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United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 1

U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness

Fiscal Year 2017 Performance and

Accountability Report

Contents

Message from Executive Director Matthew Doherty...................................................................................................2

Driving Progress Toward Ending Homelessness in America.....................................................................................2

Essential Strategies...................................................................................................................................................2

Management Assurances .........................................................................................................................................3

Management Discussion and Analysis..........................................................................................................................3

Driving an Efficient and Effective Federal Response to Homelessness....................................................................4

Building a National Partnership at Every Level of Government and Among the Private Sector..............................7

Providing Tools and Resources for Success..............................................................................................................8

Performance Goals and Accomplishments...................................................................................................................9

Ending Homelessness among Veterans....................................................................................................................9

Ending Chronic Homelessness................................................................................................................................12

Ending Homelessness among Families and Children..............................................................................................15

Ending Homelessness for Unaccompanied Youth..................................................................................................17

Setting a Path to End All Homelessness .................................................................................................................20

Our Work Ahead.....................................................................................................................................................24

Agency Operations......................................................................................................................................................25

Financial Statements, Auditor’s Reports, and Other Requirements.......................................................................26
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Message from Executive Director Matthew Doherty

Driving Progress Toward Ending Homelessness in America

In 2010, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness released Opening Doors, the first-ever 

comprehensive federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, building upon strategies and actions 

taken across multiple administrations. Through the urgent action mobilized by the plan, we’ve seen steady 

reductions in homelessness across the country between 2010 and 2016:

• 14% reduction in overall homelessness 

nationwide

• 47% reduction in Veteran homelessness, 

including a 56% drop in unsheltered 

homelessness among Veterans

• 27% reduction in chronic homelessness

• 23% reduction in family homelessness, 

including a 65% drop in unsheltered 

homelessness among family households

In addition to this national progress, which is 

described in more detail in the Performance Goals 

and Accomplishment section below, fifty-four (54) 

communities, and the entire states of Virginia, 

Connecticut, and Delaware, have also effectively ended homelessness among Veterans. That progress has 

forever changed the conversation about homelessness in this country. Communities now have proof that ending 

homelessness is possible. But there is much more work to be done to replicate those lessons across our nation so 

that every American experiencing homelessness has the opportunity to build the future they want from a safe 

and stable foundation.

Essential Strategies

In implementing the federal strategic plan, we have partnered with federal agencies, states, and local 

communities, focusing on several key strategies that are driving significant progress.

We set ambitious goals and asked leaders to publicly commit to them to generate significant momentum on 

a problem once believed to be unsolvable. For example, almost 900 elected officials from 45 states, the 

District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico signed on to the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. Urban, 

suburban, and rural communities across the country have now been confirmed as having achieved that goal. 

Efforts to end Veteran homelessness have defined the essential strategies necessary for communities to end 

chronic, family, youth—and all—homelessness.

We defined what it means to end homelessness, providing government and communities alike clear goalposts 

to focus their efforts and resources. Federal criteria and benchmarks, grounded in the lessons we have learned 

from communities, have clearly defined how resources can be used to most effectively ensure that 

homelessness is prevented whenever possible, and if it can’t be prevented, that it is a rare, brief, and one-time 

experience for individuals and families in America. Communities across the country are using those criteria to 

drive investments into proven strategies. Local agencies and providers are fundamentally rethinking how they 
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can best structure and administer the programs and services that address homelessness within their 

communities.

We encouraged and supported a shift to Housing First approaches to ensure that federal, state, and local 

dollars all go further to improve outcomes for people—and for communities. Communities across the country 

have redesigned their approaches to reflect evidence-based Housing First principles—removing barriers, 

focusing resources on getting people experiencing homelessness quickly connected to permanent housing 

options in our communities, and providing them with the right-level of assistance and support to ensure they 

can seize that opportunity and succeed in their goals for themselves and for their families.

We worked in closer partnership with states and local communities to support their strategies and actions. In 

addition to homelessness-specific programs, we have been working with many other federal programs—such as 

TANF, SSI/SSDI, Medicaid, Workforce, Head Start, Public and Indian Housing, and Multifamily Housing—to release 

guidance and tools for state and local agencies to better support individuals and families to secure and maintain 

housing. The Social Security Administration, for example, is working within communities to help improve access to 

SSI/SSDI for people with disabilities who are experiencing homelessness. Systems like child welfare and criminal 

justice are increasing their connections to local efforts to prevent homelessness among the populations they 

serve.

This Performance and Accountability Report discusses the specific actions we took in FY 2017 to drive progress, 

and also describes our agency operations.

Management Assurances

Per Circular A-123, USICH management is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal controls 

and financial management systems that meet the objectives of the Federal Manager’s Financial Integrity Act 

(FMFIA). With respect to any and all internal and external reviews of the agency, to the best of our knowledge 

and belief, USICH provides reasonable assurance on the effectiveness of internal controls over operations, 

management systems, and financial reporting and that its internal controls over the effectiveness and efficiency 

of operations were in compliance with applicable laws and regulations as of September, 30, 2017, and no

material weaknesses were identified in the design or operations of internal controls.

USICH relies on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the General Services Administration (GSA), both 

shared services providers, for accounting, payroll and financial services, systems and reporting requirements. 

USICH has no in-house financial systems. USICH, however, considers the USDA’s financial system, Pegasys, as well 

as any other financial systems used by USDA and GSA to support USICH financial operations to be reliable and 

effective. USICH reviewed each entity’s SSAE No. 18 audit report, to assist in assessing internal controls over 

USICH financial reporting. After a review of FY 2017 results in which both USDA and GSA received favorable

opinions on their SSAE No. 18 audits, USICH discovered no significant issues or deviations in its financial reporting 

during FY 2017, and therefore believes its internal controls over financial reporting are sufficiently strong. 

Management Discussion and Analysis

USICH was established in 1987 by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and most recently 

reauthorized by the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009. 
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USICH’s mission is two-fold: To drive an efficient and effective federal response to homelessness; and to 

build and foster a national partnership at every level of government and with the private sector to reduce

and end homelessness across the nation. We support all of our interagency and community work by 

publishing a robust body of guidance, tools, and resources that we disseminate through a multi-pronged 

communications strategy. 

Driving an Efficient and Effective Federal Response to Homelessness

USICH focuses on using data and performance measurement to maximize several billions of dollars in targeted 

homelessness funding, and to engage other non-targeted programs, by providing a foundation for evidenceinformed practices. USICH is a model of successful interagency collaboration, as highlighted in a 2014 GAO report

focused on strategies for enhancing collaboration in interagency efforts. USICH does not administer programs or 

have regulatory authority, nor do we duplicate the efforts of other agencies; rather, our tools for advancing good

governance are through innovative collaborations and strategic engagements that drive smart, efficient systems

change across our partners and stakeholders.

Building Consensus at the Highest Levels

Through our efforts, collective action to end homelessness reaches the highest level of the federal government. 

USICH staff plan and implement quarterly meetings of our Council, which includes the Secretaries or other senior 

leaders of 19 member agencies. The full Council met twice during FY 2017, in October and December 2016, and 

we are working with agency leadership to designate official representatives to the Council, expecting to convene a 

Council meeting in December 2017. 

