to remain homeless for shorter periods. Most people experiencing homelessness in rural communities are married, white, working females, and often with families.7 

Rural areas have a rate of unsheltered persons in families almost double that of urban areas.8 

Housing instability also impacts a significant number of Native Americans and farm laborers.

Families With Children

On a single night in 2009, 238,110 people in families were counted as homeless. Most (79 percent) were sheltered in emergency shelters or transitional housing. Over the course of 2009, 

as many as 535,447 people in families were sheltered, an increase of 4 percent from the previous year and 13 percent since 2007. Only a small group of families used shelters repeatedly.9

Point-in-Time

Estimated

Annual

Persons

in Families 238,110 535,447

Individuals 404,957 1,034,659

Total 643,067 1,558,917 Source: HUD 2009 AHAR

Figure

People Using Emergency

Shelters or Transitional 

Housing Programs, 2009

Source: HUD 2009 AHAR

Individuals

63%

Persons in Families

37%
homelessness in america 13

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

For the 2008-09 school year, public schools reported over 956,000 homeless students were 

enrolled, a 20 percent increase from 2007-08. Over 617,000 students were reported served 

by McKinney-Vento sub-grants in 2008-09, a 31 percent increase from 2007-08. This number 

is higher than numbers from HUD because the Department of Education counts children who 

are doubled up or living in motels or other temporary habitation, and HUD does not. Possible 

factors contributing to these increases could be better data collection processes, natural 

disasters, and economic downturn.10

Families experiencing homelessness are usually headed by a single woman who on average 

is in her late 20s with approximately two children, one or both under six years of age.11 The 

three most important differences between families experiencing homelessness and other 

poor families concern the resources they need to secure housing. Families experiencing 

homelessness have extremely low incomes, have less access to housing subsidies than lowincome families who remain housed, and have weaker social networks that are not able to 

provide sufficient help.12 Some families have been hurt by the foreclosure crisis, including 

families who were renting from a landlord whose property went into foreclosure.13

Domestic violence creates vulnerability to homelessness for women and children with limited 

economic resources. Among mothers with children experiencing homelessness, more than 

80 percent had previously experienced domestic violence.14 Domestic violence often includes 

exertion of financial control, leaving victims with poor credit and few resources. Finding safe, 

affordable housing is one of the greatest obstacles that women who leave abusive partners 

face. Many victims must leave their homes to escape violence but may not have the money to 

support themselves and their children. Emergency domestic violence shelters generally limit 

stays to 90 days or less in order to maintain beds for those in the most immediate danger. 

When shelter is inaccessible or unavailable, many victims end up in precarious and often 

unsafe housing situations, including living with friends or families where their abuser might be 

able to locate them, or living in uninhabitable conditions. Others are forced to return to their 

abuser if they have no viable options available.

According to Domestic Violence Counts 2009, on a single day, 65,321 adults and children 

nationwide sought services after leaving life-threatening abuse. On this same day, domestic 

violence programs provided emergency shelter and transitional housing to more than 32,000 

adults and children.15 Domestic violence and sexual assault programs are vital allies in a 

coordinated strategy to prevent and end homelessness among families with children.

When families become homeless, the experience itself is traumatizing, especially for children. 

Children in families experiencing homelessness also have high rates of acute and chronic health 

problems and the majority has been exposed to violence.16 Homeless school age children are 

more likely than similar age children in the general population to have emotional problems 

such as anxiety, depression, withdrawal, and manifestations of aggressive behavior.17 Repeated 

school mobility leads to decreased academic achievement, negatively impacting both the 

child’s and the school’s overall performance.18

Some homeless assistance programs have practices that break families apart, forcing male 

children, for example, to find shelter separate from the rest of their family. Homelessness has 

a high correlation with family separations including foster care and involvement with child 

welfare services. Among families involved with child welfare services, the rate of placement 

in foster care is highest for the children of women with at least one episode of homelessness. 

Between 22% and 57% 

of women experiencing 

homelessness report that 

domestic or sexual violence 

was the immediate cause 

of their homelessness, 

depending on the region 

and type of study.

National Law Center on

Homelessness and Poverty
homelessness in america 14

FEDERAL STRATEGIC PLAN TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Homelessness can also make the reunification of separated families more difficult, particularly 

if parents lose access to income and housing supports that allow them to create a suitable 

environment for their children.19

There are significant costs associated with family homelessness—costs associated with 

supporting both the parents and the children. The first is the high cost of the homeless system 

itself. The cost is significant for a family to live in emergency shelter or transitional housing. But 

there are other costs as well, including transporting children to schools and other strains on the 

education system caused by high mobility. There are also costs borne by the child welfare and 

the healthcare system. There is limited understanding of the long-term health and education 

costs associated with child homelessness.

The good news is there are solutions. Some solutions provide direct support to family 

members: jobs that pay enough to afford a place to live; affordable housing and income and 

work supports; health insurance and access to quality health care; keeping families together 

and accommodating all family configurations in housing and shelter. Schools have played 

an important role identifying and supporting children, youth, and families experiencing 

homelessness, in addition to state and local coordination between education and other 

supportive services for children, youth, and families experiencing homelessness. Domestic 

violence services play a key role in helping victims achieve both safety and housing stability. 

Some solutions involve transforming systems: coordinating all the programs and assistance 

available to families as well as matching programs to the specific needs of families.

Rapid re-housing uses short-term strategies to help families quickly move out of homelessness 

and into permanent housing. These may include providing supportive services to help a 

household quickly secure housing, providing short-term financial and rental assistance, and 

addressing barriers to long-term housing stability. For a small subset of families with multiple 

barriers to stable housing, permanent supportive housing, tailored to the unique needs of 

families, is the right intervention.

In Washington State the cost 

of transporting a homeless 

student to and from his or 

her school of origin is 6 to 80 

times higher than that of the 

general student population.

(Carlson, D., 2006)

Jaslyn lives with her son, 6, and daughter, 9, in an apartment 

they found through a rapid re-housing program. Jaslyn used to be 

on the run from her children’s father, who abused her. Now, she 

says, they are all doing really well. The kids are so happy to have 

their own rooms. “Last summer I was invited to go to Washington, 

D.C. to help pass the bill called “Bring America Home” so there 

might be sufficient housing for everybody. I felt honored. Then 

I got invited out a second time to meet Members of Congress. 

Everyone there treated me as an equal, not as an outsider.”

Used with permission of The Corporation for Supportive 

Housing Minnesota, “Stories from Supportive Housing.”

Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke

Children from families 

with housing problems are 

more likely to be in foster 

care than children without 

housing problems (46% 

vs. 27%). These children 

are more likely to be “long 

stayers” in foster care 

compared to children from 

adequately housed families.

(HHS, National Study of Protective,

Preventive and Reunification Services

to Children and their Families, 1997)
homelessness in america 15

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Unaccompanied Youth

The actual number of youth experiencing homelessness is unknown. Estimates vary depending on definitions of homelessness, including youth who are staying in unstable, temporary 

arrangements, and on the age range being considered as youth.20 Unaccompanied youth are 

difficult to count because they often are not connected to services or shelters. The counts and 

estimates that do exist vary widely.

According to 2009 figures from HUD, unaccompanied youth are 2.2 percent of the sheltered 

homeless population or about 22,700.21 It is widely agreed that this is a serious undercount of 

youth experiencing any form of homelessness, including youth in unsheltered and doubledup living arrangements. Other sources suggest that approximately 110,000 youth live on the 

streets and other public places, cars, abandoned buildings, including 55,000 homeless youth 

age 18-24 plus 55,000 young teenagers age 12-17.22 The most recent information from the Department of Education shows 53,000 unaccompanied youth supported through school-based 

programs.

Youth often leave home as a result of a severe family conflict which may include physical and/

or sexual abuse. Some youth become homeless when they leave foster or institutional care 

(including running away, aging out, or being discharged). Some studies suggest that racial 

and ethnic minority youth as well as youth who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and 

questioning represent a larger proportion when compared to the overall population. Others 

suggest no significant differences between youth experiencing homelessness and the larger 

population.23

Some teenaged boys are separated from their families because some shelters have policies 

that force older adolescent males to be housed in adult shelters apart from their families.

Many youth who become homeless have histories of academic difficulties including suspensions and expulsion.24 If a youth has not dropped out prior to becoming homeless, the experience of homelessness frequently disrupts schooling.25 The likelihood of successful transitions 

to post-secondary education and employment is also decreased.

Research shows a high prevalence of depression, suicide initiations, and other mental health 

disorders among youth who are homeless.26 Chronic physical health conditions are also common 

including asthma and other respiratory problems, hypertension, tuberculosis, diabetes, 

and hepatitis.27 Homeless adolescents also have high rates of substance abuse disorders.28

Behaviors associated with mental health and substance abuse disorders can cause problems 

cultivating relationships.

Additionally, those that have been abused or neglected are at increased risk of abusing or 

neglecting their own children. The likelihood of personality disorders, depression, anxiety, and 

substance abuse is also higher among those who have been abused and neglected. Research 

also shows that abuse and neglect affect a youth’s behavior and ability to learn.29

Homeless youth engage in risky behaviors including selling drugs, panhandling, stealing, and 

sex work as a means of subsistence. They have high rates of prior arrests and convictions.

 A 2005 study of 18- to 

21-year-old youth experiencing 

homelessness found that 

two-thirds had not obtained 

a high school diploma or 

a GED certificate at the 

point of program intake.

(Barber, C.C., 2005)

Almost 2 in 5 of all HIVpositive adolescents seen at 

a NYC clinic had a history of 

unstable housing associated 

with abuse and neglect.

(Eastwood, E.A., 2007)
homelessness in america 16

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Each year, 30,000 youth ages 16 and older transition from foster care to legal emancipation or 

“age out” of the system. One quarter of former foster youth experience homelessness within 

four years of exiting foster care.30

A significant number of unaccompanied young women are pregnant or parenting.31

Youth experiencing homelessness are often blocked from getting what they need because 

programs are geared toward adults. For those under the age of eighteen, signing a lease or 

qualifying for some benefits can be especially challenging or in many places impossible. They 

may need a release from a parent for the most basic services like medical care. Many homeless 

programs serving families with children may not have expertise supporting teenagers. Even 

programs targeting youth may not have the capacity or expertise to support youth who are 

parents.

More needs to be known about the cost associated with youth homelessness. But we know 

that high rates of medical and behavioral health issues and incarceration are costly. These 

costs compound over a lifetime, as today’s homeless youth become tomorrow’s homeless 

adults, or when risky behaviors or sexual exploitation result in HIV infection.

There are six areas consistently referenced in reports and studies on youth homelessness that 

must be addressed in order to prevent and end homelessness for this population:

 Individualized goal-based service planning

 On-going support services connected to mainstream resources

 Independent living skills training

 Connections to supportive and trustworthy adults and support networks

 Employment and education

 Housing

Youth also need shelter, transitional programs, and services that emphasize stabilization and 

reunification with families when appropriate (recognizing that, in many cases, youth have 

become homeless because of hostile and dangerous conditions at home and that reunification 

with families may not be appropriate for groups such as victims of abuse and many gay, lesbian, 

bisexual and transgender youth). Youth shelters provide a safe alternative to adult shelters and 

the dangers of victimization and life on the streets. Transitional living programs and supportive 

housing for some youth with special needs provide housing, life skills, and services to young 

people who cannot be reunited with their families.

Youth would benefit from focused attention by systems adapted to their unique needs and 

more collaborative work across systems to align resources across a range of needs. Assistance 

is needed to help youth transition from youth-specific systems like child welfare and juvenile 

courts to adult service systems that provide mental health services, housing, health care, and 

other basic needs. More research would be helpful to examine patterns of youth homelessness 

and factors associated with extended or repeated episodes of homelessness. Better tools are 

needed for counting youth who are experiencing homelessness.

Homeless youth engage 

in risky behaviors, such as 

unprotected sex, sex with 

multiple partners, intravenous 

drug use and needle sharing, 

that place them at high risk 

for contracting HIV/AIDS.

(Wagner, L.S., 2001)
homelessness in america 17

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Individual Adults

Over the course of 2009, 983,835 people accessing shelters and transitional housing programs 

were individual adults (63 percent). Close to three quarters were men. Forty-three percent 

of sheltered adults without families had a disabling condition and 13 percent were Veterans. 

There is a growing population of older adults who are homeless—one out of four is over 

the age of 50. Fourteen percent of individuals were in institutional settings the night before 

becoming homeless.32

The 2009 HUD point-in-time count showed 47 percent of the 404,957 individuals experiencing 

homelessness were living on the streets.

In 2009, there were 110,917 adults experiencing chronic homelessness. This represents 26 

percent of unaccompanied adults that were counted and 17 percent of all people counted 

that night. Six out of ten people experiencing chronic homelessness are not sheltered. While 

people experiencing chronic homelessness are mostly male (75-80 percent), there is also a 

significant number of women. After declining 30 percent between 2005 and 2007, the number 

of persons who experienced chronic homelessness remained essentially the same in 2008, but 

dropped 11 percent in 2009.33

Among those experiencing chronic homelessness, needs are prevalent and acute. Despite 

disabling health conditions, most people experiencing chronic homelessness are not currently 

enrolled in Medicaid or other health insurance programs. As this cohort ages (the average age 

is close to 50), health care needs increase.34 Health Reform will help many individuals, including 

people experiencing chronic homelessness, who were not eligible for Medicaid previously. 

Medicaid will be expanded to all individuals under the age of 65 with incomes currently up to 

about $15,000 for a single individual in FY 2010 in the continental United States (133 percent of 

the federal poverty level). This will allow more adults without dependent children to enroll in 

Medicaid in 2014 (or before, at state option). Although many in this group will become Medicaid 

eligible due to the passage of Health Reform, a key to their enrollment will be providing them 

with transition assistance and permanent supportive housing solutions.

The sub-group of single individuals that experiences long-term homelessness has high rates 

of mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders. Chronic homelessness is associated with 

severe symptoms of alcohol abuse, schizophrenia, and personality disorder. Many have not 

been effectively engaged or retained in outpatient treatment and show increasingly high rates 

of chronic, disabling, and/or life-threatening health conditions (hypertension, asthma, HIV/

AIDS, liver disease). For individuals experiencing chronic homelessness overall, there are high 

rates of abuse, violence, and separation from families as children, but these rates are highest 

among women.35

It is important to note that some individuals have minor children who are not with them.

Many of the causes of homelessness for individual adults are similar to causes of homelessness 

among families. People experiencing homelessness have little or no income. They cannot 

afford a place to live. There is insufficient subsidized housing. They may have limited access to 

housing that does exist because of past criminal records, substance abuse or untreated mental 

A study of hospital costs 

associated with homelessness reported that 52% of 

individuals who are homeless 

were admitted for mental 

health or substance abuse 

treatment, compared to 

23% of non-homeless lowincome patients, and the 

length of hospital stay for 

homeless patients was 36% 

longer per admission than 

for non-homeless patients.

(Salit, Kuhn, et al., 1998)

Only 35% of participants 

in a HUD study of Housing 

First programs for homeless 

persons with serious mental 

illness had Medicaid at 

the time of enrollment.

(HUD, The Applicability of Housing

First Models to Homeless Persons

with Serious Mental Illness, 2007)

Pre-enrollment health care 

costs for people helped by 

the federal Collaborative 

Initiative to Help End 

Chronic Homelessness 

averaged more than $27,000 

annually for each person.

(Mares & Rosenheck, 2010)
homelessness in america 18

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

illness. Their social support networks are frail or 

non-existent. Individuals experiencing homelessness 

have high rates of behavioral health conditions and 

insufficient access to care. Their behaviors can lead 

to eviction or alienation from friends and family, 

and periods of institutionalization or incarceration. 

When individuals become homeless, their health 

and behavioral health worsens. They are exposed to 

more trauma and violence. Survival—seeking food 

and shelter—becomes all consuming. It is difficult 

to get a job without an address or a place to store 

your belongings. Mental illness and substance 

abuse sometimes result in people being screened or 

expelled from shelters, transitional housing, or public housing.

The literature on the cost of single adult homelessness is extensive and in agreement. 

Homelessness results in increased use of emergency rooms, hospitals, police, and jails, in 

addition to costs associated with shelter and other homeless services. Health care is the 

largest component of costs from frequent and avoidable emergency room visits, inpatient 

hospitalization for medical or psychiatric care, sobering centers, and nursing homes.36

Solutions include the basics: jobs that pay enough to afford a place to live, affordable 

housing, better access to income and work supports, and expanded access to health and 

behavioral health care, including trauma-informed care. Individuals become homeless 

because of a shortage of housing, support, and care, but also because the services that do 

exist are often fragmented and difficult to access. Better coordination across programs and 

services is needed. Mainstream programs need to pay attention to housing stability, focus on 

homelessness prevention, and connect people to housing resources.

Rapid re-housing strategies are working for single adults, reducing their stay in shelters and 

supporting them to stabilize in housing, connect to care, and employment.

For people experiencing chronic homelessness, the research is clear that permanent 

supportive housing using a Housing First approach is the solution.37 There are two models of 

supportive housing. Single sites are housing developments or apartment buildings in which 

units are designated as supportive housing. In scattered-site programs, participants use rent 

subsidies to obtain housing from private landlords and supportive services are provided 

through home visits. Services in supportive housing are flexible and primarily focused on the 

outcome of housing stability, and include services to address mental health, substance abuse, 

health, and employment needs.

Housing First models of supportive housing incorporate strategies that minimize barriers to 

housing access or pre-conditions of housing readiness, sobriety, or engagement in treatment. 