We have sustained other interagency policy and planning structures, including convening senior advisors to

principals from member agencies at least bi-monthly to set the strategic direction for the Council and interagency 

activities. Through our quarterly Council Policy Group (CPG) meetings, USICH also provided a regular forum for 

senior staff from member agencies to coordinate policies and programs, collect data, develop special initiatives,

and prepare recommendations for consideration by Council members and for Council meeting discussions. That

group was convened four (4) times in FY 2017. 

Driving Interagency Action

To drive day-to-day progress, we also convene a variety of on-going and ad hoc interagency working groups 

comprised of high-level agency staff from key partners across our 19 member agencies. FY 2017 working groups 

included: 

• Solving Veteran Homelessness as One: We design and prioritize actions to strengthen the effectiveness 

of HUD-VASH, SSVF, transitional housing programs for Veterans, and technical assistance strategies, 

among many other areas of focus. 

• Interagency Working Group on Chronic Homelessness: We determine actions that will support 

communities as they work toward achieving the criteria and benchmark for ending chronic homelessness, 

including strategies to strength outreach and expand supportive housing opportunities, among many 

other issues.

• Interagency Working Group on Ending Family Homelessness: We determine priority action areas to 

support communities as they work toward achieving the criteria and benchmarks for ending family 

homelessness, with an emphasis on strategies to strengthen federal and local partnerships across systems 
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and sectors, connections to permanent housing, and ways to tailor housing and services supports based 

on unique family needs.

• Interagency Working Group on Ending Youth Homelessness: We determine priority action areas to 

support communities as they work toward achieving the criteria and benchmarks for ending youth 

homelessness, including building evidence for effective crisis response and housing strategies for youth, 

among other issues.

• Interagency Working Group on Addressing the Intersection of Opioids and Homelessness: We develop 

and track policy and messaging tailored to strategies to address the housing and health care needs of 

individuals experiencing homelessness who struggle with substance use and addictions.

• Interagency Working Group on Preventing Homelessness Among Transitioning Service Members: We

strengthen the process of ensuring that Service members don’t separate from the military into 

homelessness, and USICH drafted a report on how to strengthen these efforts to be submitted to 

Congress early in FY 2018. 

• Interagency Working Group on Coordinated Entry: We strengthen and support federal, state, and local 

connections across programs and systems through coordinated entry processes, to ensure that 

homelessness services programs are reaching the most vulnerable people and are providing just the right 

level of assistance to help people succeed.

• Interagency Working Group on Homelessness among American Indians and Alaska Natives: We drive

action that improves access to housing and necessary services for American Indians and Alaska Natives 

living on and off tribal lands. 

Activities of these Working Groups are described in more detail in the Performance Goals and Accomplishments 

section below.

In addition, we worked to strengthen the efforts of Federal Regional Interagency Councils on Homelessness in all 

10 Federal Regions, helping regional staff from multiple federal agencies, including HUD, HHS, VA, and DOL, build 

collaborative structures and coalesce behind common regional goals. Throughout FY 2017, we provided strategic 

guidance to monthly conference calls and events, and co-sponsored three regional convenings, in Federal Regions 

1, 5, and 7, where USICH staff provided on-site technical assistance. We also provided technical assistance to 

leadership in the ACF Office of Regional Operations to help them build efforts around ending family and youth 

homelessness into their own strategic planning. 

We also bring together groups of community leaders, experts, national partners, and staff from our Council 

member agencies for exploratory conversations about new strategic actions. For example, in FY 2017, we hosted 

a: 

• Homelessness and Opioid Abuse Convening: We brought together federal representatives and national 

stakeholders to discuss current areas of focus, shared priorities, and next steps for collaboration to reduce 

the impact of opioids on people experiencing homelessness and to strengthen opportunities for recovery. 

• Convening on Strengthening Partnerships with Faith-based Providers on Efforts to End Homelessness: 

We convened federal Offices of Faith-based and Community Initiatives to begin assessing opportunities to 

better support communities in strengthening partnerships with faith-based providers on efforts to end 

homelessness.
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• Thought Leadership Convening on Ending Family Homelessness: We facilitated in-person dialogue 

among experts from 17 communities and federal and national partners to discuss successful strategies, 

share challenges, and brainstorm opportunities to support other communities across the country. 

• Convening on Ending Homelessness in Rural Communities: We convened experts from 15 rural 

communities and federal and national partners to discuss challenges unique to rural communities and 

innovative crisis and permanent housing interventions to address those challenges.

Mobilizing Nationwide Actions in Support of a Shared Vision

As the only agency in the federal government whose mission it is to end homelessness, our role includes building 

and sustaining a shared national vision of progress and success and driving federal-state-local partnership and 

public and private sector collaboration and coordination. The foundation of that work is the federal strategic plan 

to prevent and end homelessness, which we released in 2010, and have updated every few years after consulting 

broadly with the field. We also work to create a shared vocabulary and understanding of the data regarding 

homelessness and make sure that federal technical assistance to the field conveys both that shared 

understanding and the best practices for achieving our goals.

Revising and Strengthening the Federal Strategic Plan: We began the process of revising and strengthening the 

federal strategic plan for the third time (the plan was previously revised in 2012 and 2015) with a public 

announcement at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in July 2017. We convened 3 national input 

sessions with more than 200 stakeholders in the remainder of FY 2017, and we launched and promoted an online 

portal for collecting comments and feedback from stakeholders nationwide. We will conduct additional listening 

sessions in FY 2018, and are planning to publish a newly updated plan no later than the end of that fiscal year. In 

the meantime, we continue to drive progress on the objectives in the federal plan and listen to communities 

about what they need from federal partners. 

Building the Roadmap for Success Through Criteria and Benchmarks: The 2015 Amendment to Opening Doors 

established an operational definition for an end to homelessness that allowed communities across the country to 

understand the outcomes they were seeking. In order to guide communities in measuring progress toward ending 

homelessness, USICH led efforts with our member agencies and developed specific criteria and benchmarks for 

ending Veteran and chronic homelessness in FY 2016. Using those as a foundation, and after significant 

consultation with federal agencies and the field, we released the criteria and benchmarks for ending family and 

youth homelessness in FY 2017. After a series of listening sessions with communities, we released a refined 

version of the family criteria and benchmarks in July 2017. By the end of FY 2017, we were continuing to hold 

stakeholder input sessions on the youth criteria and benchmarks and will release a refined version during the first 

quarter of FY 2018. 

Promoting a Shared Understanding of the Data: No single source of data tells the whole story of homelessness 

and other housing needs in our country. We provide guidance and advice to help national stakeholders and 

communities understand the variety of different federal data sources that can and should be used at the local 

level to drive local planning and action, to drive resource investments, to strengthen the coordinated responses 

we need to end people’s homelessness, and to address broader housing needs. Examples include Setting the 

Course for the Work Ahead: Findings and Implications from Recent Reports and Data; Using Homelessness and 

Housing Needs Data to Tailor and Drive Local Solutions; and Worst Case Housing Needs Have Gotten ... Worse.
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Creating a Shared Vocabulary around Homelessness and Housing Needs: In order to deploy federal resources the 

most efficiently and effectively, we continue to lead efforts to develop a common vocabulary and data standard

regarding housing status across all targeted homelessness and key mainstream programs for low-income 

households, including TANF, workforce systems, criminal justice agencies and re-entry programs, and Medicaid. 