They assist participants to move into permanent housing quickly and provide the intensive 

supportive services needed to help residents achieve and maintain housing stability and 

improvements in their overall condition. These practices seek to “screen in” rather than 

“screen out” and end homelessness for people with the greatest barriers to housing success.

Costs represent averages of 

costs derived from cost studies 

of homelessness and homeless 

interventions conducted between 

2004 and 2009 in Atlanta, Chicago, 

Columbus, Denver, Los Angeles, 

Maine, Massachusetts, New York, 

Phoenix, Portland (Oregon), Rhode 

Island, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Shelter

Affordable and

Supporve Housing

Jail

Detox

Ambulance

Psychiatric

Hospital

Emergency

Room

Hospital

Inpaent $1,940

$905

$604

$527

$256

$87

$31

$28 Cost per day per person

Aer entry into supporve housing

Before entry into supporve housing

CO

RI

ME

MA

OR $42,075

$28,436

$28,045

$31,671

$17,381

$17,199

$6,056

$14,009

$22,778

$9,635

Figure

Reductions in Utilization of 

Major Services Before and After 

Entry into Supportive Housing

Sources: Perlman, 2006; MHSA, 2008; 

Hirsch, 2007; Mondello, 2007; Moore, 2006

Figure

Costs of Serving Homeless

Individuals

Sources: Perlman, 2006; MHSA, 2008; 

Hirsch, 2007; Mondello, 2007; Lewin Group, 

2004; Justice Policy Institute, 2007; Down- town Emergency Service Center, 2008;

Moore, 2006; Flaming, 2009)
homelessness in america 19

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Evaluations of permanent supportive housing have demonstrated significant improvements 

in housing stability, reductions in days of homelessness, and reductions in the utilization and 

costs of public services such as emergency shelter, hospital emergency room and inpatient 

care, sobering centers, and jails.38

 In Seattle, Medicaid costs were reduced 41 percent, sobering center admissions 

reduced 87 percent and average total costs reduced more than 75 percent after one 

year.39

 In the federal Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness, participants 

were placed rapidly into permanent housing and 95 percent were in independent 

housing after one year. Average costs for health care and treatment were reduced by 

about half. The largest decline was associated with costs for inpatient hospital care.40

In the Chicago Housing and Health Partnership, persons experiencing homelessness who were 

receiving inpatient hospital care for chronic medical conditions were randomly assigned to 

receive usual care or access to recuperative care (respite) and permanent supportive housing. 

The intervention group had 29 percent fewer hospitalizations, 24 percent fewer emergency 

room visits, and 45 percent fewer days in nursing homes.41

Jackie lives with her dog, Max, in a onebedroom supportive housing apartment. 

Jackie is recovering from an addiction to 

pain killers after suffering a debilitating 

back injury and depression. Jackie was 

desperate to find a place to live where 

she did not have to give up her dog. 

“He’s my love. He’s what I have left. I 

could have gotten another place, but 

not with the mental health support 

that I need for depression. Living with 

these people is just tremendous. It’s 

healing. It’s community.”

Reprinted with permission of The Corporation of Supportive Housing Minnesota,

“Stories from Supportive Housing.” Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke
homelessness in america 20

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Veterans

According to the VA, the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness has been declining 

rapidly over the past two years. This is a combination of increased effort and better methodology. In 2009, the VA estimated 107,000 homeless Veterans on any given night through its 

Community Homeless Assessment Local Education and Networking Groups (CHALENG). This 

represented an 18 percent reduction from the 2008 estimate of 131,000 Veterans on any given 

night. This reduction represents a significant step toward achieving the VA’s goal of eliminating 

homelessness among Veterans.

HUD’s 2009 point-in-time count stated there were 59,390 Veterans experiencing homelessness.42 That count is believed to undercount Veterans who are unsheltered. The point-in-time 

count objective is to obtain an accurate count and previously has not accurately established 

military service history. Efforts are underway to improve this count and to enhance identification of Veterans who are homeless.

Using the best information available, 107,000 Veterans experiencing homelessness on a given 

night is a reasonable figure and will be used as the baseline in this Plan.

Despite imperfect counting mechanisms, we know that Veterans account for a larger proportion of those experiencing homelessness compared to the overall population. Approximately 

44,000 to 66,000 Veterans are believed to be experiencing chronic homelessness.43

Pre-military service experiences have a significant effect on risk of homelessness including 

physical or sexual abuse as a child, other traumatic experiences, or foster care.44

Veterans have high rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), 

and sexual trauma, especially for women. Returning Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have 

even higher rates possibly associated with repeated deployments. These factors significantly 

impact the ability to form trusting relationships. PTSD may also contribute to substance 

abuse problems and relapse. Other mental health problems and/or TBI may result in cognitive 

impairments (difficulties with concentration or remembering tasks), difficulties in social 

relationships, controlling temper or impulses, or other effects that may create barriers to 

employment and stable relationships. Multiple and extended deployments may contribute 

to unemployment and/or damage to family connections and family conflict upon return.45

A majority of homeless Veterans are single; social isolation is associated with higher risk of 

homelessness.46

There is an increasing number of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans who are women and who are 

homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Many are caring for young children, and many have 

experienced sexual abuse and trauma during and/or prior to military service.47 For all Veterans, 

greater attention is being paid to the needs of their families and children.

Homelessness exacerbates poor health and behavioral health and increases an individual’s 

contact with the criminal justice system. Half of homeless Veterans had histories of involvement 

with criminal justice after discharge from the military. Incarcerated homeless Veterans 

have high levels of health, mental health, and/or substance abuse problems.48 About half of 

homeless Veterans have serious mental illness; 70 percent have substance abuse problems; 

over half have other health problems.49

“No one, especially Veterans 

who have faithfully 

served our country, should 

become homeless. This 

Council’s work is critical to 

providing for those at risk 

and on the streets. This 

interagency partnership 

allows us to leverage our 

resources, programs, talent, 

and experience to create 

viable solutions that will 

eliminate homelessness.”

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki

Nearly half a million 

Veterans pay more than 

half of their income for 

rent. More than half of 

them have incomes below 

the federal poverty level.

(Cunningham, M., 2007)

The average annual cost of 

health care for homeless 

Veterans was $27,206,

13.3 percent higher than

for Veterans who were

not homeless.

(Rosenheck & Seibyl, 1998)
homelessness in america 21

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Causes of homelessness among Veterans are similar to causes of homelessness among nonVeterans (interrelated economic and personal factors and a shortage of affordable housing). 

Combat introduces additional factors from post-traumatic stress. Like other populations, the 

complexity of navigating systems makes it difficult for Veterans to get their needs met.

There are unique and robust programs and supports available for Veterans although for some, 

their lack of awareness about programs, or their ambivalence about seeking care may keep 

them from receiving these services. In some cases, their military discharge status or lack of 

records may create complications in accessing services.

Veterans need the same basics—jobs, affordable housing, and access to health and behavioral 

health care—that other single adults or families need. Veterans experiencing chronic homelessness benefit from comprehensive health care and a unique array of benefits, and increasing access to permanent supportive housing.

The Department of Defense and the VA are working together to make the transition from active duty to Veteran status more seamless. This collaboration includes the development of 

processes to support electronic transmission of service and health care records. Service members can address their housing plans—as well as employment, benefits, and other essential 

needs—as part of their Individual Transition Plan.

The Department of Defense believes that education and training play a critical role towards 

preventing homelessness for Veterans. The Department endorses and encourages service 

members and Veterans to continue their education and training throughout their military 

life cycle, as well as post military service. This is essential if service members want to remain 

competitive in the 21st-century job market. Education and training serve as gateways that lead 

to fulfilling employment. They provide Veterans with the type of employment that provides 

the economic support needed to keep a Veteran from becoming homeless.

An ongoing study of U.S. 

Veterans living with HIV 

shows that 44 percent have 

experienced homelessness, 11 

percent are currently homeless; 

HIV-infected Veterans who have 

experienced homelessness are 

more likely than those who 

have not to be hospitalized.

(Ghose, T., 2009; Gordon, A.J., 2007)

Mary, United States Navy

“As a female vet, I didn’t even know I was eligible for 

service-connected disability. I promised myself early 

on that my kids would never end up in a homeless 

shelter.” Mary currently lives in an affordable home.

Reprinted with permission of Greater Minnesota Housing Fund,

“Portraits of Home II: Veterans in Search of Stable Housing.”

Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke
homelessness in america 22

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Steve said there was no help transitioning from war to home and he spent the next 

decades of his life running from memories of the war. He did all he could to forget. He 

started a successful tree-trimming business, but also drank excessively, used drugs, and 

did frequent stints at VA Hospitals. He quit drinking and drugs, but continued to struggle 

with sleeping and with the thoughts in his head. He eventually retreated from society for 

what he calls his “1,000 days of being alone” at an old farmhouse during which he talked 

to no one and only took in rescued animals. “I had given up completely.”

About a year and a half ago Steve moved to International Falls, Minnesota to get his 

affairs in order because he felt it would be a good place to walk off into the wilderness 

and commit suicide. He rented the only place he could afford, which was a run-down, 

moldy house. When some people he’d gotten to know noticed they hadn’t seen him in 

awhile, they went to the house and found him in terrible shape. He got in touch with 

the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans in Duluth and they helped connect him 

to a counselor. He was diagnosed with PTSD which made him eligible for the benefits he 

needed to afford a safe place to live. The support he gets means the world to him. He 

says he feels like he’s been reborn, like he’s getting a second chance. He stresses how 

important it’s been just to have someone tell him he’s not crazy. He currently lives with 

his three cats — who he has always thought of as his lifesavers: “Even when I didn’t care 

about my life, I needed to be there for the cats.”

Reprinted with permission of Greater Minnesota Housing Fund,

“Portraits of Home II: Veterans in Search of Stable Housing”.

Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke
homelessness in america 23

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Systems

Emergency Shelter Transitional Housing

2006 Fair Market Rent

for Two-Bedroom Unit

Washington, D.C. $2,496 – $3,698 $2,146 – $2,188 $1,225

Houston, Texas $1,391 $1,940 – $4,482 $743

Kalamazoo, Michigan $1,614 $813 $612

Upstate South Carolina $2,269 $1,209 $599

Through these population-specific descriptions, common themes emerge at a systems level.

 We need coordinated leadership at the federal, state, and local levels.

 There must be more program coordination and simplification. Mainstream programs, 

those not targeted to homeless populations, need to be a part of the solution rather 

than a set of uncoordinated targeted programs as has been the approach historically.

 Programs must adapt to meet the unique needs of people who have experienced 

homelessness. Systems must be organized to meet the needs of people with histories 

of trauma and violence and must be responsive to the special needs of other 

populations.

 Interventions—mainstream and targeted—must focus on prevention and achieving 

the outcome of housing stability.

 People must have better access to affordable housing, health, and behavioral health 

care, as well as income and work supports.

Additionally, attention needs to be given to the following:

 There is uneven and limited capacity to deliver the most effective strategies at a scale 

that will help everyone experiencing or most at risk of homelessness. Even if there 

is more coordinated leadership and programs available to all who need them, local 

housing and service systems must be strengthened in order to move quickly and 

effectively to provide housing and assistance to all who need it.

 Policies and programs must be adaptive based on information about what is working. Attention must be paid not only to whether or not programs are working for the 

people they are serving, but also whether or not all people who need them are able 

to get what they need to prevent or move out of homelessness.

 Barriers that get in the way of people getting the supports and services they need 

must be addressed. This includes everything from access to identification to eligibility 

processes and the complexity of navigating multiple programs that operate in isolation.

 Much is known about solutions to homelessness. For some subgroups and in some 

places, there is still more to learn.

In sum, close to two million Americans experience homelessness each year. For most, this 

is caused by the gap between income and the cost of housing. For many, health conditions, 

mental health and substance abuse, trauma, and lack of supportive families make them at risk 

of or push them into homelessness.

Table

Average Cost per Family per 

Month for Each Homeless

Program Type for Families

and FY2006 Two-Bedroom

Fair Market Rents

Source: Spellman, B., 2010

Costs shown reflect weighted 

averages by program type. Ranges 

represent the averages for different 

programs within a program type.

FMR Source: HUD, 2005

The FMR does not include the monthly 

fee paid to a public housing agency for 

administering the voucher program, 

which ranged from $50 to $90 per unit 

per month in these four communities.

(HUD, 2007)
homelessness in america 24

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Homelessness is costly to society because people experiencing homelessness frequently 

require the most expensive publicly-funded services and institutions.

Solutions exist. New collaborative leadership, more coordination, and wise investments in 

proven strategies focused on prevention aimed at housing stability—that incorporate both 

housing and services—will lead to major reductions in homelessness.

David, United States Army 

David is a precariously-housed 

Vietnam Veteran who rents a 

deteriorating farmhouse outside 

of town. He loves caring for 

animals, and worries about losing 

them if he has to move. PostTraumatic Stress Disorder makes 

him unable to live in crowded, 

noisy areas. Despite his PTSD, 

David enjoys working part-time to 

help students produce shows for 

community radio.

Reprinted with permission of Greater Minnesota Housing Fund,

“Portraits of Home II: Veterans in Search of Stable Housing”.

Photographer: Stormi Greener
The Plan

Heather’s baby at youth center

Heather is a teen mother who lives in supportive housing.

The caring people who work with her have helped her

learn how to be a good mom to her baby.

Reprinted with permission of The Corporation of Supportive Housing Minnesota,

“Stories from Supportive Housing.” Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke
the plan 26

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

vision

No one should experience homelessness—

no one should be without a safe, stable place to call home.

goals

 Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in 5 years

 Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in 5 years

 Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in 10 years

 Set a path to ending all types of homelessness

themes

INCREASE Leadership, COLLABORATION, and Civic Engagement

Objective 1: Provide and promote collaborative leadership at all levels of government 

and across all sectors to inspire and energize Americans to commit to 

preventing and ending homelessness

Objective 2: Strengthen the capacity of public and private organizations by increasing 

knowledge about collaboration, homelessness, and successful 

interventions to prevent and end homelessness

INCREASE ACCESS TO Stable and Affordable Housing

Objective 3: Provide affordable housing to people experiencing or most at risk of 

homelessness

Objective 4: Provide permanent supportive housing to prevent and end chronic 

homelessness

iNCREASE economic security

Objective 5: Increase meaningful and sustainable employment for people experiencing 

or most at risk of homelessness

Objective 6: Improve access to mainstream programs and services to reduce people’s 

financial vulnerability to homelessness

IMPROVE HEALTH AND stability

Objective 7: Integrate primary and behavioral health care services with homeless 

assistance programs and housing to reduce people’s vulnerability to and 

the impacts of homelessness

Objective 8: Advance health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems such as 

foster care and juvenile justice

Objective 9: Advance health and housing stability for people experiencing homelessness 

who have frequent contact with hospitals and criminal justice

RETOOL THE HOMELESS CRISIS RESPONSE SYSTEM

Objective 10: Transform homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent 

homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness to 

stable housing
the plan 27

FEDERAL STRATEGIC PLAN TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Beth and her four children, ages 6, 7, 12, 

and 15, live in a duplex provided by the 

American Indian Community Housing 

Organization in Duluth, Minnesota. Beth 

and her children became homeless when 

she left an abusive marriage after more 

than ten years and now she and her 

children are starting over.

She works a reception job, and staff are 

helping her build her resume. Beth is also 

an artist, making moccasins, beadwork, 

pencil drawings, and acrylic on canvas. 

“Since I’ve been in this housing I can do 

some of these things again. In a year I’ll 

have canvases all over the place.”

This Plan creates the framework for accomplishing the ambitious goals of preventing and ending 

homelessness. The objectives identify high level actions or system change needed to facilitate 

increased access to housing, economic security, health, and stability for specific populations. 

The strategies articulate steps that could be taken collaboratively by federal, state, and local 

leaders to address the differentiated needs of the populations identified.

What follows is a discussion of each objective, including the logic for the objective, its strategies, 

the lead federal agencies, and key partners. Following each objective are the strategies needed 

to accomplish that particular objective.

There are Signature Initiatives presented throughout related to Veterans, families with 

children, people experiencing chronic homelessness, and youth. These initiatives highlight 

new collaborative activity currently being undertaken by federal agencies and other partners. 

They focus on the target populations for the Plan. They will create opportunities for shared 

learning about specific strategies and approaches. They may also inform future policy and 

budget processes.

The table on the following page shows how different population groups are targeted within 

each of the strategies.

USICH staff are working in partnership with the 19 Council member agencies and with other 

key stakeholders to begin the planning that could operationalize each strategy. Through the 

planning and implementation process, the feasibility of the strategies will be assessed with 

some strategies taking longer to operationalize. Some strategies may prove not to be feasible 

to implement at scale.

Used with permission of The Corporation for Supportive 

Housing Minnesota, “Stories from Supportive Housing.” 

Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke
the plan 28

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Populations Supported by the Plan’s Strategies

OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES Veterans Families Youth Chronic All

1. Promote Collaborative Leadership

a. Educate the public • • • • •

b. Engage state/local/tribal leaders • • • • •

c. Update and implement state/local plans • • • • •

d. Involve citizens and private sector • • • • •

e. Test, model interagency collaboration • • • • •

f. Reward collaborating communities • • • • •

g. Recognize savings across partners • • • • •

h. Engage Congressional committees • • • • •

Signature Initiative: Veterans • • •

2. Strengthen Capacity and Knowledge

a. Compile research • • • • •

b. Coordinate federal technical assistance • • • • •

c. More readily available info on best practices • • • • •

d. More readily available info on special populations • • • • •

e. Needs of rural and tribal communities • • • • •

f. Inventory federal emergency response programs • • • • •

g. Increase use of HMIS • • • • •

h. Create a common data standard and uniform

performance measures if feasible • • • • •

3. Provide Affordable Housing

a. Support rental housing subsidies • • • • •

b. Expand supply of affordable rental homes • • • • •

c. Improve access to assistance • • • • •

d. Increase service-enriched housing • • • • •

 Signature Initiative: Families with Children • • •

4. Provide Permanent Supportive Housing

a. Improve access to and use of supportive housing • • • • •

b. Protocols and incentives to free up units • • • • •

c. Expand supply of supportive housing • • • • •

d. Assess options for supportive housing service funding • • • • •

Signature Initiative: Chronic Homelessness • •

5. Increase Economic Security

a. Job development focus on homelessness • • • • •

b. Improve access to work supports • • • • •

c. Best practices to help people enter workforce • • • • •

d. Coordinate/integrate employment programs • • • • •

e. Increase work for Veterans • • •
the plan 29

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES (cont’d) Veterans Families Youth Chronic All

6. Reduce Financial Vulnerability

a. Best practices in access to income/work supports • • • • •

b. Improve access to income supports • • • • •

c. Enhance public info and call center for Veterans • • •

d. Create pathways to financial independence • • • • •

e. Prepare for Medicaid expansion • • • • •

7. Integrate Health Care with Housing

a. Co-locate housing and health care • • • • •

b. Build upon successful service delivery models • • • • •

c. Evaluate effectiveness of medical home model • • • • •

d. Establish medical respite programs • • • • •

e. Increase availability of behavioral health services • • • • •

f. Improve access to child and family services • • •

8. Advance Health and Housing Stability for Youth

a. Improve discharge planning •

b. Improve access for youth •

c. Promote targeted outreach strategies •

Signature Initiative: Youth •

9. Advance Health and Housing Stability for Adults

a. Improve discharge planning • • • •

b. Promote targeted outreach strategies • • • •

c. Increase number of jail diversion courts • • • •

d. Define approaches to reduce criminalization • • • • •

10. Transform Crisis Response Systems

a. Promote best practices in crisis response • • • • •

b. Use mainstream resources for housing stability • • • • •

c. Implementation strategies for HEARTH Act • • • • •

d. Ensure continuity through HPRP services • • • • •

e. Ensure prevention in place-based strategies • • • • •
the plan 30

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Increase Leadership, Collaboration, and Civic Engagement

Objective 1

Provide and promote collaborative leadership at all levels of government and across all sectors to inspire and energize Americans to commit to preventing and ending homelessness

Logic

There was an extensive outpouring through our public comment process—online, in 

stakeholder forums and constituent conference calls—that federal agencies needed 

to “break down the silos” and organize federal resources together with local and state 

resources. Enhanced coordination among public and private entities will lead to a better 

understanding of the causes and consequences of homelessness and how multiple 

federally-funded programs—and therefore agencies—can interact in strategies to 

prevent and end homelessness.

Strong leadership is needed at federal, state, and local levels and across all sectors to 

establish and implement action plans that achieve results for people experiencing chronic 

homelessness, and for families, youth and children, including Veterans and their families. 

Such plans should be locally driven, reflecting local conditions, since a one-size-fits-all plan 

does not exist. Interdisciplinary, interagency, and intergovernmental action is required to 

effectively create comprehensive responses to the complex problem of homelessness.

Tremendous progress on reducing homelessness has only occurred in those communities that have organized themselves to prevent and end homelessness. This means 

that they have set goals, identified needs and gaps, developed strategies to meet these 

needs and gaps, created public-private investment in the strategies, monitored progress, 

and adjusted the course when needed. Successful implementation occurs when there is 

broad support for the strategies—this is evidenced by the involvement of business and 

civic leadership, local public officials, faith-based volunteers, and mainstream systems 

that provide housing, human services, and health care.

Federal Leadership

USICH Member Agencies and USICH Staff

Partners

States, Counties, Cities, Businesses, and Nonprofits including

Philanthropy and Faith Communities

Strategies

Educate the public on the scope, causes, and costs of homelessness, the Federal Strategic Plan 

to Prevent and End Homelessness, and the reasons for taking action.

Engage state, local, and tribal leaders in a renewed commitment to prevent and end homelessness in their communities.

Get states and localities to update and implement plans to end homelessness to reflect local 

conditions and the comprehensiveness of this Federal Plan, as well as to develop mechanisms 

for effective implementation.

Chicago launched its plan to 

end homelessness, Getting 

Housed, Staying Housed, in 

2003. A collaborative effort 

of more than 200 public, 

private, and nonprofit 

entities, the plan was made 

an integral part of Mayor 

Richard M. Daley’s vision for 

the city. The cornerstone 

effort is a Housing First 

approach that helps 

individuals and families 

return to housing more 

rapidly by providing access 

to affordable housing with 

supports. From 2005-2007, 

the city’s total homeless 

count dropped by 12%, 

and homelessness among 

families decreased 23%.

(NAEH Snapshot - Chicago, 2008)

“The U.S. Department of 

Labor is proud to join our 

sister agencies in the federal 

government, and a broad 

coalition of community 

organizations, in the effort 

to end homelessness. That’s 

the way to meet this 

challenge head on and most 

effectively—by working 

together. After all, our 

nation is always at its best 

when we work as a team.”

Labor Secretary

Hilda Solis
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Involve citizens—including people with firsthand experience with homelessness—and the 

private sector—businesses, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, foundations, and volunteers—in efforts to prevent and end homelessness.

Test, model, and learn more about interagency collaboration. Collaboration is necessary to 

implement many strategies in the Plan, including:

 Increasing federal interagency interventions

 Increasing collaborative planning among and within all levels of government

 Increasing joint endeavors between government and the nonprofit and private sectors

 Identifying and removing barriers to collaboration

 Seeking opportunities to conduct data matches and share data to better understand 

the impact of homelessness on the costs and outcomes of mainstream programs and 

to target initiatives to populations that need support across multiple systems

Seek opportunities to reward communities that are collaborating to make significant progress 

preventing and ending homelessness.

Review budget processes to determine avenues for recognizing savings across partners 

resulting from interventions to prevent and end homelessness.

Seek opportunities for engaging Congressional committees collaboratively on issues related 

to preventing and ending homelessness.

Signature Initiative #1

Veterans

This initiative is designed to spur increased collaboration at a federal level and local level, for 

both government and community providers. Focused on Veterans in targeted communities, 

this initiative brings the federal government to the table alongside state and local government, 

Veteran services organizations, other community providers, and civic leaders. At the national 

level, USICH is facilitating collaborative efforts by the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing 

and Urban Development, Labor, and Health and Human Services to target resources and 

undertake joint efforts to prevent and eliminate Veterans homelessness.

By strategically aligning resources targeted to homeless Veterans, the housing with supportive 

services initiative brings together programs to increase their effectiveness that would otherwise 

operate separately. This initiative will not only help Veterans in initiative communities, it will 

also test models of local collaboration on behalf of Veterans, involving federal partners. It also 

presents an opportunity to look at cross-agency cost savings.

As part of the overall collaboration, Veterans Affairs, the American Bar Association, and Health 

and Human Services through its Office of Child Support Enforcement, have joined together to 

resolve child support issues for Veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The partners are building a new level of interagency collaboration in order to target the most 

vulnerable Veterans experiencing chronic homelessness, rapidly connect them to housing 
the plan 32

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

options, including HUD-VASH, ensuring that they get into housing, and identifying and providing 

needed supportive services.

This initiative could benefit from a strategic partnership with a business school to develop a 

multidisciplinary approach that brings together leaders from government—including the VA’s 

National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, civil society, and business—to help solve 

homelessness among Veterans and their families.

Edward served in the military from 1954-1964, 

stationed part of the time in Bermuda. He refueled 

B-52 bombers in the air. After the end of his second 

enlistment, Edward decided not to re-enlist, fearing 

an accident with his dangerous assignment. For over 

20 years, Edward slept under a kitchen table in a 

shack on a small piece of land. The structure had no 

running water or heat and was not maintained. When 

he needed supplies, Edward would walk for hours 

to get to the closest town. In the winter of 2008, 

Veterans’ services officers were alerted to his living 

conditions. Fearing he would freeze to death, they 

moved him into an apartment complex with supports 

for elders and his shack was condemned and razed. 

At age 77, Ed still walks miles and miles, but he has 

a safe place to call home and Veterans’ services 

officers are in touch with him regularly.

Edward on the land where the shack he lived in 

for over 20 years was recently demolished.

Reprinted with permission of Greater Minnesota Housing Fund,

“Portraits of Home II: Veterans in Search of Stable Housing.”

Photographer: Cathy ten Broeke.
the plan 33

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Objective 2

Strengthen the capacity of public and private organizations by increasing knowledge about 

collaboration, homelessness, and successful interventions to prevent and end homelessness

Logic

Preventing and ending homelessness will only be possible through coordinated efforts 

of strong public and private organizations. Across the country, capacity varies from 

community to community, especially as it relates to the ability to collaborate effectively, 

to design and implement programs based on knowledge about successful models and 

best practices, to evaluate program effectiveness and nimbly make changes where 

needed, and to target interventions to people for whom they are best suited. The federal 

government can lead by making best practices standard operating procedure as we 

adopt an increasingly evidence-driven approach. Strengthening the country’s capacity 

to prevent and end homelessness will itself require effective collaborations within the 

federal government and between all levels of government, nonprofits, philanthropy, and 

the private sector.

Federal agencies currently invest extensively in technical assistance but it is generally 

not coordinated across programs. Furthermore, communities and providers may not be 

aware of how to access these resources.

Collection, analysis, and reporting of quality, timely data on homelessness is essential 

for targeting interventions, tracking results, strategic planning, and resource allocation. 

Currently, each federal program generally has distinct requirements. A common data 

standard and uniform performance measures across all federal programs that are 

targeted at homelessness would facilitate greater understanding and simplify local data 

management. Better tracking of a family’s housing status when accessing mainstream 

programs would increase understanding about the role of these programs in preventing 

and ending homelessness. This is a state and local imperative as well. Data collection 

must be done safely to protect victims of sexual and domestic violence or others who 

could be harmed by tracking.

Much research and evaluation has been and is being conducted on homelessness and 

strategies to prevent and end it. There is tremendous opportunity to better understand 

and apply what is being learned by coordinating and sharing research across federal agencies and with states and local communities. Research must be conducted to understand 

more about how to end homelessness for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, 

unaccompanied youth, youth aging out of foster care, and other unique groups. Defining 

a federal research agenda focused on gaps in knowledge about preventing and ending 

homelessness could ensure that future investment and policies contribute to solutions.

Federal Leadership

Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, 

Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Corporation 

for National and Community Service, Office of Management and Budget, Social Security 

Administration, and Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives

Partners

State and Local Government, Researchers, Nonprofits, including Philanthropy, 

Homeless Crisis Response, Housing, and Service Agencies

“We have learned that uniform 

outcome measurement for 

like-funded initiatives allows 

grantees, communities, and 

their funders to measure service 

interventions effectively and 

make necessary corrections 

that are required to target 

resources most appropriately.”

National Human Services

Data Consortium
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Strategies

Collaborate on and compile research to better understand best practices, the cost-effectiveness 

of various interventions, metrics to measure outcomes, and the gaps in research. Identify and 

fill gaps in the body of knowledge. Topics that should be considered include:

 Best practices to meet the needs of homeless youth

 How to target services to homeless Veterans and their families

 Characteristics of families most likely to succeed in different levels of intervention

 How to target homeless prevention resources

 Effectiveness of transitional housing programs

 Reasons for geographic concentration of homelessness

 Integration of effective HIV/AIDS prevention strategies through housing interventions

 The role housing stability plays in improving safety and other outcomes for victims of 

domestic violence

 The effectiveness of trauma-based services for individuals who have experienced 

sexual violence as children or adults

Coordinate federal technical assistance resources related to preventing and ending homelessness and provide information to states, tribes, and local communities on how to access the 

support they need.

Make information more readily available on best practices and strategies to finance them at 

scale related to:

 Homelessness prevention

 Housing First, rapid re-housing, and permanent supportive housing

 Mental health, substance abuse, and treatment for co-occurring conditions

 Integrated treatment of physical and behavioral health conditions

 Trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed services

Make information more readily available on working effectively with special populations,

and the overlap between and among groups:

 Expectant families, infants, toddlers, children, and youth

 Cultural competency, including Native American, African American,

Hispanic, and immigrant populations

 Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender populations

 Veterans and their families

 Victims of domestic or family violence, physical and/or sexual abuse,

trafficking, and violence

 People living with HIV/AIDS

 People who are or have been incarcerated
the plan 35

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Attend to the unique needs of rural and tribal communities to respond to homelessness and 

develop effective strategies and programs that use best practices that contribute to housing 

stability and prevent and end homelessness on American Indian lands, in rural/frontier areas 

and urban centers.

Develop and maintain an inventory of federal emergency response programs to help communities identify what is being funded in their community with federal resources and which 

resources are available to them.

Continue to increase use of the Homeless Management Information System by local communities and encourage its use by additional programs targeted at homelessness. Develop 

standards that permit data inter-operability between data systems while protecting the confidentiality of all individuals.

Create a common data standard and uniform performance measures if feasible, especially 

related to housing stability, across all targeted and mainstream federal programs. This will 

facilitate data exchanges and comparisons between both targeted programs and mainstream 

systems in order to improve identification of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. 

Encourage the dynamic use of state and local data warehouses.

Increase Access to Stable and Affordable Housing

Objective 3

Provide affordable housing to people experiencing or most at risk of homelessness

Logic

For most people, the threat of homelessness stems from the gap between their current 

income and the cost of housing. People are extremely poor at the time they become 

homeless. More affordable housing is needed for people with extremely low incomes who 

are most at risk of homelessness. Housing needs to be affordable to those households 

with the lowest incomes who are most at risk of homelessness. The households most 

vulnerable to homelessness are those with no income or those earning significantly less 

than 30 percent of Area Median Income. Housing is affordable if the cost is no more than 

30 percent of the monthly household income.

The concentration of homelessness in some parts of the country means that the effort 

and focus to increase access to affordable housing must be proportional to local need.

Assessment and targeting mechanisms need to be used to distinguish between those 

who can resolve their homeless situation on their own or with mainstream supports, 

those who need targeted short-term assistance, and those who require long-term 

housing assistance. Factors include being extremely low income, paying more than 50 

percent of income on rent, and precipitating events like domestic or sexual violence and 

illness. Available resources should also be targeted to the most vulnerable populations, 

including children and their families, unaccompanied youth, people with disabling 

conditions, and frail elders.

A survey of tribes in northern 

Minnesota found that 1,200 

American Indians were 

homeless or near-homeless 

within six reservations. 

63% of survey respondents 

were living in overcrowded 

housing, with an average 

of 1.5 residents per room.

(Wilder Research, 2007)
the plan 36

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

A January 2010 review of characteristics of U.S. rental housing found that from 2001 to 

2007 the nation’s affordable unassisted rental housing stock decreased by 6.3 percent, 

while the high-rent rental housing stock increased 94.3 percent. This translates into 

a loss of more than 1.2 million affordable unassisted rental units from 2001 to 2007.50

Preserving existing affordable housing is of utmost importance.

Transportation needs of residents must be considered when providing affordable 

housing. Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Labor are working 

together, understanding that transportation is critical for connecting people in their 

homes to jobs, schools, health care, and child care.

Eliminating discrimination against individuals based on their status as victims of domestic 

violence is yet another crucial strategy in ending homelessness. The landmark housing 

provisions of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 (VAWA) provide protections for 

victims of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking from housing discrimination 

and access to the criminal justice system while maintaining their housing. VAWA allows 

public housing authorities to give housing priority to victims of domestic violence when 

their safety dictates and prohibits them from denying housing or evicting a tenant 

based solely on their status as a victim of domestic violence. Consistent and effective 

implementation of these provisions may help save lives and prevent homelessness.

Federal Leadership

Agriculture, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Transportation, 

Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration, Office of Management 

and Budget, and Treasury

Partners

State Housing Finance Agencies, Local Housing Authorities,

Private and Nonprofit Developers, and Nonprofit Service Providers

Strategies

Support additional rental housing subsidies through federal, state, local, and private resources to individuals and families experiencing or most at risk of homelessness. The rent subsidies should be structured so that households pay no more than 30 percent of their income 

for housing.

Expand the supply of affordable rental homes where they are most needed through federal, 

state, and local efforts. To provide affordable housing to people experiencing or most at risk of 

homelessness, rental subsidies should better target households earning significantly less than 

30 percent of the Area Median Income (about 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines) so 

that residents pay no more than 30 percent of their income for housing. The supply will need 

to include units that are accessible to persons with mobility needs.

 Work with state and local governments to expand rental assistance and low-cost capital 

for new construction and rehabilitation of housing for individuals and families experiencing or most at risk of homelessness

 Fund the National Housing Trust Fund

Low-cost capital is financing 

for housing development that 

carries no debt, has forgivable 

repayment terms, and/or has 

interest rates significantly 

below that of the private 

market; it often comes with 

greater flexibility in terms 

than private-sector financing.

“Affordable” rents represent the generally 

accepted standard of spending not more 

than 30% of gross income on gross 

housing costs.

Source: Wardrip, K., 2009

Figure

Gap Between Monthly Income

and Housing Cost

$272

$222

$264

$233

$219

$1,291

$1,019

$1,207

$683

$800

Fair Market Rent 2009

Rent affordable at 15%

of area median income

TX

OH

NY

FL

CA
the plan 37

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

 Encourage preferences in the awarding of Low Income Housing Tax Credits to increase

investments for housing targeted to people experiencing or most at risk of homelessness

 Link developments to project-based vouchers and other subsidies

Improve access to federally-funded housing assistance by eliminating administrative barriers 

and encouraging prioritization of people experiencing or most at risk of homelessness.