For example, we are working with HHS and DOL to identify opportunities for child welfare and workforce systems

to track homelessness and housing status within the child welfare system and among participants under the

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. In FY 2017, we published Sample Housing and Homelessness Status 

Assessment Questions to support a more standardized approach to identifying housing needs and risks for 

homelessness across diverse systems and agencies.

Ensuring Consistent Federal Technical Assistance: Communities across the country receive technical assistance 

from different (and sometimes multiple) federal agencies and programs that guide their strategic planning and 

implementation of best practices. We work to ensure that that technical assistance is as streamlined and 

coordinated as possible so that all communities are receiving the same guidance. In FY 2017, we worked closely 

with, and helped design the strategies under, HUD’s Vets@Home and VA’s SSVF technical assistance initiatives, 

the HUD-funded Built for Zero initiative, and HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project initiative to 

reduce youth homelessness.

Building a National Partnership at Every Level of Government and Among the Private Sector

USICH drives national, regional, state, and local collective action through outcome-oriented partnerships with a 

wide variety of leaders and decisionmakers:

State Interagency Councils on Homelessness: We have encouraged every state to develop a State Interagency 

Council in order to align public resources, to build on innovations and best practices across the country, and to 

promote cost effective strategies to strengthen coordination within state departments. In FY 2017, we provided 

technical assistance and guidance to more than a dozen states to develop and strengthen structures to support 

the operations of their ICHs, set statewide goals, and utilize performance management and metrics to monitor 

progress of goals and activities.

Governors, Mayors, and other Elected Officials: Political leadership at the state and local level is critical to 

advancing progress. Our Executive Director and National Initiatives Team met regularly with Governors, Mayors, 

and other elected officials and local leaders to provide individualized guidance to address the unique needs of 

their jurisdiction, including the mayors of Charleston, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, and

Laredo, TX, among many others. We also worked with associations that support the efforts of a broad array of 

elected officials, such as the National Governors Association, National Association of Counties, National League of 

Cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. We provide technical assistance at U.S. Conference of Mayors meetings 

and task forces, including the Hunger and Homelessness Task Force, Veteran Task Force, and Veteran 

Homelessness Task Force. In FY 2017, we also met with a group of 11 West Coast mayors and staff and have 

facilitated monthly conference calls among those offices to share strategies to address common challenges in 

their efforts to end homelessness.

National Non-Profit Organizations and Associations: We partner with national organizations that drive and 

influence public agendas on homelessness, housing, and related issues, such as the American Bar Association, 

National Apartment Association, National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, National 

Association of REALTORS, Council of Large Public Housing Agencies, National Alliance to End Homelessness, and 
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many others. We host quarterly roundtable conversations that allow major national non-profit and faith-based 

organizations to provide input on federal programs and policy development and to identify opportunities for 

collaboration on important strategic objectives. We also partner with national non-profits on individual initiatives, 

like the American Bar Association’s Homeless Youth Legal Network and A Way Home America’s data dashboards

that allows communities to track their progress in ending youth homelessness in real time.

Private Sector, Faith-Based, and Philanthropic Partners: As states and communities continue to face challenges 

due to constrained resources, the private sector and faith-based and philanthropic organizations dedicated to 

serving populations at-risk of or experiencing homelessness are playing even larger leadership roles. We work 

with a variety of stakeholders across those sectors, including a close partnership with Funders Together to End 

Homelessness, which represents more than 215 national and local philanthropic organizations. We also routinely 

address the philanthropic and business communities directly at meetings and events, including FY 2017 gatherings 

in Los Angeles, Miami, and Austin, among other places.

Community Leaders: We provide a range of targeted community engagement and technical assistance to 

community leaders, including overall guidance on implementing Housing First, Supportive Housing, and Rapid Rehousing, and other best practices for ending homelessness. In FY 2017, we provided strategic guidance to 

stakeholders in all 50 states, with special emphasis on 25 priority communities that accounted for 41% of all 

people counted as experiencing homelessness during the 2016 PIT count. We also increased our focus on several 

communities facing significant challenges, including communities in California, Florida, and Texas, and on Balance 

of State Continua of Care, which cover rural communities and smaller towns. We traveled to local communities 

more than 100 times to convene stakeholders, deliver presentations at conferences, and provide technical 

guidance and training. And we strengthened state and local strategies through more than 150 in-person meetings 

with high-ranking and elected state and local officials, and hundreds of additional calls and virtual meetings with 

state and local leaders. 

Providing Tools and Resources for Success

Through a broad communications strategy that includes electronic newsletters, speaking engagements, 

conference presentations, social media, and media engagement, we disseminate best practices to a wide array of 

stakeholders across the country. 

• We develop and disseminate a diverse array of articles and tools to communicate federal guidance and to 

strengthen states’ and communities’ practices and support the implementation of best practices. We 

published more than 80 tools, articles, and guidance documents in FY 2017.

• We educate national audiences on new tools and resources through semi-monthly newsletters distributed to 

an audience of more than 22,000 subscribers. The growing impact of our communications is demonstrated by 

15% growth in newsletter subscribers, 16% growth in page likes on Facebook, and 23% growth in Twitter 

followers in FY 2017. 

• We deliver keynote addresses and serve on expert panels at national conferences focused on homelessness, 

housing and related issues, highlighting best practices in preventing and ending homelessness across the 

country and supporting peer learning among regions, states, and local jurisdictions. 

• We hosted three webinars, averaging more than 800 attendees per event, on strengthening youth point-intime counts, understanding revision to the criteria and benchmarks for ending Veteran homelessness, and 
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responding to HUD’s continuum of care notice of funding availability. We co-sponsored and presented on

many other webinars hosted by partners.

• We helped frame and clarify homelessness issues in national and local media, appearing on TV, radio, and in 

print and web publications.

Performance Goals and Accomplishments

Accomplishing the goals of Opening Doors requires leadership at all levels of government and strong

partnerships with businesses, researchers, philanthropy, and nonprofits. It also demands a commitment to

reassessment and the ability to alter course based on changing conditions and lessons learned. USICH continues

to work with all of these sectors to advance the implementation of Opening Doors and to achieve the Plan’s

performance goals:

1. Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans

2. Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness

3. Prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children

4. Set a path to ending all types of homelessness

Ending Homelessness among Veterans

Between 2010 and 2016, we reduced Veteran 

homelessness 47%, including a 56% drop in 

unsheltered homelessness among Veterans. USICH 

has driven that progress by encouraging urgent 

action at all levels of government and across all 

sectors to focus efforts on building an effective 

response to homelessness, as defined by the criteria 

and benchmarks we released in FY 2015.

Through USICH’s efforts, federal agencies have 

engaged in unprecedented coordination and shared 

responsibility, using data-driven decision-making to 

drive the deployment of resources through the HUDVA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program and the 

Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program, which enable communities to provide a range of 

housing and services interventions. State and local entities, and philanthropy, have aligned investments with the 

federal resources, and communities have formed stronger partnerships to deploy those resources through best 

practices, including coordinated entry and Housing First approaches. As a result, by the end of FY 2017, we

confirmed that 54 communities and 3 entire states have effectively ended Veteran homelessness. 

Driving Progress Across Federal Agencies

USICH and Council agencies are continuing to drive progress through the Solving Veterans Homelessness as One

(SVHO) interagency decision-making body, made up of USICH, HUD, and VA officials. SVHO plans and executes

strategic actions through goal setting, policy gap identification, communication, and action. Senior leaders at 

Veterans Experiencing Homelessness

Estimates from Community Point-in-Time Counts

65,455

60,579

55,619

49,689 47,725

40,033

35,143 34,909 39,471

32,119 31,505

26,404

25,422 25,436

20,710 17,570 16,220 13,067

2011 2012

Total Veterans

2013 2014 2015 2016

Sheltered Veterans

Unsheltered Veterans
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USICH also serve as ex officio members of the VA Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans and 

inform the group on progress and work ahead for interagency strategies to end Veteran homelessness.

In FY 2017, SVHO focused on:

• Advancing the transformation of transitional housing programs to play more effective roles within 

Housing First-oriented local systems: Together with VA and HUD, we identified and are implementing

a plan of action to ensure transitional housing programs—and particularly Grant and Per Diem

programs—are playing effective roles in ending Veteran homelessness and are aligned with Housing

First principles. As a result, the Grant and Per Diem program was recompeted in FY 2017 for the first 

time in its history with a focus on supporting a range of services models to meet the diverse needs of 

Veterans experiencing homelessness and to strengthen housing placement and other outcomes.

• Revising the Criteria and Benchmarks for Ending Veteran Homelessness: We led an intensive process 

with federal and national partners to review the effectiveness of the criteria and benchmarks for 

measuring community progress and revised and updated the document to reflect federal consensus.

• Confirming an effective end to Veteran homelessness in communities: Based upon the criteria and 

benchmarks, we lead an intensive interagency review process that reviewed 80 confirmation requests and 

confirmed that 54 communities and 3 entire states had ended Veteran homelessness by the end of FY 

2017 – 20 in FY 2017 alone. We worked closely with more than a dozen communities to announce and 

promote their achievements in FY 2017.

• Supporting DOD/VA collaboration for preventing homelessness among transitioning service members:

We convened an interagency working group that meets regularly to ensure that transitioning Service 

members are being screened for housing needs and provided warm handoffs to the appropriate agency to 

address those needs. We worked with the Working Group to draft a Report to Congress on these efforts 

that will be submitted to Congress in FY 2018.

• Ensuring the efficient and effective mobilization of resources by federal agencies: We continue to 

guide and inform federal technical assistance efforts, including convening interagency TA coordination

calls, and providing guidance to coaches, partners, and team leaders using lessons learned from the

confirmation process to assist TA providers in targeting TA.

• Strengthening landlord engagement strategies: We led efforts with HUD and VA to develop strategies 

and recommendations to better address barriers to accessing housing in high-cost, low-vacancy markets 

and reduce the length of time to housing lease up.

• Addressing Veteran homelessness among Tribes: We worked with HUD to continue to strengthen the 

implementation of the Tribal HUD-VASH program that targets Native American Veterans experiencing 

homelessness on tribal lands for housing and services solutions.

Driving Progress in Communities

Our entire team—and particularly our 5-member National Initiative Team and Executive Director—works directly 

with elected officials, stakeholders, and community decision makers to advance progress in communities across 

America. 
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• We helped numerous communities with their overall strategic planning efforts on ending Veteran 

homelessness, including onsite strategic consulting with Miami, Austin, Atlanta, San Francisco, Denver, 

and West Virginia jurisdictions, among many others.

• We helped numerous communities understand and implement the criteria and benchmarks for ending 

Veteran homelessness, including direct consultation with jurisdictions in California, Michigan, Illinois, 

Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arizona, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, and greater Appalachia, among 

many others.

• We provided technical assistance and training during HUD-funded Built for Zero training events, focused 

on providing intensive assistance to 70 communities that have pledged to end Veteran and chronic 

homelessness.

• Along with the White House, HUD, and VA, we hosted a meeting with leaders from seven communities to 

help localities and federal partners identify the most significant barriers to accessing housing for Veterans, 

including areas where private and philanthropic partners could play critical roles.

• We participated in and facilitated group discussions at the Joining Forces Capstone Event held at the 

White House, with approximately 200 community leaders and partners participating, focused on priorities 

and strategies for preventing and ending Veteran homelessness.

• We provided technical assistance and training on ending Veteran homelessness at a number of 

conferences, including the National Conference on Ending Homelessness, National League of Cities and 

the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans Annual Conference in Washington, DC, where we facilitated 

three workshops and two addresses to the plenary. 

• We presented and shared best practices at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Ending Veteran Homelessness 

Task Force in January and June and consulted with mayors from over 15 cities leading local efforts to end 

Veteran homelessness.

• We convened monthly TA Coordination meetings with lead technical assistance providers for 

Vets@HOME, SSVF, Department of Labor, and National Partners to provide guidance on the criteria and 

benchmarks, exchange innovative practices in communities, and align messaging and TA activities.

Tools and Resources to Strengthen Practices

We developed and disseminated a diverse array of articles, guidance, and tools to communicate national 

strategies and priorities, to strengthen states’ and communities’ activities, and to support the implementation of 

best practices.

• We updated the Criteria and Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness to 

reflect learnings over a year of reviewing community data, along with the following supporting materials:

o We held a Webinar on Clarifications to the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks for Ending Veteran 

Homelessness.

o We worked with HUD to update the Federal Criteria and Benchmarks for Ending Veteran 

Homelessness Review Tool and the Master List Template and Benchmark Generation Tool for 

Ending Veteran Homelessness to correspond to the updated criteria and benchmarks.
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• We updated 10 Strategies to End Veteran Homelessness to share guidance and examples of the most 

effective approaches to increase leadership, collaboration, and coordination and promote rapid access to 

permanent housing for all Veterans.

• We published 6 community Case Studies on Ending Veteran Homelessness to highlight successful 

strategies from communities that can be replicated elsewhere: Buffalo and Western New York; 

Commonwealth of Virginia; Des Moines, IA; San Antonio, TX; Winston-Salem, NC; and Grand Rapids, MI.

• We published Ending Veteran Homelessness: Our Progress, Essential Strategies, and the Work Ahead to 

set the vision for the work that remains, with a focus on the needs to address access to housing that 

Veterans can afford, connections to employment and career opportunities, and the most cost-effective 

use of federal, state, and local resources.

• We published two articles describing why ending Veteran homelessness is critically important for our 

communities and our country, This Veterans Day, Reflecting on our Obligations, and Welcome to NOMA, 

Conway Residents.

Ending Chronic Homelessness

Between 2010 and 2016, chronic homelessness was 

reduced by 27%, including a 16% drop in unsheltered 

chronic homelessness. This progress has been 

grounded in a strong body of evidence on what works 

to end the recurring or long-term homelessness of 

people with disabilities: supportive housing 

implemented through a Housing First approach. By 

prioritizing people experiencing chronic homelessness 

for existing supportive housing, and by creating 

opportunities to bring new units online, communities 

have made many more units available for people 

experiencing chronic homelessness with the highest 

needs. The recently released criteria and benchmark

are guiding communities to improve their efforts to 

provide assertive outreach and engagement, emergency housing and services, and link people to permanent 

housing in order to bring the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness to as close to zero as 

possible. In FY 2017, one community, Bergen County, NJ, was confirmed as having ended chronic 

homelessness, and USICH and HUD began review of information and data from two other communities who 

were confirmed in early FY 2018.