 Includes implementation of the Violence Against Women Act housing anti-discrimination 

and eviction protection provisions

Increase service-enriched housing by co-locating or connecting services with affordable 

housing. This could be accomplished in a wide range of ways and will vary by community, 

neighborhood, and development. Examples include providing community space within new 

affordable housing to host an after-school homework room, retrofitting vacant office space 

in a public housing complex for use as an examination room for a community health nurse 

practitioner, providing onsite legal clinics for victims of domestic violence, or co-locating a 

community mental health service provider within an older adult affordable housing complex.

Signature Initiative #2:

Families and Children

In a new initiative included in the President’s FY2011 Budget, HUD and HHS would combine 

housing vouchers with funding from mainstream programs to serve homeless or at-risk families 

with children. HUD, HHS, and the Department of Education are working together to implement 

a housing and services program for 6,000 families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 

HUD will provide Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers targeted to communities with high 

concentrations of families experiencing homelessness. Applicants will need to demonstrate 

how they are coordinating these vouchers with assistance and services administered by the 

states and available through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program and 

other HHS-funded programs, including guidance on trauma-informed services and outreach 

to families through a network of emergency domestic violence shelters. The Department of 

Education will help identify families through its network of homeless liaisons. This initiative 

will also test and evaluate replicable models for creating collaborations for aligning federallyfunded programs and funding at the local level to improve their effectiveness helping families 

experiencing or at high risk of homelessness. An improved evidence base will help guide future 

policy development. 
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Objective 4

Provide permanent supportive housing to prevent and end chronic homelessness

Logic

The most successful intervention for ending chronic homelessness is permanent 

supportive housing, which couples permanent housing with supportive services that 

target the specific needs of an individual or family. There is a substantial body of literature 

that shows that supportive housing is successful for people with mental illness, chemical 

dependency, HIV/AIDS, and other often co-occurring conditions. Persons who have 

experienced chronic homelessness frequently have histories of trauma and violence as 

well as additional barriers to stable housing (e.g., criminal histories, no income, poor 

credit). Permanent supportive housing is designed to address these needs. Permanent 

supportive housing using Housing First is a proven solution that leads to improvements 

in health and well-being. Supportive housing also has been shown to be a cost-effective 

solution in communities across the country. It has been proven to be most cost-effective 

in places where it has been targeted to people with the most extensive needs.

Supportive housing can be provided through three primary strategies: 1) pairing a rent 

subsidy with dedicated services; 2) building new or rehabilitated units at a single site 

and providing a rental subsidy and on-site services; or 3) set-aside of units within an 

affordable housing community and providing a rental subsidy and on-site services. The 

biggest challenges to creating more permanent supportive housing are the need for 

rental subsidies and dedicated services funding. Developers are further challenged by 

the need to cobble together multiple funding sources to create a debt-free property 

since the projects do not generate adequate cash flow to pay a mortgage. Federal, 

state, and local sources for capital, operations, and services are not designed to work 

in an integrated fashion.

There is a serious shortage of permanent supportive housing across the country. This 

is due both to the shortage of financial resources, as well as local capacity to develop 

and operate supportive housing. Additionally, many developers confront local barriers 

related to zoning and community opposition. The concentration of chronic homelessness means that the effort and focus to increase access to supportive housing must be 

proportional to local need.

Federal Leadership

Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, Veterans 

Affairs, General Services Administration, and Office of Management and Budget

Partners

State Housing Finance and Health and Human Services Agencies, Local Housing Authorities, Private and Nonprofit Developers, and Supportive Service Providers

Supportive Housing combines 

affordable, community-based, 

permanent housing linked 

to flexible, individualized 

supports and services. It is 

a proven, effective means 

of reintegrating individuals 

and families with chronic 

health challenges into the 

community by addressing 

their basic needs for housing 

and ongoing support.
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Strategies

Improve access to and use of supportive housing by encouraging prioritization and targeting 

for people who need this level of support to prevent or escape homelessness.

Create protocols and consider incentives to help people who have achieved stability in 

supportive housing—who no longer need and desire to live there—to move into affordable 

housing to free units for others who need it.

Expand the supply of permanent supportive housing, in partnership with state and local 

governments and the private sector.

 The following populations need permanent supportive housing:

• Individuals and families—including Veterans and their families—

experiencing chronic homelessness

• Vulnerable individuals—including youth—experiencing homelessness

who have disabling conditions and multiple barriers to housing stability

 The supply will need to include units that are accessible to persons with mobility 

needs.

Assess options for more coordinated, sustainable, dependable sources of supportive housing service funding. This should include consideration of incentives for local communities to 

develop supportive housing and how best to coordinate service funding with housing funding.

 Agencies within HHS will collaborate to review whether and how Medicaid, 

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Substance Abuse and Mental 

Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) programs can be coordinated with housing 

resources to help people who have experienced homelessness, and will offer guidance 

to states, tribes, and local government on evidence-based practices to prevent and 

end homelessness.

• HHS will offer guidance to states on ways to offer supportive housing

services as part of state Medicaid and TANF programs.

Signature Initiative #3

Chronic Homelessness

In a second initiative included in the President’s FY2011 Budget, HUD and HHS would connect 

vouchers with health and social services provided through Medicaid and wraparound 

services funded through SAMHSA. This initiative will help 4,000 people experiencing chronic 

homelessness move off the streets and out of shelter. It will test and evaluate replicable 

models for using Medicaid to finance health care and related services for those in permanent 

supportive housing, and aligning federal service funding with federal housing vouchers. This 

will help inform future policy development at federal, state, and local levels.

The passage of Health 

Reform means that many 

people who experience 

or are most at risk of 

homelessness with no 

health coverage today will 

be eligible for Medicaid 

in 2014. Some supportive 

housing providers offer 

and are reimbursed 

for Medicaid-eligible 

services.

Connecting people to 

Medicaid, and linking 

supportive housing with 

Medicaid providers, 

will help fill the gap in 

critical services—even as 

we increase the supply 

of supportive housing. 

Improved access to 

health care services 

means improved health 

for this very ill subset 

of the overall homeless 

population.
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

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Council on Homelessness

Increase Economic Security

Objective 5

Increase meaningful and sustainable employment for people experiencing or most at risk of 

homelessness

Logic

Unemployment, under-employment, and low wage employment are frequent causes of 

homelessness. The loss of a job leads to homelessness when tenants fall behind on their 

rent and homeowners fall behind on their mortgages—ultimately leading to eviction and 

foreclosure respectively. Millions of hard-working, responsible families are at risk of losing their homes as a result of job losses, reductions in working hours, or lower wages.

President Obama’s first priority in confronting the economic crisis is to put Americans 

back to work. By stimulating economic recovery, the Administration is helping America 

emerge as a stronger and more prosperous nation. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has spurred private sector job creation while making long-term investments in health care, education, energy, and infrastructure.

As the economy improves and Americans return to work, a drop in unemployment rates 

will reduce the number of people at risk of homelessness. An increase in job openings 

will also provide opportunities for people experiencing homelessness to find work and 

increase their income sufficiently to afford housing.

Programs designed to connect people to employment need to respond to the concurrent needs of people who have experienced homelessness instead of creating barriers 

to support. In addition to eliminating programmatic barriers, best practices need to be 

implemented across the country, and employment strategies need to be coordinated 

with housing and other interventions.

Federal Leadership

The White House, Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and

Urban Development, Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Office of Management and Budget

Partners

Businesses, State and Local Government, Workforce Investment Boards, Community 

Colleges and Schools, Nonprofits including Philanthropy, Crisis Response, Housing, and 

Service Agencies

StrategIES

Collaborate with economic recovery and jobs programs to ensure that job development and training strategies focus attention on people who are experiencing or most at risk of homelessness.

Review federal program policies, procedures, and regulations to identify educational, administrative, or regulatory mechanisms that could be used to improve access to work support.

 Identify ways Workforce Investment Act and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs can help people who are experiencing or most at risk of homelessness, 

including people with multiple barriers to employment.

Only 13 percent of people 

entering HUD homeless 

assistance programs have 

income from employment 

at the time of admission.

(HUD 2009 APR)
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Develop and disseminate best practices on helping people with histories of homelessness 

and barriers to employment enter the workforce, including strategies that take into consideration transportation, child care, child support, domestic violence, criminal justice history, 

disabling conditions, and age appropriateness.

Improve coordination and integration of employment programs with homelessness assistance programs, victim assistance programs, and housing and permanent supportive housing 

programs.

Increase opportunities for work and support recovery for Veterans with barriers to employment, especially Veterans returning from active duty, Veterans with disabilities, and Veterans 

in permanent supportive housing.

Objective 6

Improve access to mainstream programs and services to reduce people’s financial vulnerability to homelessness

Logic

People with limited financial resources are most at risk of homelessness. People with 

poor health and disabling conditions are more likely to become homeless. Medical 

events lead to personal bankruptcy and foreclosure, which can lead to homelessness. 

Homelessness in turn exacerbates poor health. Access to health and behavioral health 

care are predicated on access to health insurance.

Mainstream programs and services include both entitlements (with no cap on how many 

people can receive benefits if eligible) and other benefits (resources usually not sufficient 

to serve all eligible people). They also fall in three broad categories: health care, income 

support, and work support. Health care includes health care and behavioral health 

care provided through the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 

and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), as well as 

health insurance programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance 

Program, and Veterans’ health benefits. Income supports include Earned Income Tax 

Credits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Programs (SNAP—formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), Veterans’ 

disability benefits and pension, Supplemental Security Income and Social Security 

Disability Insurance (SSI/SSDI), and General Assistance (available in some states). Work 

supports are funded through a myriad of programs including Workforce Investment 

Boards, TANF, Job Corps, employment services targeted to Veterans, etc.

Child support is another area that impacts the incomes of people experiencing or at risk 

of homelessness. For single mothers, timely payment of child support can be the key 

to maintaining housing stability and preventing homelessness for themselves and their 

children. Low income fathers who are not able to make their child support payments 

may accrue large arrears that contribute to their ongoing financial instability and risk of 

homelessness.

Food assistance including SNAP; federally-funded school meals programs; Women, 

Infants and Children Program; and other federal nutrition programs can play a vital role in 

both sustaining people when they experience homelessness and by giving people added 

The Homeless Veterans 

Reintegration Program 

(HVRP) is a grant program 

administered by Labor to 

assist homeless Veterans 

in attaining skills training, 

job search assistance, 

placement, and other 

wrap-around services. 

The program recently 

launched an initiative 

targeted at the unique 

needs of homeless 

women Veterans.

Figure

Source of Income at Entry to Homeless 

Assistance Programs (Adults)

Source: HUD 2009 APR

13%

6%

23%

2%

13%

14%

36% No Financial

Resources

Employment

Medicaid

Veteran

Benefit

Food

Stamps

TANF

SSI/SSDI
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Council on Homelessness

resources to buy food so that more of their discretionary spending can go to housing 

or other needs. SNAP has a benefit structure that gives extra help to people with high 

housing costs relative to their income.

While many people experiencing or most at risk of homelessness are eligible for these 

mainstream programs, surprisingly few people access the full range of programs and 

services available to them. Sometimes it requires obtaining lost identification materials, 

including birth certificates or state IDs. The processes to apply for mainstream services 

can be complex, fragmented and at times designed more to screen people out who are 

not eligible, instead of being focused on reaching out and expediting support for people 

who are. According to a recent report issued by HUD, the barriers fall into three broad 

categories—structure, capacity, and eligibility. It concluded that some communities are 

making significant progress in increasing access to mainstream programs by attacking 

these barriers in a systemic manner. Collaborative projects that combine applications, 

reach out to people at the places they frequent, and use technology to streamline the 

process have demonstrated effectiveness in increasing the number of people who access 

income and work supports.

The passage of Health Reform will increase access to insurance, which will in turn lead to 

increased access to care. The expansion of Medicaid to nearly all people living below 133 

percent of the Federal Poverty Guideline (about $15,000 for a single individual) will occur 

in 2014 or sooner if states elect to expand coverage earlier.

Access to education is also a factor that can help decrease financial vulnerability and 

the likelihood of homelessness later in life. Federal education programs help improve 

access to education, such as the Education of Homeless Children and Youth program for 

K-12 education, Federal Financial Aid opportunities for higher education, and coordination efforts with other federal education programs under the Individuals with Disabilities 

Education Act, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, and Title I program of the 

Elementary and Secondary Education Act. State and local education liaisons, under the 

Education of Homeless Children and Youth program, also promote coordination with 

other federal programs that prevent homelessness and support homeless individuals or 

families, such as through child welfare, housing, and health agencies.

Federal Leadership

Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and Social Security 

Administration

Partners

State Governments, Counties, Local Workforce Centers, Homeless Crisis Response,

Housing and Service Agencies, and other Nonprofits

Since 2006, Ohio has 

been helping residents, 

including people who 

are experiencing 

homelessness and most 

at risk of homelessness, 

access federal and state 

dollars to which they are 

entitled through a service 

called The Ohio Benefit 

Bank. To date, more than 

100,000 Ohioans have 

claimed in excess of $200 

million in tax credits and 

work-supported benefits 

through the program.
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Strategies

Document, disseminate, and promote the use of best practices in expedited access to income 

and work supports for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This includes improved 

outreach to homeless assistance providers and collaborations across government and with 

community nonprofits, online consolidated application processing, and electronic submission. 

Consider lessons learned from the SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access and Recovery Initiative (SOAR), 

and the Homeless Outreach and Projects and Evaluation Initiative (HOPE).

Review federal program policies, procedures, and regulations to identify administrative or 

regulatory mechanisms that could be used to remove barriers and improve access to income 

supports. Examples include:

 Work with key stakeholder groups to make progress toward recognizing the long-term 

effects of addiction and alcoholism as a disabling condition, and removing impediments for people with co-occurring disabling conditions to receive income support.

 Promote practices that make it easier for people to access proof of identification, 

including birth certificates and other forms of ID.

Enhance public information, targeted communications, and a national toll-free homeless 

call center to ensure that all Veterans and their families know they can obtain homelessness 

prevention assistance from the VA or other places in their community.

Create clear pathways to greater financial independence. Collaborate to review program eligibility and termination criteria across the range of programs which people experiencing or at 

risk of homelessness may access. Identify changes that should be made to create incentives for 

work, earning and retaining income while maintaining access to health coverage, housing assistance, child care, etc. until a household is earning enough through employment to be financially 

stable. Not long ago, a health concern could be devastating to individual and family financial 

security. Health Reform that was recently enacted will help individuals and families keep quality, 

affordable health insurance whether they lose their jobs, switch jobs, move, or get sick.

Prepare for Medicaid expansion to effectively enroll people who experience or are most 

at risk of experiencing homelessness. Health Reform will increase Medicaid eligibility for 

many more families and individuals experiencing homelessness by creating a more uniform 

minimum eligibility threshold and allowing adults without dependent children to enroll. This 

should include systems to reach out to, engage, and enroll newly eligible people in health care 

insurance benefits.

FY2010 Initiatives

SSA’s Compassionate 

Allowance Initiative 

quickly identifies 

individuals who are 

clearly disabled by the 

nature of their condition. 

This and other fast track 

processes will benefit 

nearly a quarter million 

Americans each year.

SSA revised its policy 

to allow youth aging 

out of foster care to 

file for SSI 90 days prior 

to attaining age 18.
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Improve Health and Stability

Objective 7

Integrate primary and behavioral health care services with homeless assistance programs 

and housing to reduce people’s vulnerability to and the impacts of homelessness

Logic

There is strong evidence for housing integrated with health care as an effective and costsaving intervention for homeless and unstably housed persons with serious health problems. These include people living with chronic disease and disabling conditions. The integration of housing with services is increasingly identified as a way to address complex 

health care needs that overlap vulnerabilities associated with race and gender, extreme 

poverty, HIV/AIDS, mental illness, chronic drug use, incarceration, and histories of exposure to trauma and violence, as well as homelessness.

For example, housing status has been identified as a key structural factor affecting access to 

treatment and health behaviors among people living with HIV/AIDS. Research shows that 

housing assistance is associated over time with reduced HIV risk behaviors and improved 

health care outcomes, controlling for a wide range of individual characteristics (poverty, 

race/ethnicity, substance abuse, mental illness) and service use (primary care, case management, substance abuse, and mental health treatment) variables. Housing assistance 

coupled with health care has been shown to decrease overall public expense and make 

better use of limited public resources, such as use of emergency rooms and hospitals.

Health Reform will increase Medicaid eligibility for many more homeless individuals and 

families by creating a more uniform minimum eligibility threshold and allowing adults 

without dependent children to enroll.

Medical respite programs for persons without stable housing have been shown to be 

a cost-effective alternative to longer term hospitalization or rehabilitation centers and 

nursing homes. They result in improved health outcomes over directly discharging 

patients to the streets or shelters.

Integration of behavioral health care with physical health care is another promising practice for people with complex needs. This is particularly true for persons with serious 

mental illness, chronic alcoholism, and traumatic brain injuries.

The need for integrated services includes coordinating health care with social services 

like case management, linkage to emergency financial resources, budgeting and financial 

management, family services, as well as addressing legal needs. For example, homeless 

youth may need crisis counseling, family reunification services, rent assistance, and landlord intervention.

Homelessness has a particularly traumatizing effect on children. Children experiencing 

homelessness have poor health and often develop educational deficits as their schooling 

is disrupted by frequent moves, setting them on a path to underachievement in school, 

academic failure, and limited employment opportunities. Often prenatal, early childhood 

development and other programs focused on children and youth are not readily 

available to families experiencing homelessness, nor are they set up to handle these 

There is a growing consensus 

among HIV/AIDS experts that 

housing interventions are 

among the most promising 

structural HIV prevention 

interventions. Preventing 

a new HIV infection in the 

U.S. saves over $300,000 in 

discounted lifetime medical 

costs, and substantially 

improves life expectancy.

(Purcell, D.W., 2009; Auerbach, 2009; 

Gupta, 2008; Schackman, B., 2006)
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special needs. Increased access needs to be paired with expectations that federallyfunded programs will effectively meet the developmental needs of children who have 

experienced homelessness. There is tremendous opportunity to integrate health care 

with housing and educational services.

Federal Leadership

Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs

Partners

State Health and Human Services Agencies, Counties, Homeless Crisis Response,

Housing and Service Agencies, and Health Care Providers

Strategies

Encourage partnerships between housing providers and health and behavioral health care 

providers to co-locate or coordinate health, behavioral health, safety, and wellness services 

with housing and create better resources for providers to connect patients to housing resources.

Build upon successful service delivery models to provide services in the homes of people who 

have experienced homelessness, including Medicaid-funded Assertive Community Treatment 

Teams for those with behavioral health needs.

Seek opportunities to establish and evaluate the effectiveness of a “medical home” model to 

provide integrated care for medical and behavioral health, and to improve health and reduce 

health care costs in communities with the largest number of people experiencing homelessness.

Seek opportunities to establish medical respite programs in communities with the largest 

number of people experiencing homelessness to allow hospitals to discharge people experiencing homelessness with complex health needs to medical respite programs that will help 

them transition to supportive housing.

Increase availability of behavioral health services, including community mental health 

centers, to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Improve access to child and family services that improve early child development, educational 

stability, youth development, and quality of life for families—including expectant families, 

children, and youth experiencing or most at risk of homelessness.

Objective 8

Advance health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems such as foster care and 

juvenile justice

Logic

Every year, 30,000 youth age out of foster care, and 20,000–25,000 age out of the juvenile 

justice system.51 Most have limited options for housing, income, and family or other social 

support. Many have witnessed domestic violence, been physically or sexually abused, and 

have serious emotional and psychological problems. Consequently, they are at extremely 

high risk for homelessness and are vulnerable to exploitation. Currently, there are limited 

housing, service, and employment readiness resources assisting this population.
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Federal Leadership

Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development,

Justice, and Veterans Affairs

Partners

States Health and Human Services Agencies, Counties, Cities, and Homeless

Crisis Response, Housing and Service Agencies

Strategies

Improve discharge planning from foster care and juvenile justice to connect youth to 

education (including plans to complete secondary education, if necessary, as well as to access 

higher education), housing, health and behavioral health support, income supports, and health 

coverage prior to discharge.

Review federal program policies, procedures, and regulations to identify administrative or 

regulatory mechanisms that could be used to remove barriers and improve access to stable 

health care, housing, and housing supports for youth.

Promote targeted outreach strategies to identify youth experiencing homelessness who are 

most likely to end up in an emergency room, hospital, jail, or prison, and connect them to the 

housing and support they need.

Sharayna Warmsley

“In all of my time suffering abuse and living on the 

streets, I felt like there wasn’t a single adult who 

cared about me.

“After being able to join advocacy groups and having 

opportunities to share my experiences and ideas about 

homelessness with government officials, I have felt 

literally overwhelmed. I now see that a whole mass 

of adults in my community and my government are 

working to help youth like me, and that there are 

adults who really care. I’m now motivated more than 

ever to let other youth know, but I also want to stay 

involved and see results come from this Plan.”

Used with permission of COHHIO
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Signature Initiative #4

Youth

To address the needs of youth who are at extreme risk of becoming homeless, USICH will 

collaborate with the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs (Working Group) to 

provide technical assistance to youth-serving organizations and partnerships that work with 

youth in transition, such as those aging out of foster care and the juvenile justice systems. The 

Working Group is comprised of 12 federal departments and agencies that support programs 

and services that focus on youth. The Working Group’s activities include promoting enhanced 

collaboration, disseminating information about critical resources, producing a federal website, 

and developing an overarching strategic plan for federal youth policy.

Specifically, USICH and the Working Group will jointly establish content for the federal interagency website on youth, www.FindYouthInfo.gov, which will be utilized to provide technical 

assistance and other information about youth homelessness, the needs of youth at risk of 

homelessness, and federal resources available to support youth who are homeless or at risk of 

becoming homeless. The Solutions Desk, www.solutionsdesk.ou.edu, another project of the 

Working Group, will incorporate best practices for homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing, 

and the provision of services for youth who are currently homeless.

Looking forward, USICH, with input from the Working Group, will draft a framework for a pilot 

program to specifically address the housing and service needs of youth in transition to prevent 

homelessness that could be proposed in coming fiscal years.

Objective 9

Advance health and housing stability for people experiencing homelessness who have frequent contact with hospitals and criminal justice

Logic

People with serious mental illness who are homeless are often incarcerated when they 

cannot get the care and treatment they need. People with mental illness experiencing 

homelessness also frequently end up in the emergency room and hospitalized. These 

are expensive interventions that do not improve long-term prospects for people with 

mental illness who have no place to live. Effective targeted outreach, discharge planning, and specialized courts are proven to help keep people out of emergency rooms, 

hospitals, and jails and to connect people to housing, support, or for those who need it, 

supportive housing.

Program initiatives at the Departments of Justice, VA, Health and Human Services, 

and Labor are supporting and evaluating promising practices for facilitating successful 

community reintegration for people returning from jails, prisons, and juvenile justice 

facilities. New programs authorized by the Second Chance Act are supporting state and 

local re-entry demonstration projects around the country. These programs and other 

effective re-entry initiatives help to prevent and end homelessness.

People living on the streets, in cars, or staying in emergency shelters are often ticketed or 

arrested for activities that may be necessary for survival on the streets. As a result, they 

end up with a long list of violations that can become a barrier to employment or secur-

“Criminally punishing people 

for living in public when they 

have no alternative violates 

human rights norms, wastes 

precious resources, and 

ultimately does not work.”

Maria Foscarinis

National Law Center on

Homelessness and Poverty
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ing an apartment. Local communities have adopted a range of ordinances in response to 

citizen and business concerns about panhandling, loitering, and camping on public land. 

Criminalizing acts of survival is not a solution to homelessness and results in unnecessary 

public costs for police, courts, and jails. Development of alternative approaches should 

meet both the public’s need for access to public streets, parks, and recreation areas and 

the ability of people experiencing homelessness to meet basic needs.

Federal Leadership

Defense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development,

Justice, Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Office of Management and Budget

Partners

States Health and Human Services Agencies, Counties, Cities, 

Homeless Crisis Response, Housing and Service Agencies

Strategies

Improve discharge planning from hospitals, VA medical centers, psychiatric facilities, jails, and 

prisons to connect people to housing, health and behavioral health support, income and work 

supports, and health coverage prior to discharge.

Promote targeted outreach strategies to identify people experiencing homelessness who are 

most likely to end up in an emergency room, hospital, jail, or prison, and connect them to the 

housing and support they need.

Increase the number of jail diversion courts at the state and local levels that are linked to 

housing and support including those specifically for Veterans, those experiencing homelessness, or people with mental health issues or drug abuse problems.

Reduce criminalization of homelessness by defining constructive approaches to street homelessness and considering incentives to urge cities to adopt these practices.
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Retool the Homeless Crisis Response System

Objective 10

Transform homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent homelessness and

rapidly return people who experience homelessness to stable housing

Logic

HUD defines a Continuum of Care as “a community plan to organize and deliver housing 

and services to meet the specific needs of people who are homeless as they move to 

stable housing and maximize self-sufficiency. The four necessary parts of a continuum 

are: 1) Outreach, intake, and assessment in order to identify service and housing needs 

and provide a link to the appropriate level of both; 2) Emergency shelter to provide an 

immediate and safe alternative to sleeping on the streets; 3) Transitional housing with 

supportive services to allow for the development of skills that will be needed once permanently housed; and 4) Permanent housing and permanent supportive housing to provide individuals and families with an affordable place to live with services if needed.”52

In many communities across the country, this is a linear model where people experiencing homelessness are expected to progress through the four levels of care. This linear 

progression includes requirements to be admitted to the next level. For example, sobriety is often required to be admitted to shelter and treatment compliance is expected for 

admission to transitional housing.

In the last decade, many communities have adopted a Housing First approach that focuses on preventing homelessness and rapidly returning people who become homeless to 

housing. In some communities, these practices are adopted at a program level but have 

not changed the overall community system of care. In a growing number of communities, the framework is being adopted to create a system of care. Despite the documented 

success of the new model over the traditional continuum of care model, implementation 

varies markedly in each community. The creation of the temporary Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) at HUD through the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act gave communities resources to begin retooling their homeless 

crisis response systems. The HEARTH Act contains many provisions that local communities can use to support the evolution of their system of care to these successful models.

Temporary residential programs (shelters, transitional housing, VA grant and per diem 

programs, VA domiciliary, adult rehab centers, etc.) are an integral part of the crisis 

response system. They must be efficient and effective in helping people experiencing homelessness successfully and quickly achieve the outcome of long-term housing. 

Strong collaboration with mainstream programs and services as well as programming to 

create a pathway to permanent housing is critical. These temporary residential programs 

also need to be readily accessible to unaccompanied youth and families of all configurations and reduce barriers to admission. For example, in some communities families are 

separated when they have a teenage boy or are a two-parent family. Many institutions 

lack cultural competence to address the needs of non-English speaking clients as well as 

unaccompanied gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender youth, with the latter reporting 

that identity-based discrimination and violence often deters them from accessing programs. In some places, there are no accessible shelters or transitional housing programs. 

“The primary purpose of 

a prevention and rapid 

re-housing system is that 

it places the housing 

end-game squarely at the 

center of the purpose of our 

homelessness assistance 

system....But success will 

also require a new multiagency commitment.”

Dennis Culhane

University of Pennsylvania
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Some programs only work with people who have achieved sobriety, receive treatment 

for mental illness, and who comply with a set of service requirements.

Street outreach programs provide crisis response services to youth and adults who are 

staying on the streets, in abandoned buildings, and other places not intended for human 

habitation. In some communities, outreach providers have developed collaborative approaches that identify the most vulnerable people to engage and connect them to housing. These approaches have made significant reductions in street homelessness when 

tied to an increase in supportive housing capacity.

Transitional housing represents a significant part of the crisis response portfolio, including transitional housing targeted at Veterans, victims of domestic violence, and youth. 

Some communities are retooling this resource to include models that allow people to 

transition in place, that is, to move into permanent housing and have transitional supports that end when someone has connected to mainstream community supports.

Children experiencing homelessness are often identified through the schools. The Department of Education school liaisons are able to coordinate specialized services, including 

transportation, to help children be more successful in the school setting. They also can be 

an important link to other community services that help the family achieve housing stability. Stronger collaboration with other mainstream and homeless crisis response services 

would be beneficial to children and their families.

Federal Leadership

Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban 

Development, Justice, Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Office of Faith-based and Community 

Initiatives

Partners

States, Counties, Cities, Communities of Faith, Health and Human Services Agencies, 

School Districts, and Homeless Crisis Response, Housing and Service Agencies

Strategies

Develop and promote best practices for crisis response programs and increase their adoption 

by agencies receiving federal funds. This may include:

 Promote collaborative street outreach efforts that help people living on the streets 

directly access housing

 Promote collaborative outreach and prevention strategies that target areas with high 

eviction rates

 Improve access to crisis programs by simplifying entry requirements that promote 

low barriers to entry

 Encourage existing temporary residential programs to transform or set aside beds 

that would support a safe haven model

 Encourage communities to transform transitional housing programs to permanent 

supportive housing or transition-in-place models where appropriate

HPRP is allowing 

communities to create or 

expand Rapid Re-Housing 

efforts, transforming how 

they respond to family 

homelessness. With 

new HPRP and other 

Recovery Act funds, The 

Road Home in Salt Lake 

City, Utah, for example, is 

offering Rapid Re-Housing 

to many of the families 

experiencing homelessness 

in their community. The 

program, which saw a 

sharp increase in family 

homelessness throughout 

the recession, helped 200 

families rapidly return 

to housing in the first six 

months of operation. The 

expansion of Rapid ReHousing has allowed 

the program to meet 

the increased demand 

for assistance without 

expanding their shelter 

capacity or turning families 

away. By connecting 

families quickly with 

income and employment 

support provided by the 

local TANF agency, the 

program is also helping 

to shore up the supports 

the families will require 

after they are housed.

(NAEH, 2010)
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 Address barriers to successful re-housing, such as fear of violence and criminal justice 

history

 Promote collaboration between local school districts and crisis programs

 Ensure accessibility for people with disabilities

Determine opportunities to utilize mainstream resources to provide housing stabilization 

assistance to clients who are homeless or at high risk of homelessness.

Develop implementation strategies for the HEARTH Act—especially the new Emergency Solutions Grant—that sustain best practices learned from the Homelessness Prevention and 

Rapid Re-Housing Program and the Rapid Re-Housing Demonstration.

Ensure continuity in the provision of homeless prevention and rapid re-housing services to 

families, youth, and individuals—including Veterans and their families—through HUD’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

Ensure that homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing strategies are coordinated with 

Education for Homeless Children and Youth, and incorporated within federal place-based 

strategies to improve neighborhoods and schools, including Promise Neighborhoods and 

Choice Neighborhoods.
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

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Council on Homelessness

The Steps: Framework for Action

Accountability and transparency are two of the Administration’s priorities in developing good 

government practices. This section describes the impact that this Plan aspires to achieve in 

preventing and ending homelessness. The Council will use measurement tools and provide the 

public with reports that monitor the progress toward the goals of the Plan and the contributions of the 19 USICH agencies. This section also summarizes federal initiatives under way that 

align with the Plan.

The Council has set targets to which the country should aspire. By setting bold targets, the Plan 

will catalyze efforts to prevent and end homelessness in America. The Plan calls for an alignment of federal, state, local, and private resources with four key goals:

 Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness in five years

 Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans in five years

 Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children in ten years

 Set a path to ending all types of homelessness

The Council believes it is important to set goals, even if aspirational, for true progress to be 

made. Working together, we can harness public and private resources—consistent with principles of fiscal discipline—to finish the effort started by mayors, governors, legislatures, nonprofits, faith-based and community organizations, and business leaders across our country to 

end homelessness. The Federal Strategic Plan provides a clear path to get there.

Impact

Reductions in the number of Americans experiencing homelessness are the ultimate measure 

of this Plan’s success. “Ending homelessness” requires improved systems and programs at all 

levels. This Plan calls for a fundamental shift in how the federal government and communities across the country respond to homelessness. To prevent and end homelessness, targeted 

programs must be fully integrated with mainstream programs that provide housing, health, 

education, and human services. This Plan urges agencies that operate relevant mainstream 

programs to consider the role of housing stability for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. If someone does experience homelessness, well-orchestrated systems should be in 

place to rapidly return him or her to housing. People experiencing homelessness should have 

access to affordable housing, access to treatment, and the vocational support they need to 

remain in housing.

Achieving targeted reductions in homelessness requires a collective effort focused on solutions. This Plan is a call for collective action. No level of government can or should do this 

alone. Success will require the collaboration and organization of federal, state, tribal, and local 

governments to execute these strategies effectively. Implementation requires leadership at all 

levels and partnerships between the public and the private sector, building on effective partnerships where they exist, and forging new partnerships where they are needed.
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Context

The Plan addresses each facet of policy that is related to homelessness with an intergovernmental approach. The Plan adopts a comprehensive approach in its goals and strategies in 

relation to the multiple variables involved in causing homelessness, which vary by population 

and geography. However, the convergence of economic, political, and policy factors that are 

out of the Council’s purview can significantly impact the roadmap presented in this Plan. The 

decline and rise in homelessness will vary as the result of actions that are more within our collective control, as well as factors well beyond our control. For example, homelessness among 

families had been increasing due to foreclosures and the recession, but may now be on a slight 

downward trend, possibly related to more positive economic indicators.

In 2010, we find ourselves at a critical economic moment. The recession has given rise to the 

number of individuals and families who have fallen victim to homelessness. Global economic 

uncertainties are intertwined with shrinking local and state budgets. Officials are faced with 

the daily challenge of revenue shortfalls that affect the provision of services to prevent and 

end homelessness. Everyone is affected in one way or another because of the economy.

We are at a critical policy moment. We have reasons to believe that the alignment of programs 

across agencies can ‘move the needle’ toward reductions in homelessness. Policy makers at 

the federal, state, tribal, and local levels make policy decisions that can alter the impact of 

strategies set forth in this Plan. The Recovery Act’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid ReHousing Program has, in short order, fundamentally changed the way communities provide 

services to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, thereby slowing the 

increase of homelessness among families. The passage of Health Reform will dramatically 

bolster our efforts to prevent and end homelessness in ways that are difficult to quantify. 

Health Reform will provide new service portals and more sophisticated methods of targeting 

uninsured individuals with chronic illness as well as children, youth, and adults experiencing 

homelessness. The most significant impact of Health Reform for people experiencing 

homelessness will come in 2014, when more adults—including those without dependent 

children—will be able to enroll in Medicaid, boosting other efforts to push us closer to these 

ambitious goals.