Driving Progress Across Federal Agencies

Although we have made substantial progress, there is still a great deal of work to do. The Interagency Working 

Group on Chronic Homelessness, which is made up of 11 federal agencies, continues to focus on implementing 

activities to accelerate progress, including: 

• Confirming the end of chronic homelessness in communities: We designed and piloted an interagency 

confirmation process to determine whether communities had met the Criteria and Benchmark for Ending 

Chronic Homelessness. In April 2017, Bergen County, NJ, was the first community confirmed through that 

106062 103522

96268

86289 83989 83170 77486

43329 38971 32647 29418 31203 28355 24596

62733 64551 63621

56871 52786 54815 52890

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness 

Estimates from Community Point-in-Time Counts

Total people Sheltered people

Unsheltered people
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 13

process as having ended chronic homelessness. During FY 2017, two other communities, Rockford, IL and 

Lancaster, PA, submitted information and data and were confirmed as having achieved the goal in early FY 

2018.

• Strengthening state-level collaboration between health and housing agencies: We partnered with HUD 

and HHS to complete a first round, and then launched a second round, of a Medicaid Innovation 

Accelerator Program Technical Assistance initiative. This initiative focuses on Medicaid and Housing 

Agency Partnerships, providing intensive technical assistance to sixteen (16) states to strengthen statelevel planning across health and housing agencies to reduce health care costs and improve housing 

outcomes by increasing supportive housing opportunities through stronger coordination of cross-system 

planning, policies, and resources.

• Strengthening the national response to the opioid epidemic: We convene the Interagency Working 

Group on Addressing the Intersection of Opioids and Homelessness, made up USICH, HHS, HUD and VA,

bi-monthly to develop and track policy and messaging tailored to strategies to address the housing and 

health care needs of individuals experiencing homelessness who struggle with substance use. We also 

participated in a White House convening on opportunities to leverage Pay for Success models to address 

the opioid epidemic.

Driving Progress in Communities

Our entire team—and particularly our 5-member National Initiative Team and Executive Director—works directly 

with elected officials, stakeholders, and community decision makers to advance progress in communities across 

America. 

• We provided technical assistance to communities across the country on achieving the criteria and 

benchmark for ending chronic homelessness through topics like Housing First, the prioritization of people 

experiencing chronic homelessness in permanent supportive housing, outreach and engagement, working 

with the criminal justice system, and systems change.

• We are supporting communities to expand their supply of affordable and supportive housing by advising 

jurisdictions that are implementing or considering significant new locally funded development programs, 

such as Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and Washington, DC, among others.

• We presented expert testimony to the National Academies of Science’s Housing, Health, and 

Homelessness Committee to inform their study of the impact of supportive housing on chronic 

homelessness, which is due to be released in FY 2018.

• We provided technical assistance and training during HUD-funded Built for Zero training events, focused 

providing intensive assistance to 70 communities that have pledged to end chronic and Veteran 

homelessness.

• We led workshops at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness on principles and practices for 

recovery housing programs for people affected by substance use, on addressing the opioid crisis for 

people who experience homelessness, and on the components of effective permanent supportive 

housing.

• We provided training at the CSH Supportive Housing Summit, including: a workshop on serving young 

parent households; a panel regarding best practices for implementing coordinated entry within rural 

communities; a workshop regarding identifying and serving people experiencing homelessness in rural 
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 14

communities; and a pre-summit session regarding addressing issues of racial equity in Continuum of 

Care’s strategies and activities.

• We provided expert testimony to the National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans Opioid Use 

Disorders and Homelessness (VA) Roundtable.

Tools and Resources to Strengthen Practices

We developed and disseminated a diverse array of articles, guidance, and tools to communicate federal guidance 

and to strengthen states’ and communities’ activities and support the implementation of best practices.

• We published Strategies to Address the Intersection of the Opioid Crisis and Homelessness, as well as 

three case studies on organizations that are connecting people affected by opioid use to housing: Central 

City Concern in Portland, Oregon; DESC in Seattle, WA; and Pathways to Housing PA in Philadelphia, PA.

• We updated the Supportive Housing Opportunities Planner (SHOP) Tool, which helps communities 

sharpen strategies, such as increasing the prioritization of existing turnover units and creating new 

supportive housing, needed to end chronic homelessness.

• We published a commentary on the important work that eight states are doing to innovate around 

Health and Housing System Integration, as well as a commentary on a new report of nine communities 

where the health care system has come to the table to help address housing needs, Putting ‘Housing is 

Health Care’ into Action to Help End Chronic Homelessness.

• We published a case study of Miami, Florida’s work to reduce chronic homelessness, Miami Makes 

Progress on Chronic Homelessness Through Data-Driven Decision Making. 

• We published Ending Chronic Homelessness: Our Progress, Essential Strategies, and the Work Ahead to 

set the vision for the work that remains, emphasizing the need to expand the supply of supportive 

housing opportunities nationally, the importance of strengthening outreach and engagement strategies, 

and the benefits of stronger alignment across health, behavioral health, and housing systems at the statelevel for meeting the needs of people with complex care needs.

• We published Celebrating Bergen County: Proof that Ending Chronic Homelessness is Possible to build 

momentum in communities to end chronic homelessness. 
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 15

Ending Homelessness among Families and Children

Between 2010 and 2016, homelessness among 

family households was reduced by 23%, including a 

65% drop in unsheltered homelessness among family

households. That progress has been driven by the 

vision of a comprehensive community response to 

family homelessness found in Family Connection, 

which is helping government, non-profits, and other 

sectors increase their focus on evidence-based 

solutions and driving resources toward the gaps that 

need to be filled. Our criteria and benchmarks,

published in FY 2017, are also strengthening the 

ability of communities to use their time and 

resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Driving Progress Across Federal Agencies

During FY 2017, USICH led an 8-agency Interagency Working Group on Family Homelessness to identify resources 

and key strategies needed to achieve the goal of preventing and ending homelessness among families with 

children. The working group implemented activities to advance short-term and long-term strategies:

• Driving the end of family homelessness in communities: We achieved interagency consensus on and 

published Criteria and Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal of Ending Family Homelessness in January 2017

to ensure that communities across the country are working toward the goal of making family 

homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. After hosting a series of listening sessions with national and 

local stakeholders, we achieved interagency consensus on refined benchmarks and published an updated 

document in July 2017. 

• Aligning data among federal programs: We continued to assist ED and HUD to better align agency data 

and continued to promote local data sharing between CoCs and LEAs.

• Deepening partnerships with domestic violence service providers: We partnered with the federal 

Domestic Violence and Housing Technical Assistance Consortium to develop tools and webinars to 

promote stronger partnerships between domestic violence services providers and the housing and 

homelessness services systems.

• Strengthening housing solutions for families: We supported HUD to adopt and promote stronger 

incentives within FY 2017 CoC program competition to strengthen CoCs’ focus on ending family 

homelessness through continuing to retool transitional housing and to reallocate more funding to more 

cost-effective rapid re-housing programs.

• Strengthening education outcomes for young children experiencing homelessness: We supported HHS 

to develop a Self-Assessment Tool for Early Childhood Programs Serving Families Experiencing 

Homelessness to support the capacity of early childhood programs to identify, and better address the 

needs of, families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Family Households ExperiencingHomelessness

Estimates from Community Point-in-Time Counts

79,442 77,184 77,155 70,957 67,613 64,197 61,265

62,305 61,636 61,796 60,855 59,629 58,064 55,265

17,137 15,548 15,359 10,102 7,984 6,133 6,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Total families

Unsheltered families

Sheltered families
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 16

Driving Progress in Communities

Our entire team—and particularly our 5-member National Initiative Team and Executive Director—works directly 

with elected officials, stakeholders, and community decision makers to advance progress in communities across 

America. 

• We convened a Thought Leadership Convening on Ending Family Homelessness, bringing together experts 

from 17 communities and federal and national partners to discuss successful strategies, share challenges, 

brainstorm opportunities to support other communities across the country, and inform the efforts of 

USICH and other federal agencies. 

• We identified an initial set of communities that will pilot and test the Criteria and Benchmarks for 

Achieving the Goal of Ending Family Homelessness to serve as models for other communities for the kinds 

of partnerships, data strategies, and housing and services models that will be necessary to achieve the 

goal.

• We provided technical assistance to communities regarding the vision of a systemic response to family 

homelessness as described in Family Connection: Building Systems to End Family Homelessness.

• We distributed and provided technical assistance to communities on HHS’ guidance, Enhancing Family 

Stability: A Guide for Assessing Housing Status and Coordinating with Local Homelessness Programs for 

TANF Agencies, to help state TANF agencies recognize the important role they have in identifying and 

serving families experiencing and at risk of homelessness.

• We continued to provide planning and evaluation design support to grantees in ACYF’s supportive housing 

demonstration focused on child-welfare-involved families who are testing an intensive supportive housing 

approach to serving families that come to the attention of the child welfare system because of problems 

with chronic or recurring homelessness and other serious, persistent issues such as mental illness, 

alcoholism or drug abuse. 

• We provided training at the annual meeting of State Coordinators for the Education of Homeless Children 

and Youth Program for the Department of Education, highlighting the role of schools in a coordinated 

community response to prevent and end family and youth homelessness, and identifying key strategies 

for strengthening interagency data coordination at the federal and local levels.

• We hosted a preconference session on improving coordination among domestic violence and 

homelessness services providers at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness, focused on 

breaking down silos across program types to more effectively respond to the safety and housing needs of 

people who have experienced domestic violence.

• We helped convene and facilitate a meeting on Family Connection, rapid re-housing, and enlisting 

mainstream resources among communities with right-to-shelter laws: Washington DC, Massachusetts,

and New York.

Tools and Resources to Strengthen Practices

We developed and disseminated a diverse array of articles, guidance, and tools to communicate federal guidance 

and to strengthen states’ and communities’ efforts and support the implementation of best practices.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 17

• As described above, we published the Criteria and Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal of Ending Family 

Homelessness in January, then updated it in July to reflect stakeholder feedback on the benchmarks that 

measure whether the goal has been achieved.

• We published Ending Family Homelessness: Our Progress, Essential Strategies, and the Work Ahead to set 

the vision for the work that remains, with an emphasis on the need for housing families exiting 

homelessness can afford, the importance of continuing to strengthen rapid re-housing practices to 

achieve even stronger outcomes, and supporting economic self-sufficiency..

• We published an article regarding new rules for Head Start programs, Support Young Children and 

Families Experiencing Homelessness, focusing on supporting early childhood education programs to 

better engage and address the educational needs of families experiencing homelessness and highlighting 

models for partnerships between early childhood education and care providers, schools, communities and 

housing providers to help ensure that children are safe and stably housed and connected to education 

and care. 

• We published three Case Studies on Building School/Housing Partnerships for Families Experiencing 

Homelessness, featuring communities that are using innovative, collaborative practices to increase 

housing stability and school attendance of children and youth experiencing homelessness, as models for 

other communities to replicate.

• We published an article regarding the important role that Domestic Violence Service Providers Play in 

Preventing and Ending Homelessness, providing guidance to strengthen coordination and appropriate 

information-sharing between domestic violence service providers and Continuums of Care, to help ensure

that both the safety and the housing needs of families affected by violence and by homelessness are 

effective addressed. 

Ending Homelessness for Unaccompanied Youth

We are driving an unprecedented increase in collaboration 

both among federal agencies and between the government 

and locally-driven efforts to end homelessness among 

unaccompanied youth under age 25. While we lack a 

comprehensive and confident national estimate of the scale 

and scope of youth homelessness, which makes it difficult to 

measure progress, communities are strengthening annual 

Point-in-Time (PIT) counts and other data collection efforts, 

and are partnering with non-profit providers, schools, and 

researchers to improve our data and enhance our 

understanding of best practices. All of these activities are 

helping us to better understand the full range of solutions, 

collaborations, and investments needed to achieve and 

sustain an end to homelessness, by any federal definition, for 

all youth. Communities and young people provided significant input into the recently released criteria and 

benchmarks, which will strengthen our collective action to make sure young people have the safety and stability 

they need to pursue their goals.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 18

Driving Progress Across Federal Agencies

Building upon the 2012 Federal Framework to End Youth Homelessness, we published Preventing and Ending 

Youth Homelessness: A Coordinated Community Response in 2015 that articulated the set of programs and 

services that are needed to effectively prevent and end youth homelessness in communities. The Interagency 

Working Group on Ending Youth Homelessness, made up of 7 federal agencies, is now working on operationalizing 

the federal framework and supporting communities as they build the response needed to end youth 

homelessness. 

• Driving the end of youth homelessness in communities: We achieved interagency consensus on and 

published Criteria and Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal of Ending Youth Homelessness in January 2017, 

to ensure that all communities are working toward the goal of making youth homelessness rare, brief, and 

non-recurring. We began hosting a series of listening sessions with national and local stakeholders to 

refine the benchmarks, with a revised version to be issued in early FY 2018. 

• Aligning data among federal programs: We continue to support HUD and HHS to further advance the 

integration of HHS’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System with HUD’s 

Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and disseminated guidance and resources to 

strengthen data collection and reporting requirements among federal programs, including promising 

practices for counting youth to support a more coordinated national estimate of youth homelessness.

• Implementing critical federal and national demonstration programs: To expand our understanding of the 

most effective interventions, we are partnering with federal agencies on the Youth Homelessness 

Demonstration Program and the Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement At-Risk of 

Homelessness grants, as well as supporting the urgent action of communities pursuing aggressive 100-Day 

Challenge goals and other efforts. 

• Developing federal guidance for the field: We worked closely with HUD to publish a series of resources 

on ending youth homelessness, including Rapid Re-Housing for Youth; Using a Housing First Philosophy 

When Serving Youth; Guide for Engaging Youth in Decision Making; and Coordinated Entry Brief for Youth.

Driving Progress in Communities

Our entire team—and particularly our 5-member National Initiative Team and Executive Director—works directly 

with elected officials, stakeholders, and community decision makers to advance progress in communities across 

America. 

• We identified an initial set of communities that will pilot and test the Criteria and Benchmarks for 

Achieving the Goal of Ending Youth Homelessness to serve as models for other communities for the kinds 

of partnerships, data strategies, and housing and services models that will be necessary to achieve the 

goal.

• We continued to disseminate and provide technical assistance to communities on Preventing and Ending 

Youth Homelessness: A Coordinated Community Response, which articulates a preliminary vision of the 

set of programs and services that are needed to effectively prevent and end youth homelessness in 

communities.