We are also at a critical political moment in our efforts to end homelessness. Momentum at 

the local level is extraordinary and growing. During the development of the Plan, we heard a 

clarion call from all stakeholders for further federal leadership and partnership. Bi-partisan 

support in Congress for ending homelessness is stronger than ever. Republicans and Democrats have collaborated for years to reduce homelessness. It is due to this bi-partisan work 

that the HEARTH Act was passed in May 2009. In 2002, efforts were begun to end chronic 

homelessness in 10 years and a great deal of progress has been made. Now is the time to end 

homelessness across all populations including families, youth, children, and Veterans.
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FEDERAL STRATEGIC PLAN TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS :: 2010

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Measures

Three population-specific measures will mark progress toward the first three goals of the Plan:

	 Annual changes in the number of individuals experiencing chronic homelessness

	 Annual changes in the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness

	 Annual changes in the number of families with children experiencing homelessness

As a top line measure for the Plan, USICH will use the HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) point-in-time measures. The HUD AHAR data is the most consistent 

and reliable national measure of homelessness covering all three population groups, thereby 

providing direct comparisons. The point-in-time count shows how many people experience 

homelessness, including people who are unsheltered and those who are served in emergency 

shelter and transitional housing. The HUD annualized counts of homelessness do not include 

unsheltered persons. The HUD AHAR measures are not inclusive of all people experiencing 

homelessness served by other federal targeted programs. A reduction in the sheltered and 

unsheltered population will likely signify reductions in homelessness overall. A discussion of 

these data sets and definitions can be found in the “Sources of Data” section on page 11.

USICH is committed to monitoring multiple measures of people experiencing homelessness 

including Department of Education data on homeless school-age children and data from the 

VA on homeless Veterans. Broader economic indicators around poverty and the gap between 

housing costs, incomes, and available affordable housing will be tracked in order to understand the larger societal and economic factors that will impact rates of homelessness.

Implementation will include consideration of measures of performance across many of the 

Plan’s strategies. This will be critical for determining the Plan’s effectiveness. At this stage, 

existing measurement tools are available for two critical strategies:

	 Increase in the number of permanent supportive housing units

	 Increase in employment and participation in mainstream assistance programs among 

those exiting homeless assistance programs

HUD collects data on the number of permanent supportive housing units in the U.S. through 

its Homeless Assistance Grants Continuum of Care process. This includes a report from each 

community on permanent supportive housing projects and units. This information allows HUD 

to track the number of new permanent supportive housing units that come online each year, as 

well as to track new units that are “in the pipeline,” that is, currently under development. The 

data collected is increasingly reliable, allowing for a measure of new units.

There is no national data set that records access to employment or to mainstream assistance 

programs for all people experiencing homelessness. HUD operates the largest federal programs targeted at homelessness. Its grantees submit Annual Progress Reports. HUD has information on the percentage of people who are employed or with specific income supports 

entering and exiting programs funded through its Homeless Assistance Grants. This cohort is 

a subset of everyone experiencing homelessness who is being helped by targeted and mainstream interventions. It is a good measure to monitor progress on employment and access to 

assistance for people who have experienced homelessness.
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

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Council on Homelessness

In addition to employment rates, USICH will monitor participation in four major federal assistance programs: Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance, and Temporary Assistance for Needy 

Families. The measure will be the percentage of people exiting these HUD programs with each 

type of assistance or with income from employment. This is a measure at the time a person 

exits a program, not the level of employment or access to assistance while being served by 

these programs. This is the best available national measure related to homelessness and access to assistance.

With passage of landmark Health Reform, access to Medicaid increases significantly, and most 

people experiencing homelessness will become eligible beginning in 2014.

Implementation

This Plan articulates the objectives and strategies needed to make significant progress in preventing and ending homelessness during the period that began with the current federal fiscal year, FY2010, through FY2014. Activities undertaken by the Administration and activities 

proposed in the Administration’s FY2011 Budget are included in the Plan. Some strategies will 

be quickly executed while others may require more significant policy work, thus necessitating 

more time before implementation begins and results are realized. The impact of some Plan 

activities, including the implementation of Health Reform, will take several years to yield measurable results.

USICH will provide federal leadership to realize the goals of the Plan. The table on the following page summarizes the involvement of Council Agencies in the Plan’s ten objectives. State, 

tribal, and local governments, as well as the private sector, have a major role to play if we are 

to achieve all objectives.

The objectives and strategies all require improved collaboration—within and across the different levels of government, and between the private and public sectors—to make both targeted 

and mainstream programs across disciplines work more effectively and efficiently for people 

experiencing or most at risk of homelessness (a table of FY2010 targeted federal programs can 

be found on page 57).

The federal government is committed to helping states and local communities identify the 

most promising practices, support replication of demonstration efforts to confirm their promise if needed, and promote knowledge and adoption of proven practices.
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USICH MEMBER INVOLVEMENT IN PLAN

OBJECTIVES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

USICH MEMBERS

Promote 

Collaborative 

Leadership

Strengthen 

Capacity and 

Knowledge

Provide 

Affordable 

Housing

Provide 

Permanent 

Supportive 

Housing

Increase 

Employment

Reduce 

Financial 

Vulnerability

Integrate 

Health Care 

with Housing

Advance 

Health and 

Housing 

Stability for 

Youth

Advance 

Health and 

Housing 

Stability for 

Adults

Transform 

Crisis 

Response 

Systems

Department

of Agriculture • • • • • •

Department of 

Commerce • •

Department of Defense • •

Department of 

Education • • • •

Department of Energy • •

Department of Health

and Human Services • • • • • • • • •

Department

of Homeland Security • • • •

Dept. of Housing

and Urban Development • • • • • • • • • •

Department of Interior • •

Department of Justice • • • • • •

Department of Labor • • • • • • • •

Department of 

Transportation • •

Department of

Veterans Affairs • • • • • • • • • •

Corp. for National and 

Community Service • •

General Services 

Administration • • •

Office of Management 

and Budget • • • • • • •

Social Security 

Administration • • • •

U.S. Postal Service •

White House Office 

of Faith-based and 

Community Initiatives • • •
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TARGETED HOMELESS PROGRAMS IN FY2010

EDUCATION Education for Homeless Children and Youth Grants

for State and Local Activities

GSA with HHS and HUD Federal Surplus Real Property Program

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Grants for the Benefit of Homeless Individuals (Treatment for Homeless Program)

Health Care for the Homeless Program

Programs for Runaway and Homeless Youth

Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness

Services in Supportive Housing Grants

HOMELAND SECURITY Emergency Food and Shelter Program

HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Emergency Shelter Grant

Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program

HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)

Section 8 Single Room Occupancy for Individuals

Shelter Plus Care

Supportive Housing Program

JUSTICE Transitional Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Sexual Assault,

Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking Program

LABOR Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program

VETERANS AFFAIRS Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans Program

Grant and Per Diem Program

Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program

Homeless Veterans Dental Program

HUD-VASH

Supportive Services for Low-Income Veterans and Families

Veteran Justice Outreach Initiative

Cross-cutting Initiatives

The following list is illustrative, but not comprehensive, of activities under way or proposed for 

FY2011 that will help prevent, reduce, and end homelessness.

The Affordable Care Act will further the Plan’s goals by helping numerous families and 

individuals experiencing homelessness to get the health care they need. Medicaid will be 

expanded to nearly all individuals under the age of 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the 

federal poverty level (currently about $15,000 for a single individual). This significant expansion 

will allow more adults, including those without dependent children, to enroll in Medicaid in 

2014 or before. In addition, Health Reform will support demonstrations to improve the ability 

of psychiatric facilities to provide emergency services. It will also expand the availability of 

medical homes for individuals with chronic conditions, including severe and persistent mental 

illness. Expansion of Community Health Centers is another significant change that will serve 

many vulnerable populations, including those who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided funding for many programs 

that are helping people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

	 The new Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program provides financial 

and other assistance to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless and 

help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.

	 Investments are being made through the Department of Energy’s Weatherization 

Program to improve the energy efficiency of single- and multi-family residences and 

to reduce the utility costs of lower income families.

	 Funds have been made available through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to 

respond to increases in emergency services and homeless assistance by maintaining 

food, shelter, rent, mortgage, and utility assistance programs for people with nondisaster-related emergencies.

	 The McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth program received 

additional resources to assist states and local educational agencies in addressing the 

educational and related needs of homeless children and youth, alongside investments 

in child care and Head Start.

	 An increase to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage has been an effective way

to help states maintain their Medicaid programs during a period of high enrollment 

growth and reduced state revenue.

	 The Recovery Act also provides immediate and ongoing state fiscal relief, as well as investments in health care for Veterans and people in the military, in Community Health 

Centers, and on Indian Reservations.

	 The Recovery Act increased funding for the Department of Justice Transitional Housing 

Program for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

	 In addition, there have been extensions of unemployment benefits and increases in 

food support, job training, and temporary TANF investments.

The Administration’s FY2011 Budget includes an 11.5 percent increase for targeted homeless 

programs. This includes significant increases for Veterans and for HUD homeless assistance 

programs, as well as for targeted programs in other agencies.

The Budget includes two initiatives that would promote further collaboration among federal 

agencies to align resources to reduce homelessness. In one, HHS and HUD would combine 

4,000 Housing Choice Vouchers administered by local public housing agencies with health, 

behavioral health, and wrap-around services to move and maintain individuals experiencing 

chronic homelessness with mental health and substance use disorders into permanent supportive housing. Another collaboration among HHS, HUD, and Education would make 6,000 

vouchers available for families experiencing homelessness along with other supports these 

families will need to stabilize their housing situation, improve personal safety, foster healthy 

child development and education, and prepare for, find, and retain employment.

This Administration is modeling collaboration in several initiatives related to preventing and 

ending homelessness.
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	 HUD and the VA are working together to implement FY2008, FY2009, and FY2010 

appropriations for 30,000 HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers 

for Veterans who are homeless. HUD-VASH provides a critical resource that combines 

housing, health care, and services to support Veterans and their families in housing, 

recovery, and employment. By the end of FY2010, HUD, VA, and the Department of 

Labor will also be implementing a $15 million, five-site demonstration project focused 

on prevention services. The pilot will target at-risk Veterans and their families connecting them to mainstream supportive services and fiscal resources to assist them in 

sustaining housing, treatment, and vocational rehabilitation services.

	 In FY2010, the Secretaries of HHS and HUD initiated a collaboration to better integrate 

the nation’s housing, health, and human services delivery systems. The goal of the 

collaboration is to identify concrete opportunities in three related areas: homelessness, community living, and livable homes and communities. In addition, the collaboration is also working on increasing access to mainstream programs for those who 

are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and partnering with the Department of 

Education to improve supports for youth and children experiencing homelessness.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act created three new programs at the Corporation 

for National and Community Service. The Volunteer Generation Fund, the Nonprofit Capacity 

Building Program, and the Learn and Serve America Youth Engagement Zone are designed to 

increase the number of people who serve in meaningful roles as volunteers and increase the 

capacity of smaller nonprofits dedicated to addressing important needs in communities across 

America. This may result in an increase in the number of people volunteering in organizations 

that play a part in preventing and ending homelessness, and may help to build the capacity of 

nonprofits in this field.

Other Key Initiatives

What follows is a review of the efforts under way or under consideration over and above the 

cross-cutting initiatives described above. This summary is organized by the themes of the Plan 

objectives.

In order to increase leadership, collaboration, and civic engagement, the Plan focuses on 

providing and promoting collaborative leadership at all levels of government and across all 

sectors and strengthening the capacity of public and private organizations by increasing 

knowledge about collaboration, homelessness, and successful interventions to prevent and 

end homelessness. The historic levels of federal collaboration involved in developing this Plan 

along with commitments to work collaboratively in its implementation have set the stage 

for federal leadership and partnership to realize these ambitious goals. Each state and each 

community must determine its next steps to improve collaboration.

This Plan was also informed by best practices and serves as a roadmap not just for the 

federal government, but for local communities to employ best practices in preventing and 

ending homelessness. While there is much work to be done educating the public, improving 

collaborative efforts, translating research into actionable best practices, and refining best 

practices for special populations, there is much from which to build.
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

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Council on Homelessness

In order to increase access to stable and affordable housing, the Plan’s objectives focus on 

providing affordable housing and permanent supportive housing. Several specific federal efforts are under way through the Recovery Act or are proposed in the President’s FY2011 Budget:

	 Housing Choice Voucher funding to help more than two million extremely low- to lowincome families with rental assistance.

	 Funding for the Project-Based Rental Assistance program to preserve over one million 

affordable rental units to help extremely low- to low-income households.

	 Additional Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding.

	 The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process offers an opportunity for affected 

communities to plan for the reuse of former Department of Defense military installations, and in doing so accommodate the needs of those experiencing homelessness. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reviews community plans to 

assure the planning process and ultimate decisions are done in accordance with the 

requirements of the Base Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act 

of 1994. Former military installations can be a source of real property to be used to 

provide homeless assistance.

Significant work is needed to make affordable housing available to everyone who most needs 

it, including changes to mainstream programs that would increase access for people experiencing homelessness. HUD is assessing how its mainstream programs can better prevent and end 

homelessness.

Over the last decade, work focused on chronic homelessness has led to a pipeline of supportive housing projects and funding to develop additional units. The HEARTH Act expands the 

definition of chronic homelessness to include families with children. This will support the Plan’s 

call for supportive housing for families as well as single adults who need it most.

In order to increase economic security, the Plan’s objectives focus on increasing meaningful 

and sustainable employment and improving access to mainstream programs and services to 

reduce people’s financial vulnerability to homelessness. This is an area where improvements in 

the economy as a whole will help people experiencing homelessness find jobs, and help others 

avoid homelessness. Specific federal initiatives that are underway include:

	 Planning for a successful expansion of Medicaid under Health Reform.

	 The Compassionate Allowances Initiative allows SSA to quickly identify individuals 

who are clearly disabled by the nature of their disease or condition.

	 The Departments of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs are working 

with the American Bar Association to address child support issues of homeless Veterans that impede housing, employment, credit restoration, and family reengagement.

	 The Department of Labor is implementing a special Homeless Women Veterans Reintegration Program Pilot to provide employment services to women Veterans experiencing homelessness.

	 The Department of Education is implementing a simplified Free Application for Federal Student Aid to assist students who are homeless or in foster care apply for financial 

assistance for college.
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Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

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In order to improve health and stability, the Plan’s objectives focus on integrating primary and 

behavioral health care services with homeless assistance programs and housing, advancing 

health and housing stability for youth aging out of systems such as foster care and juvenile 

justice along with people who have frequent contact with hospitals and criminal justice. There 

are several new initiatives and proposals on the federal front, over and above the significant 

impact of Health Reform discussed above:

	 The President’s FY2011 Budget expands substance abuse prevention and treatment 

services, treatment capacity at drug courts, and invests in re-entry programs, all part 

of funding for the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice to reduce 

the nation’s demand for drugs.

	 The President’s FY2011 Budget provides critical support for young children and their 

families by building on historic increases provided in the Recovery Act, including Head 

Start, Early Head Start, and the Child Care and Development Fund.

	 In January 2010, the Social Security Administration revised its policy to allow youth 

aging out of foster care to file for Supplemental Security Income 90 days before turning 18. Prior to this policy change, youth aging out of foster care could only file 30 days 

prior to their 18th birthday.

	 The Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded its substance abuse and mental 

health staff to provide more community-based services to Veterans experiencing or 

at risk of homelessness.

	 Additionally, the VA has added staffing to coordinate with Veterans who have been 

incarcerated to transition back into society and have added staff to work with court 

diversion programs to see that Veterans get their health care needs addressed to 

prevent future incarceration.

	 The Department of Labor in conjunction with the VA is implementing a program to 

assist incarcerated or formerly incarcerated Veterans who are at risk of homelessness 

to re-train in order to re-enter the workforce.

	 To address the problem of criminalization of homelessness, USICH will convene a task 

force in 2010.

In order to retool the homeless crisis response system, the Plan’s objectives focus on transforming homeless services.

	 Implementation of the HEARTH Act will provide leadership toward this objective. 

Enacted in May 2009 to transform the federal response to homelessness, the HEARTH 

Act streamlined three current HUD homeless programs (Supportive Housing, Shelter 

Plus Care, and Moderate Rehabilitation/Single Room Occupancy Program) into 

one, placed greater emphasis on homelessness prevention, and provided increased 

funding authority for grant renewals and new project funding, with an emphasis on 

permanent housing.

	 In March 2010, the VA rolled out a 24/7 hotline for homeless Veterans seeking housing and services across the United States.
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The President’s FY2011 Budget supports the key priorities reflected in the HEARTH Act, including the Emergency Solutions Grant, about 10,000 new units of permanent supportive housing, 

and a newly authorized competitive rural program.

Local communities across the country must work together to assess needed transformations 

in both collaboration and practice in order to realize this objective.

This is a multi-year effort due to the breadth of the objectives and strategies. As such, it is 

important to continually assess what is working and what is not, as well as to collect data about 

impacts and where actions fall short of intended outcomes. Strategies and implementation 

plans must adapt to what is learned in future years. This is a long-term commitment and must 

be dynamic and timely, with a relentless focus on results.

Next Steps

USICH is immediately turning from the development of this Plan to action. We are gathering 

baseline data around the key measures. We are working with member agencies to prioritize 

which strategies demand action first, and together we will translate this strategic plan into 

implementation plans.

USICH will publish an annual report card on progress towards Plan goals and targets, and progress in implementing strategies at the federal level and across the country.

There will also be an annual update to the Plan that will consider what has changed in the 

environment, successes, unexpected opportunities and barriers, and new research and information. Public input will be garnered. This will allow USICH and others at all levels to make 

adjustments as needed.