• We disseminated and provided technical assistance around HHS’s guidance to child welfare agencies on 

efforts and resources to enhance the child welfare system's response to family and youth homelessness; 
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 19

HUD guidance about the development and implementation of coordinated entry processes specific to 

working with runaway and homeless youth populations; and guidance for local liaisons on new provisions 

to strengthen the ability of children and youth experiencing homelessness to enroll, attend, and succeed 

in school under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 

• We provided extensive technical assistance and training to communities ahead of the January 2017 Point 

in Time count of youth homelessness, including holding a webinar to help communities Prepare for the 

2017 PIT Count: Promising Practices for Counting Youth.

• We provided training to communities at the Forty to None Summit, the National Association for the 

Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) annual conference, the Jim Casey Youth 

Opportunities Initiative 2016 Fall Convening, the Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical 

Assistance Center Annual Grantees Training, the PointSource Youth National Symposium on Solutions to 

End Youth Homelessness, the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference on Ending Family and 

Youth Homelessness, the RHY Transitional Living Grantee meeting, and the National Network for Youth’s 

National Summit on Youth Homelessness.

• We provided expert commentary to stakeholders at an event at the Urban Institute on housing supports 

for young adults in extended foster care and to realtors at the National Association of Realtors Housing 

Opportunities Committee meeting.

• We co-sponsored and provided training at SAMHSA’s Forum on Ending Youth Homelessness, including 

workshops on youth services offered under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the role of 

child welfare in ending youth homelessness.

• We served on the steering committee for the American Bar Association’s Commission on Homelessness 

and Poverty’s Homeless Youth Legal Network, to help attorneys and other advocates address existing 

gaps in legal services, and improve outcomes for homeless youth and young adults. 

• We participated as coaches in the launch of a third cohort of communities participating in the 100-Day 

Challenge to accelerate efforts to end youth homelessness. Communities that have participated in the 

Challenges include – Austin, TX, Cleveland, OH, Los Angeles, CA, King County, WA, Pierce County, WA, 

Spokane, WA, Baltimore, MD, Columbus, OH, Hennepin County, MN, Louisville, KY, and Palm Beach, FL.

• USICH continues to coordinate with and support all technical assistance providers for the 10 HUD Youth

Homelessness Demonstration Project sites. 

Tools and Resources to Strengthen Practices

We developed and disseminated a diverse array of articles, guidance, and tools to communicate federal guidance 

and to strengthen states’ and communities’ activities and support the implementation of best practices.

• As described above, we published Criteria and Benchmarks for Ending Youth Homelessness in January 

2017, as well as answers to frequently asked questions about the Criteria and Benchmarks for Ending

Youth Homelessness.

• To strengthen communities’ capacity to engage with and learn from each other and to participate in 

national efforts, we published a resource outlining many of the federal and national initiatives underway 

to end youth homelessness, Advancing an End to Youth Homelessness: Federal and National Initiatives.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 20

• We published three Case Studies on Higher Education Partnerships for Ending Unaccompanied Youth 

Homelessness that feature innovative programs from institutes of higher education working to help 

unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness navigate the transition from high school to higher 

education that can be replicated in other communities.

• We published an article regarding Enhancing Access to Legal Services for Youth Experiencing 

Homelessness to increase awareness of the impact access to legal services can have on a youth’s ability to 

access or maintain housing stability, employment and income, healthcare, and other critical services.

• We published a commentary on the need to Improve our National Estimate of Unaccompanied Youth 

Homelessness in the 2017 Point-In-Time Count, in advance of the January 2017 point-in-time count of 

youth experiencing homelessness, which will serve as the baseline measure for tracking progress moving 

forward.

• We published Ending Youth Homelessness: Our Progress, Essential Strategies, and the Work Ahead to set 

the vision for the work that remains, highlighting the needs to increase the range and supply of housing 

options, to continue to strengthen our data collection and analysis, and to enhance connections to 

education and employment services and opportunities. 

• We published profiles from the field on: Peacock Commons, a supportive housing complex for transitionage youth; Washington State’s efforts to end youth homelessness; and Principles of Change for 

Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness.

• We published an article describing evidence-based family interventions, Connecting Youth with Family: 

Strategies for Preventing and Ending Youth Homelessness, providing guidance for how strengthening 

family relationships can help prevent youth homelessness. 

Setting a Path to End All Homelessness

To prevent and end homelessness for everyone, we have been working closely with our federal agency partners 

and communities to build a comprehensive response to make sure all people experiencing a housing crisis get the 

help they need. That response must include both a crisis response system to link families and individuals to the 

most appropriate emergency assistance they need and connections to mainstream resources—housing, 

employment, education, health care, and benefits—that can help people achieve housing stability and go on 

to realize their personal goals. While much of this work intersects with efforts described above, we have called 

out additional efforts in these areas below.

Strengthening Crisis Response Systems

Driving Progress Across Federal Agencies

Shelters, street outreach, and other crisis services are the front line of any community’s response to 

homelessness. They can help people meet basic survival needs like shelter, food, clothing, and personal hygiene. 

But homelessness is only truly ended for people when they obtain and maintain stable housing. We’ve been 

working to help communities to shift from a set of services that simply ameliorate the immediate crisis of 

homelessness to a more efficient and effective crisis response system that can help prevent homelessness and can 

end homelessness in more cost-effective ways by connecting people swiftly to permanent housing opportunities.

Through our Interagency Working Group on Coordinated Entry, and other interagency working groups, we:
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 21

• Worked closely with HUD on their Notice on Requirements for Coordinated Entry, which outlines the 

requirements for coordinated entry processes that Continuums of Care must be implementing by January 

23, 2018, as well as their guidebook, Coordinated Entry Core Elements.

• Worked closely with HUD to develop and publish the Housing First Assessment Tool (HUD) to help CoCs 

assess and measure a project’s progress in aligning with Housing First best practice standards.

• Worked closely with the Department of Education to publish Coordinated Entry Processes: Building 

Mutual Engagement Between Schools and Continuums of Care, providing an overview of communitybased coordinated entry processes and suggesting strategies for building collaboration between schools 

and Continuums of Care to better identify and address the needs of students and families experiencing 

homelessness.

• We worked with HUD, national partners, and local experts, to develop guidance regarding effective 

emergency shelter operations, Key Considerations for Implementing Emergency Shelter within an 

Effective Crisis Response System, encouraging strategies that reduce barriers to entry and that create a 

greater emphasis on assisting people to exit shelter to a range of appropriate housing options. 

Driving Progress in Communities

Our team—and particularly our 5-member National Initiative Team—works directly with elected officials, 

stakeholders, and community decision makers to advance progress in communities across America. 

• We provided guidance and technical assistance to communities across the country to continue to improve 

their coordinated entry systems, including direct consultation with more than 25 metropolitan areas, and 

many other jurisdictions.

• We helped communities respond more effectively to the presence of encampments or “tent cities” 

through our encampment guidebook and through direct consultation to communities, including 

Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, San Francisco, 

Seattle, and Washington, DC.

• We have worked directly with an alliance of eleven (11) mayors’ offices from communities across 

California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington with housing affordability challenges for two in-person 

meetings and monthly problem-solving discussions through conference calls, to address issues related to 

unsheltered homelessness, effective emergency shelter models, using local data to drive decision-making, 

and other high-priority topics.

• We provided technical assistance to communities on how to prioritize programs and projects within their 

Continuum of Care, and hosted a webinar on the FY 2017 HUD CoC Program Competition: Strategies for 

Success.

• We co-sponsored and facilitated an Expert Panel through SAMHSA’s Homeless and Housing Resource 

Network on Case Management.