USICH’s annual report to Congress enumerates people served by federal programs assisting 

those experiencing homelessness. The report also notes impediments to people accessing 

these programs and efforts made to increase access. The report covers activities and accomplishments across all USICH agencies, as well as accomplishments by the Council.

There will be evaluations of the Signature Initiatives targeting Veterans, families with children, 

youth, and chronic homelessness. These evaluations will look at both improvements for people served by these initiatives and how agencies collaborate to facilitate those improvements.

USICH is committed to accountability and transparency and will share information as it is available on its website: www.usich.gov.
the steps: accountability and implementation 63

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Conclusion

Over the last 30 years, the number of people experiencing homelessness in America has steadily 

increased. More children and youth than ever do not have a safe and stable place to call home. 

As Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki has said, “Those who have served this nation as 

Veterans should never find themselves on the streets, living without care and without hope.” 

Nearly two million service men and women have served in Afghanistan and Iraq; they deserve 

the top quality care they were promised and the benefits that they have earned.

Simultaneously, while homelessness has grown, our knowledge about what can be done to 

prevent and end homelessness has also increased. As the first ever comprehensive Federal 

Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, Opening Doors is a roadmap for what we 

must all do to change the landscape of homelessness in America.

Each of the 19 USICH member agencies is making a strong commitment to the goal of preventing 

and ending homelessness by agreeing to these goals and strategies and establishing targets 

and performance measures. We understand action involving unprecedented collaboration 

must be taken. No one should experience homelessness—no one should be without a safe, 

stable place to call home.
reference and supplementary material 64

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

References for Margin Notes and Charts

Page

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Income Housing Coalition. The numbers shown in this figure reflect the absolute shortage or surplus of units for households 

in each income group. These figures do not take into account the fact that all units with low rents are not available to those 

who need them. This is primarily because many lower cost units are occupied by households in a higher income category. 

Subtracting the households who currently live in a home that is affordable at or below their income category threshold and 

the available vacant rental stock affordable at or below this threshold from the total demand gives a more realistic picture 

of the availability of affordable housing. For ELI households the absolute shortage of units is 5,288,462 (greater than the 

number shown in the figure) and for VLI households the absolute surplus is 313,692 (smaller than the number shown in the 

figure). For low income households the absolute surplus is 2,948,505 (smaller than the number shown in the figure).
reference and supplementary material 65

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United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Page

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20 (bottom) Rosenheck, R. & Seibyl, C.L. (1998). Homelessness: Health Service Use and Related Costs. Medical Care, Vol. 36, No. 8.

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York City. The New England Journal of Medicine, 338 (24):1734–1740.

44 Schackman, B., et al. (2006). The lifetime cost of current human immunodeficiency virus care in the United States. Medical 

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for Families and Individuals. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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Performance Report data for 2009.

12 (top),

12 (bottom) U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development. (2010). 2009 

Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming.

17 (middle) U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Program Development and Research. (2007, July). The Applicability 

of Housing First Models to Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness. Washington, DC.

16 Wagner, L.S., Carlin, L., Cauce, A.M., & Tenner, A. (2001, June). A snapshot of homeless youth in Seattle: Their characteristics, 

behaviors, and beliefs about HIV protective strategies. Journal of Community Health, 26(3), 219-232.

36 Wardrip, K., Pelletiere, D., & Crowley, S. (2009, April). Out of Reach 2009. Washington, DC: National Low Income Housing 

Coalition.

35 Wilder Research. (2007, November). Homeless and Near-Homeless People on Northern Minnesota Indian Reservations: 

2006 Study. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=2018
reference and supplementary material 66

Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness :: 2010

United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

Endnotes

1. Data from the 2008 Annual Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) and data provided by HUD for forthcoming 2009 AHAR report indicate a significant increase in family homelessness from 2008 to 2009—an increase of 18,723 persons in families or 4%. The increase 

from 2007 to 2009 is even greater—62,000 persons in families or a 13% increase over the 2-year period. U.S. Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development. (2009, July). The 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report 

to Congress (AHAR). Washington, DC; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development. (2010). 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming.

2. Prior to 2007, there was no national standardized method of counting the number of persons experiencing homelessness. However, we 

do know from local data that persons using homeless shelters increased significantly over the past two decades. For example, over the 

past decade, homelessness in New York City reached its highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Source: Coalition for the 

Homeless. (2010, April). New York City Homelessness: The Basic Facts. Retrieved May 5, 2010, at http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.

org/pages/basic-facts#FACTS

3. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming. 

4. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming. 

5. U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). Annual Estimate of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 

2000 to July 1, 2009 (NST-EST 2009-01). Washington, DC.

6. Council for Affordable and Rural Housing. (2007, January/February). Homelessness in Rural America. CARH News. 

7. Council for Affordable and Rural Housing (2007, January/February). 

8. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2009, September 29). Geography of Homelessness, Part 3: Subpopulations by Geographic Type. 

Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/2529/

9. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming. 

10. National Center for Homeless Education. (2010). Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program: Analysis of Data From the 

SY2008-09 Federally Required State Data Collection for the McKinney-Vento Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001 and Comparison of the SY2006-07, SY2007-08, and 2008-09 Data Collections, forthcoming.

11. Rog, D., Holupka, S., & Patton, L. (2007, Fall). Characteristics and Dynamics of Homeless Families with Children. Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

12. Shinn, M. (2009). Ending Homelessness for Families: The Evidence for Affordable Housing. Washington, DC: National Alliance to End 

Homelessness Homeless Research Institute and Enterprise Community Partners.

13. Wardrip, K. & Pelletiere, D. (2008, May 8). Properties, Units, and Tenure in the Foreclosure Crisis: An Initial Analysis of Properties at the 

End of the Foreclosure Process in New England. Research Note #08-01. Washington, DC.

14. Aratani, Y. (2009). Homeless Children and Youth, Causes and Consequences. National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved April 19, 

2010, from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_888.pdf

15. National Network to End Domestic Violence. (2010). Domestic Violence Counts 2009: A 24-Hour Census of Domestic Violence Shelters 

and Services. Census conducted September 15, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://nnedv.org/docs/Census/DVCounts2009/DVCounts09_Report_BW.pdf

16. Rog, D., Holupka, S., & Patton, L. (2007, Fall).

17. Rog, D., Holupka, S., & Patton, L. (2007, Fall).

18. Ingersoll, G.M., Scamman, J.P., & Eckerling, W.D. (1989). Geographic mobility and student achievement in an urban setting. Educational 

Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 11, 143–149; Buckner, J.C., and Bassuk, E.L. (2001). Predictors of Academic Achievement among Homeless 

and Low-Income Housed Children. Journal of School Psychology, 39(1); Wood, D., Halfon, N., Scarlata, D., Newacheck, P., & Nessim, S. 

(1993). Impact of family relocation on children’s growth, development, school function, and behavior. Journal of the American Medical 

Association, 270, 1334–1338.

19. Shinn, M.B., Rog, D., & Culhane, D. (2005, May). Family Homelessness: Background Research Findings and Policy Options. Washington, 

DC: U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. 

20. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (2007). Promising Strategies to End Youth 

Homelessness: Report to Congress. Washington, DC.

21. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming. 

22. National Alliance to End Homelessness, et al. (2009, February 10). Advocates sign-on letter to President Barack Obama urging him “to 

support federal policies to confront the social crisis of youth homelessness in America”. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/2202

23. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007), Promising Strategies.

24. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007), Promising Strategies.

25. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007), Promising Strategies.

26. Whitbeck, L.B. & Hoyt, D.R. (1999). Nowhere to Grow: Homeless and Runaway Adolescents and Their Families. New York: Aldine De 

Gruyter.
reference and supplementary material 67

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United States Interagency Opening Doors:

Council on Homelessness

27. Wilder Research. (2005, February). Homeless youth in Minnesota 2003: Statewide survey of people without permanent shelter. Retrieved April 19, 2010, from http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=410

28. Whitbeck, L.B., Hoyt, D.R., Yoder, K.A., Cauce, A.M., & Paradise, M. (2001). Deviant behavior and victimization among homeless and 

runaway adolescents. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16(11), 1175-1204.

29. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007), Promising Strategies.

30. Cook, R. (1991). A National Evaluation of Title IV-E Foster Care Independent Living Programs for Youth, Phase 2. Rockville, MD: Westat, 

Inc. 

31. Shinn, M.B., Rog, D., & Culhane, D. (2005, May). Family Homelessness: Background Research Findings and Policy Options. Washington, 

DC: U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Among females who age out of foster care, studies have found anywhere from 20 to 

40 percent either pregnant or already parents. These young families with young children are at special risk for becoming homeless.

32. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming. 

33. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming; U.S. 

Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development. (2009, July). The 2008 Annual 

Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Washington, DC.

34. Caton, C.L.M., Wilkins, C., & Anderson, J. (2007, September). People Who Experience Long-Term Homelessness: Characteristics and 

Interventions. Toward Understanding Homelessness: The 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research. Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

35. Caton, C.L.M., Wilkins, C., & Anderson, J. (2007, September).

36. Summaries of outcomes from cost studies, along with links to published research, can be found at: Corporation for Supportive Housing. 

(2009, September). Summary of Studies: Medicaid/Health Services Utilization and Costs. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://documents.

csh.org/documents/policy/UpdatedCostMatrixSept09.pdf

37. Evaluations of permanent supportive housing, implemented in a range of communities for chronically homeless people and homeless 

people with disabilities, have demonstrated significant improvements in housing stability, reductions in days of homelessness, and 

reductions in the utilization and costs of public services such as emergency shelter, hospital emergency room and inpatient care, detox 

or sobering centers, and jails. Summaries of outcomes from these and other cost studies with citations and links to published research 

are available at: Corporation for Supportive Housing. (2009, September). Summary of Studies: Medicaid/Health Services Utilization and 

Costs. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://documents.csh.org/documents/policy/UpdatedCostMatrixSept09.pdf

38. Corporation for Supportive Housing. (2009, September). Summary of Studies.

39. Larimer, M. et al. (2009, April). Health Care and Public Service Use and Costs Before and After Provision of Housing for Chronically 

Homeless Persons with Severe Alcohol Problem. JAMA, 301(13):1349-1357.

40. Mares, A. & Rosenheck, R. (2010, April). Twelve Month Client Outcomes and Service Use in a Multisite Project for Chronically Homeless 

Adults. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, Vol. 37, No. 2.

41. Sadowski, L., Kee, R., VanderWeele, T., Buchanan, D. (2009, May 6). Effect of a Housing and Case Management Program on Emergency 

Department Visits and Hospitalizations among Chronically Homeless Adults. JAMA, 301, (17): 1771-1778.

42. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2010), 2009 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR), forthcoming.

43. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2008). Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans -- 2007 Data Update. Retrieved 

April 19, 2010 at http://www.endhomelessness.org/content/article/detail/1837

44. Rosenheck, R. & Fontana, A.F. (1994). A Model of Homelessness Among Male Veterans of the Vietnam War Generation. American 

Journal of Psychiatry 151:421-427. Cited in Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress “Veterans and Homelessness” 

September 2009.

45. Tanielian, T. & Jaycox, L., editors. (2008). Invisible wounds of war: psychological and cognitive injuries, their consequences, and services 

to assist recovery. Washington, DC: RAND Center for Military Health and Policy Research.

46. Auerbach, J. (2009). Transforming social structures and environments to help in HIV prevention, Health Affairs, 28(6): 1655-1665. 

47. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2010, January 6). Women Veterans Health Care: The Changing Face of Women Veterans. Retrieved 

April 19, 2010 at www.publichealth.va.gov/womenshealth/facts.asp

48. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2009, November). VA services for Veterans involved in the justice system: The Veterans Justice 

Outreach (VJO) Initiative. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://www1.va.gov/HOMELESS/docs/VJO/vjofactsheet.doc

49. Congressional Research Service Report for Congress. (2009, September). Veterans and Homelessness. Washington, DC.

50. Collinson, R. & Winter, B. (2010, January). U.S. Rental Housing Characteristics: Supply, Vacancy, and Affordability. HUD PD&R Working 

Paper 10-01. Washington, DC: U .S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

51. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (2009, October). The Adoptions and Foster 

Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Report: Preliminary FY2008 Estimates. Retrieved April 19, 2010 at http://www.acf.hhs.

gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report16.htm

52. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (1999, January). Continuum of Care Planning and Implementation (Guide to). 

Washington, DC.

Michelle Abbenante

Cynthia Abbott

Magdey Abdallah

Deanna Adams

Sherilyn Adams

Jesse Aguilera

Vidhya Alakeson

Beth Albert

Steve Albertson

Kerry Aleshire

Christine Alford

Angela Alioto

Sherri Allen-Reeves

Shedita Alston

Mark Alston-Follansbee

Daniel Altilio

Manny Alvarado

Mike Alvidrez

Nicole Amling

Jackie Anderson

Kasey Anderson

Danielle Anderson-Thomas

Nereida Andino

Don Andre

Barbara Andrews

JoAnna Aniello

Lynnette Araki

Philip Arca

G. Michael Arnold

Michael Arnold

Cathy Ashenfeltzer

Steven Auerbach

Sue Augustus

Carolyn Austin-Diggs

Kathleen Austria

Donald Babers

Jennifer Baha

Peggy Bailey

Brianna Baker

Dan Baker

Toni Baker

Richard Balkus

Barbara Banaszynski

Ron Banks

Jo-Ann Barbour

Margaret Barbour

Gregory Barfield

Kristin Barlup

Tim Barry

John Bartlett

George Bates

Anthony Baugh

Kathleen Baushke

Melva Bazan

Ed Beane

Susanne Beaton

Flo Beaumon

Maureen Beauregard

Jody Becker-Green

Kiersten Beigel

Paloma Belmarez

Howard Belodoff

Cynthia Belon

Betsy Benito

Sarah Benjamin

Joe Benson

Ralph Benzenberg

Lisa Abby Berg

Michael Berg

Steve Berg

Doug Berman

Fred Berman

Nancy Bernstine

Roy Betts

Cheryl Beversdorf

Michelle Billups

Kelvy Bird

Lindsey Bishop

Lisa Black

Rebecca Blank

Michael Blecker 

Bill Block

Lisa Blouin

Erin Bock

Paul Boden

Susan Bodington

Kathleen Boggs

Sylvia Bolivar

Louise Bourassa

Bernie Bowles

Tenicka Boyd

Leah Bradley

Nicole Branca

Bonnie Brathwaite

James H. Bray

Adrienne Breidenstine

Alexis Breiteneicher

Nonie Brennan

Lydia Brewster

Brad Bridwell

Xavier De Sousa Briggs

Gerald Britt

Barbara Broman

Michael. W. Brose

Mary Brosnahan

Alan Brown

Ann Brown

Kathy Brown

Richard Brown

Tamara Brown

Emily Buckham Buday

Howard Burchman

Cindy Burdine

Gordon J. Burke, Jr.

Brent Burmaster

William Burnett

Michael P. Burns

Martha Burt

Jacqui Buschor

Susanne Byrne

Irene Cabello

Tomasa Cadiz

Allison Calabro

Martha Calhoun

Brenda Campbell

Ray Candola

Paul Carlson

Dennis Carman

Gerry Carmichael

Mary Ellen Caron

Robert (Mike) Carr

Mary Carroll

Jan Carter

Ronald Carter

Dorval R. Carter, Jr.

Edmond Castro

Angelina Caudillo

Cindy Cavanaugh

Donald Chamberlain

Phyllis Chamberlain

Athena Chapman

Lisa Chapman

Richard Cho

Bill Chong

Kim Chouinard

Troy Christensen

Jan Cicco

Peter D. Cirioni

Jamie Citron

Donald Clark

Frank Clark

Jerrod Clark

Laura Clark

Susan Cockrell

Wendy Coco

Nick Codd

Joyce Coffee

Norm Cole

Marcus Coleman

Max Collier

Henry Comas

Steven Como

Barbara Conanan

Abner Concepcion

Christina Connelly

Marykate Connor

Tara Connor

Jeff Conroy

Bob W. Cook

Darlene Cook

Mary Jo Cook

Aimee Coolidge

Elias Corey

Michele Corey

Timothy Corey

Christie Corrigan

Anne Cory

Linda Couch

Ron Cowart

Robert Cox

Rick Crager

Cindy Crain

Lina Cramer

Maria Cremer

Peggy Crist

Giuseppe Crottogini

Cathy Crouch

Sheila Crowley

Joyce Crum

Diane Cruz

Dennis P. Culhane

Deborah Culpepper

Alison Cunningham

Theresa Curran-Freeh

Elizabeth Curtis

Meta Cushing

Kurt Czarnowski

Jamie Dake

Deborah Darzinskis

Amy Davidson

Bill Davis

Dave Davis

Paul Davis

Elaine De Coligny

Horace De La Vega

Bob Deaner

Elaine deColigny

Ronald DeMartino

Eileen Denham

Etta Denk

Gary Dennis

Drew Dernavich

DeBoRah Dickerson

Julie Diffenderffer

Stephen Dillard

Martha Dilts

Benjamin Dineen

Barbara DiPietro

Mary Dodson

Steve Dombrowski

Steve Donaldson

Russell Dondero

Neil Donovan

Denorah Doss

Bob Dougherty

Pete Dougherty

Derek Douglas

Dorit Dowler-Guerrero

Lyndia Downie

John Downing

Sherri Downing

Elizabeth Doyle

Mary Doyle

Mike Doyle

Ron Drach

John Driscoll 

Chyrell Ducksell

Tammy Duckworth

Barbara Duffield

Lauren Dunton

Suanne Durham

Julie Dworkin

Amy Dworsky

Melinda Dyer

Donna Dziak

Nancy Fritsche Eagan

Gail Easley

Julie Eberbach

Beverley Ebersold

Vicki Ebner

Yvonne Eden

Virginia Edwards

John Cheney Egan

Piper Ehlen

Claas Ehlers

Alison Eisinger

Epi Elizondo

Janice Elliott

Lynda Thistle Elliott

Lisa Engel

Michelle Enger

Sally Erickson

Bob Erlenbusch

Linda Esah

Annette Evans

Melanie P. Faby

Doreen Fadus

Lillian Faga

Nancy Fairbanks

Bill Faith

Aaron Farnon

Sara Farnsworth

Daniel Farrell

Lester Farthing

Rachel Fee

Ken Fenner

George Ferguson

Jane Ferrell

David Figgat

Antonio Figueroa

Kevin Finn

Nichole Fiore

Laurence Fitzmaurice

Charlene M. Flaherty

Rebecca Flanagan

Marty Fleetwood

Martha Fleming

Paige Flink

Patrick Flood

Clifton Fluker

Olanrewaju Folarin

Jyoti Folch

Delois Ford

Erica Foreman

Maria Foscarinis 

Abby Foster

Kristine Foye

Bruce Frankel

Darren G. Franklin

Elaine Frawley

Nina Frazier

J Friedenbach

Daniel Friedman

Nancy Fritz

Estella Fritzinger

Sharon M. Fujii

Todd Fuller

Michele Fuller-Hallauer

Charles Gagnon

Thomas Galassini

Carmel Galasso

Sarah Gallagher

Diane Gallegos

Jim Galloway

Jill Garcia

Mai-Ling Garcia

Anthony Gardner

Douglas Gardner

Wizipan Garriott

Marc Garufi

Luetricia Gaston

Mike Gates

Beth Geagan

Vicky Gee

Suzanne Gelderman

Katherine Gerard

Kathy Germain

Michael German

Marla Gese

Ronni Gilboa

Gail Gilman

Melinda Giovengo

Adam Glantz

Linda Glassman

Heidi Gold

Wendy Goldberg

Rita Gonzales-Garza

Dennis Gonzalez

Juanita Gonzalez-Charlot

Wayne Gordon

Larry Gottlieb

Mimielle Goulatte

James Goveia

Claire Goyer

Michael Goze

Denise Grant

Amy Grassette

William Graves

Kristin Green

Risa J. Greendlinger

Jim Greene

Katharine Gregg

Tom Gregoire

Thomas Gregory

Jenine Grey

Edward Griffin

Johnnie Griffin

Janine Griggs

Ann Marie Grimberg

Tory Gunsolley

Laura Guzman

Rosanne Haggerty

Carol Hall

Paul Hamann

Reginald Hamilton 

Rob Hard

Kelly Harder

Abbilyn Harmon

Carl Harris

John Harrison

Sally Harrison

Lamont Hartman

Jonathan Harwitz

Janice Haugen

Erin Healy

Jay Healy

Cheryl Heesen

Joe Hegedus

Sue Heilman

Luz Hein

Deborah Heinz

Rubben Henderson

Arvernetta Henry

Daryl Hernandez

Robert V. Hess

Mary Ann Higgins

Cynthia High

Jennifer Hill

Marilee Hill-Anderson

Mark Hinderlie

Gregory Hinrichsen

Liane Hirabayashi

David Hirschman

Helmi Hisserich

Jennifer Leimaile Ho

Bill Hobson

William Hobson

LaShanda Hodges

Mark Holleran

Stephen L. Holliday

Kay Holmes

Valentina Holston

Janice M. Holt

Gary A. Holtberg

Teri Holtkamp

Tim Holtkamp

Vincent Hom

Brad Hopkins

Ronald Horne

John Hosteny

Janice Hougen

Ted Houghton

Felicia Houston

Renee Houston

Larke Huang

Elise Hui

Dennis Hunsinger

Gerald Hunter

Kevin Hurley

Jennifer Hurn

Barbara Hyshaw

Laura Ibanez

Joe Ingram

Juanita Irizarry

Julie Irwin

Liz Isaacs

Robert Ivory

Slum Jack

Joyce Jackson

Robert Jackson

Kathryn Jacob

Karen Jacobs

Wendy Jacobs

Paul Jacobsen

Barbara James

Kathy Jaworski

Raymond Jefferson

Judy Jenkins

Jerry Jensen

Kirsten Jewell

Elsa Johnson

Jean Johnson

Mark Johnston

Marc Jolin

Berl Jones

Erika Jones

Christina Jordan

Stanley F. Kaczmarczyk

Laura Kadwell 

Sarah Kahn

Piper Kamins

Minouche Kandel

Vince Kane

Fred Karnas

Selene Kaye

Dariush Kayhan

Sue Keely

Martha Kegel

Larry Keillor

Tedd Kellerher

David Kellogg

Janet Kelly

Kate Kelly

William C. Kelly, Jr.

Robert Kelty

Gavin Kennedy

Cheryl Kennedy-Perez

Kelly Kent

Chuck Kieffer

Pam Kies-Lowe

Tom Kilmurray

Helen Kim

Davey King

Linda King

Adam Kirkman

Dan Kivlahan

Barry Klitsberg

Martha B. Knisley

Bill Koll

Bessy Kong

Mike Kowalsky

Rudolph Kraintz

Jason Kravitz

Beth Kreuger

Suzanne Krohn

Al Krummenacher

Amanda Krusemark

Keith Kuenning

John Kuhn

Lisa Kuklinski

Rebecca Kuper

Margot Kushel

Marcie Laden

Eduardo Laguerre

Robert Landolfi

Richard Lane

Stanley Langfeld

Angela Lariviere

Matthew Lattimer

E. Terri LaVelle

Amanda Law

LoAn Le

Anna Lee

Dawn Lee

Jessica Lee

Niki Lee

Rebecca Lee

Sarah Lee

Stella Lee

Lindsey Legaspi

Gretchen Lehman

Larry Lehman

Suzanne Lemenstrel

Cathy Leonis

Agnes Leshner

Vania Leveille

Herb Levine

Leslie Levy

Carleton Lewis

Janice Lewis

NJ L’Heureux Jr

Betsy Lieberman

Sharon E. Liggins

Jeff Lilley

Jeri Lynch Linas

Mark Linton

Lanesha Linzy

Joel Lipski

Debra Little

Traswell Livingston

Betty Lock

Randle Loeb

Alexis Lometz

David Long

Mattie McVey Lord

Tom Lorello

Gai Lorenzen

Diane Louard-Michel

Anthony Love

Janet Lovell-Smith

Everett Low

Julie Lowell

Kit Lowrance

Mike Lowry

John N. Lozier

Rebecca Lucero

Paul Luikart

Kelly Lupro

Tryna M. Luton

James Lyall

Eileen Lynch

Craig Lyons

Heather Lyons

Kate Lyons

Christine Ma

Joyce Probst MacAlpine

Maria Machado

Jen Macias

Bob Mack

Jackie MacLean

Laura MacNeil

Nicole Macri

Lauren Maddock

Emily Madison

Amit Magdieli

Patricia Magnuson

Ed Mahan

Barbara Mahoney

Ulysses Malot 

Marianne Maner

Karla Maraccini

Nina Marinkovich

Patricia Marnette

Paula Maroney

Vicky Marquez

Roberta Marsh

Lavonna Martin

Tim Martin

Timothy Marx

Tony Mastracci

Latrisce Mathews

Katrina Mathis

Felix Matluck

Karen Matson

Karen Matsuda

Natalie Matthews

Hazel Mays

Mary McBride

Geraldine McCafferty

Maura McCauley

Tiffinay McClinton

Randy McCoy

Susan McCutcheon

Kay Moshier McDivitt

Nancy McDonald

Sharon McDonald

Kathy McEntee

Frank McGally

Tammy McGhee

Maria McGinty

Marissa McKeever

John McLaughlin

Loren McMahon

Nakia McMorris

Lori McNeil

John M. McWilliam

Chris Megison

Anna Melbin

Michael Melendez

Linda Mellgren

Lauren Mendenhall

Mary Mendez

Carmen Mendoza

Debbie Michael

Lori Mignon

Norweeta Milburn

Maggie Milcarek

Anastasia Miller

Angelique Miller

Cynthia Miller

Jim Miller

Katharine Miller

Sam J. Miller

Tina Minor

Jennifer Mirabile

Mark Misczak

Selarstean Mitchell

Kim Moeller

Jane W. Molloy

Melany Mondello

Dennis Mondoro

Bryant Monroe

Maureen Ollalley Moone

Ellen Bruder Moore

Carmen M. Moreno

Karen Morgan

Fred Morrison

David Morrissette

Kay Moshier McDivitt

Donald Moulds

Bobbie Mowery

Karl Muehter

Michael Mulcahy

Michele Mulleady

Tim Mullin

Musheifa Mulsits

Liam Mulvaney

Pete Munroe

Stacey Murphy

Sandi Murray

David Myers

Cindy Namer

Susan Nayowith

Mark Neal

Coleman Nee

Mary Nee

Phoebe Nelson

Denise Neunaber

Judy Nevis

Angelina Nguyen

Doug Nguyen

Charles Nickerson

Mike Nielson

Connie Nieswiadomy

Jacqueline Nieves-De La Paz

Patricia Nix-Hodes

Tiffany Nobles

Mark Nolan

Nancy Norman

Kim Norris

Zed Null

Ralph de Costa Nunez

Shirley Nunn

James O’Connell

Ann O’Hara

Jane Oates

John O’Brien

Patrick O’Carroll

Jessie Ochoa

Benjamin O’Dell

Grant O’Donnell

Timothy O’Hanlon

Tim O’Keefe

Kenoli Oleari

Ann Oliva

Zachary Olmstead

Zack Olmstead

Barb Olson

Mary O’Malley

Maureen O’Malley-Moore

Jo Ann Oram

Ismael Ortiz

Junior Ortiz

Maya Ortiz

Ellie Ottey

Lynn Overmann

Alan Painter

Lisa Pape

Sandra Park

Christy Parque

Sharon Parrott

Lisa Parsons

John Parvensky

Lisa Patt-McDaniel

Alexandra Pavlakis

Suzi Pearson

Lloyd S. Pendleton 

Vicky Penn

Richard F. Pennington II

Judy Perry

Annette Peters

Jack Peters

Dana Peterson

Kirsten Peterson

John Pfeiffer

Canta Pian

Stephen Piasecki

Aaron Pierce

Kate Pieri

Benny A. Pinaula

Russell Pinsley

Sophina Placencia

Louella Pointer

Becky Poitras

Linda Polley

LaKesha Pope

Barbara Poppe

John D. Porcari

Curtis Porter

Greg Porter

Erin Porterfield

Sarah Potter

Suzanne D. Pouliot

Neil Powers

Staci Pratt

Rick Presbrey

Lou Ann Pressler

Sharon Price

Robin Prichard

Pat Prieb

Nicole Pritchard

Natalie Profant Komuro

Grace Protos

Bob Puett

Jo Kathryn Quinn

Laura Radel

Nancy Radner

Nicolas Ramon

Barry Ramsey

Diane Randall

Fran Randolph

Virginia Raney

Sharon Rapport

Jerry Ray

David Raymond

Robyn Raysor

Alison Recca-Ryan

Will Reed

Dottress Reeves

Nola Renz

Tammy Repine

Susan Reyna

Amy Reynolds

Bonnie Rhea

Jean Rice

Tracie Rice-Bailey

David Rich

Loretta Richardson

Thomas Riley

Jeannie Ritter

Anabelle Rivera

Bryan Rivera

Patricia Rivera

Yesenia Rivera

Jasper Robinson

Ronda G. Robinson

Sturgis Robinson

Yvette Robinson

Alisa Rodriguez

Sam Rofman

Debra J. Rog

LaQuita Rogers

Ralph Rogers

G.W. Rolle

Nan Roman 

Mark Romick

Mary Rooney

Sandy Rose

Larry Roselle

Betsy Rosenfeld

Roberta Rosenthal

Mike Rosnhour

Kristin Ross-Sitcawich

Zachary Running Wolf

Gary Rutkin

Cullen Ryan

Maureen Ryan

Tuesday Ryan-Hart

Molly Rysman

Anthony Sabia

Michael Sabo

Phyllis Sakahara

Acacia Salatti

John Samaan

Fred Sambataro

Joseph Sanchez

Leslie Sanchez

Lydia Sanders

Gary Sanford

Milena Sangut

Hari Sastry

Jason Satterfield

Denise Saturna

Wayne Sauceda

Hilberto Sauceda II

Jay Savage

Gina Schaak

Christine Schanes

Jessica Scheiner

Ali Schlageter

Greg Schmidt

Melissa Schoonmaker

Debora Schreiber

Terry Schroeder

Martin Schubert

Lynda Schueler

Karol Schulkin

Meliah Schultzman

Linda Schwartz

Erin Schwarzbauer

Jannah Scott

Earlene Sealey

Karen Seay

Jeffrey Senter

Bill Sermons

Ann Shahan

Marcia Shannon

Kevin Sharps

Noreen Shawcross

Kathi Sheffel

Susan Shelton

Curtis Shepard

Jody Sherman

Jonathan Sherwood

Susan Shimon

Greg Shinn

Marybeth Shinn

Alice Shobe

Stephen Shum

Steven Shum

Bob Shumeyko

Adam Shuster

Martin Siesta

Robert Signoracci

Mary Silveira

Carol Simler

Nadine Simons 

Susie Sinclair-Smith

Tiffany Sledge

Theresa Slusher

Jason Small

Marilyn Small

Adam Smith

Brian Smith

Chrischanne Smith

Juanita Smith

Ophelia Smith

Shay Smith

Angelina Smith-Wilson

Tim Soderlund

Julia Sopalski

Sharon Spane

Jill Spangler

Brooke Spellman

Andrea M. Staron

Kerry Steadman

Arianne Steed

Michalyn Steel

Lauren Steinberg

Karen Stephens

Daniel Sterling

Amanda Sternberg 

Zollie Stevenson, Jr.

Christy Stewart

Dennis Stewart

India Stewart

S. Duke Storen

Vera Stoulil

Dan Straughan

Paul Stridick

Floretta Strong-Pulley

Melanie H. Stuart

Todd Stull

Norm Suchar

Courtney Suchor

John Sullivan

Patrick Sullivan

Tim Sullivan

Mark Swann

Kathleen Swantek

Mary Kay Sweeney

Taylor D. Sykes

Karen Talarico

Louis Tallarita

Samantha Tan

Joyce Tavon

Beth Taylor

Tom Taylor

Taiisa Telesford

Connie Tempel

Cathy ten Broeke

Debbie Thiele

Alma Thomas

Gaylord Thomas

Joyce Thomas

Rudene Thomas

Stephen Thomas

Bill Thompson

Scott Tibbitts

Sunmoila Tijani

Charlie Tobin

Marc Tognotti

Deborah Torres

Michael Trailor

Catherine Trapani

Clayton Travis

Tammye H. Trevino

Marc Trotz

Casey Trupin

Sam Tsemberis

Janice Tufte

Vicki Turetsky

John Turner

Katie Tuten

Kara Ullestad

Kristin Unruh

Dan Utech

Adolph Valfre Jr.

Jamie Van Leeuwen, III

Katrina Van Valkey

Jeanne Van Vlandren

Felipe Vargas

Jennifer Velez

Perry Vietti

Susana Vilardell

Mario Villanueva

Mary Brell Vujovic

Suzanne Wagner

Victoria Wagner

Kathy Wahto 

Mary Walachy

Carlton Walker

Sue Wallinger

Patrick Walsh

Carol Walter

Cindy Ward

Sharayna Warmsly

Matthew Warshaw

Darby R. Washeck

Tara Wasiak

Mike Wasserberg

Donald Watson

Valerie Watson

Bobby Watts

Richard Hooks Wayman

Mark A. Weatherly

Joe Weisbord

Jenny Weiser

Hazel Weiss

Joanna Weissman

Dean Weitenhagen

Jason Weller

Mia Wells

Kathy Weremiuk

Christine Westerlund

Annie Whatley

Leanne M. Wheeler

Sheldon Wheeler

Marge Wherley

James K. (Kim) White

Matt White

Ruth Anne White

Donald Hugh Whitehead, Jr.

Grace Whitney

Kelly Wierzbinski

Louis K. Wilcox

David Wilde

Dina Wilderson

Danielle Wildkress

Carol Wilkins

Aisha Williams

Joel Williams

Julie Williams

Susan Williams

Taryn Williams

Ray Willis

Susan Wilschke

Barbara Wilson

Courtney Wilson

Tatum Wilson

Ali Wimer

Randy Windham

Patsy Wingard

Leon Winston

Leslie Wise

Lisa Wolf

Sally Wolf

Nancy Wong

Rebecca Woods

Katie S. Worsham

Mary Ann Wren

Cindy Wright

Timothy Yaecker

John Yazwinski

Kathryn Young

Marlene Zakai

Laura Zeilinger 

Aurora Zepeda

Joann Zimmer

Sara Zuiderveen

Kira Zylstra

Acknowledgments

USICH is grateful to the many who contributed to the development of this Plan, not only those listed who participated in meetings

but also the thousands of individuals who contributed online and in Agency analysis. To all, your wisdom and experience helped

determine priorities based on data, research, and results. Your counsel and partnership will be needed as we turn to implementation.
For more information, contact:

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness

Federal Center SW | 409 3rd Street SW, Suite 310

Washington, DC 20024

Email: usich@usich.gov

Or visit: www.usich.gov