Tools and Resources to Strengthen Practices

We developed and disseminated a diverse array of articles, guidance, and tools to communicate federal guidance 

and to strengthen states’ and communities’ practices and support the implementation of best practices.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 22

• We published case studies of effective coordinated entry strategies that can serve as models for other 

communities, including Houston’s Coordinated Access System, Houston’s Effort to Pilot Coordinated Entry 

for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence, and the family coordinated entry system in Phoenix.

• We published an article regarding on how Integrating Rapid Re-Housing Programs and Policy with 

Employment is Essential to Ending Family Homelessness, highlighting the importance of ensuring that 

families exiting homelessness have access to employment opportunities to achieve stability and sustain 

their progress.

• We published a series of six (6) Case Studies on Ending Homelessness for People Living in Encampments to 

highlight communities—Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Charleston—that are 

striving to create solutions for people living in encampments within their efforts to implement effective 

and efficient coordinated entry systems.

• We published a commentary on how the Continuum of Care NOFA Provides Opportunities to Expand 

Housing Supports and Improve System Performance and how the 2017 CoC Competition Can Strengthen 

Connections to Housing for Survivors of Domestic Violence. 

Increasing Alignment of Mainstream Resources and Programs

Driving Progress Across Federal Agencies

Targeted homelessness resources alone are not adequate for ending homelessness. More effectively aligning

mainstream resources, including education, employment, housing, health care, and financial supports with efforts 

to end homelessness, is critical for making greater progress. As noted in examples throughout this report, we 

continue to work closely with our Council agencies to issue guidance to clarify policy and provide technical 

assistance and tools to support states and communities to better align programs and resources in support of best 

practices. Some specific examples of this work include:

• We partnered with HUD and HHS to complete a first round and launch a second round of a Medicaid 

Innovation Accelerator Program Technical Assistance initiative. This initiative focuses on Medicaid and 

Housing Agency Partnerships, providing intensive technical assistance to sixteen (16) states to strengthen 

state-level planning across health and housing agencies to reduce health care costs and improve housing 

outcomes by increasing supportive housing opportunities through stronger coordination of cross-system 

planning, policies, and resources.

• We convened 5 communities for a forum focused on strategies for building partnerships between the 

child welfare and the homelessness assistance systems, focusing on how these systems can better partner 

to: address the need for housing stability among families involved with the child welfare systems in order 

to strengthen families and provide for the safety of children; and better prevent and end homelessness 

for young people who have aged out of foster care.

• We supported the development and dissemination of guidance from our agency partners, including: 

o HHS guidance that supports the capacity of early childhood programs to identify, and better 

address the needs, of families experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

o HHS guidance that helps state TANF agencies recognize the important role they have in 

identifying and serving families experiencing and at risk of homelessness.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 23

o HHS guidance to child welfare agencies on efforts and resources to enhance the child welfare 

system’s response to family and youth homelessness. 

o HUD and HHS guidance about the development and implementation of coordinated entry 

processes specific to working with runaway and homeless youth populations.

o ED guidance on new provisions to strengthen the ability of children and youth experiencing 

homelessness to enroll, attend, and succeed in school under the Every Student Succeeds Act 

(ESSA).

• We worked closely with our partners to develop and publish case studies of effective collaboration 

between the homelessness and mainstream systems, including: 

o Case Studies on Building School/Housing Partnerships for Families Experiencing Homelessness, 

featuring communities that are using innovative, collaborative practices to increase housing 

stability and school attendance of children and youth experiencing homelessness, as models for 

other communities to replicate.

o Case Studies on Higher Education Partnerships for Ending Unaccompanied Youth Homelessness

that feature innovative programs from institutes of higher education working to help 

unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness navigate the transition from high school to 

higher education that can be replicated in other communities.

Driving Progress in Communities

Our entire team—and particularly our 5-member National Initiative Team and Executive Director—works directly 

with elected officials, stakeholders, and community decision makers to advance progress in communities across 

America. 

• We provided technical assistance to numerous jurisdictions on the use of mainstream resources (such as 

Medicaid, TANF, and affordable housing funding) to create housing and services opportunities for people 

exiting homelessness.

• We provided technical assistance to owners and operators of multi-family housing to assist them in 

implementing partnerships and policies that expand housing opportunities for people exiting 

homelessness, and worked with communities to implement campaigns to recruit private-sector landlords 

to lease to people exiting homelessness, including guidance for designing risk mitigation funds and other 

tools for effectively supporting landlords to participate in such efforts.

• We provided training at the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) 

National Conference on the role of public housing authorities and the HUD-VASH program in ending 

homelessness.

• We provided training at the Vera Institute’s national convening on housing and reentry, Public Housing 

Access: A Convening on Innovative Reentry Practices, which included discussions on the importance of 

public housing for people with conviction histories, lessons from the field, best practices, and policy 

implications. 

• We provided training at Heartland Alliance’s National Initiatives on Poverty and Economic Opportunity

national conference in Chicago, IL, with sessions focused on ending chronic unemployment and poverty, 
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 24

as well as youth homelessness, community-wide partnerships with employment programs, and rapid rehousing interventions for families.

• We promoted a report from Building Changes on the importance of Elevating Employment as an Essential 

Element of Rapid Re-Housing. 

Tools and Resources to Strengthen Practices

We developed and disseminated a diverse array of articles, guidance, and tools to communicate federal guidance 

and to strengthen states’ and communities’ activities and support the implementation of best practices.

• We published Enhancing Coordinated Entry through Partnerships with Mainstream Resources and 

Programs, a companion guide to HUD’s Notice regarding requirements around coordinated entry that 

describes the connections that can be facilitated between mainstream resources and homelessness 

services systems and the critical roles mainstream programs can play in identifying households 

experiencing or at risk of homelessness and how coordinated entry processes may connect households to 

mainstream programs that can provide access to services and resources that can help prevent or end their 

homelessness and set them on a path to success.

• We published a tool for communities, Questions to Consider Regarding Inclusionary Zoning Policy, to 

explore a tool that cities and states can use to help ensure a portion of newly constructed housing units 

are created and operated as affordable housing.

• We published a brief on role of legal services in preventing and ending homelessness, Engaging Legal 

Services in Community Efforts to Prevent and End Homelessness describing ways that engaging and 

partnering with legal services providers can remove barriers for people experiencing homelessness and 

can contribute to communities' efforts to prevent and end homelessness

• We published an article on the role that HHS programs are playing in Supporting Individuals and Families 

Experiencing Homelessness. 

Our Work Ahead

We’re making remarkable progress. Yet, there is still much more work to be done to ensure that all Americans 

have a safe and stable home, in a strong community, where they can pursue their goals and succeed. To drive 

even greater progress, we are focusing on the following important priorities for the work ahead:

• Increasing the supply of affordable and supportive housing. While continuing to target and prioritize 

existing affordable and supportive housing to people exiting homelessness, we must also take steps to 

increase the overall supply of affordable and supportive units. We are advising jurisdictions on how to 

identify strategies to remove local barriers to housing development that reduce the ability of housing 

markets to respond to growing demand. And we are helping local, state, and national partners to identify 

ways to invest in an expanded supply of affordable and supportive housing.

• Enhancing connections to employment and independence. To prevent homelessness, and to ensure the 

success and stability of people exiting homelessness, we are working with federal and national partners to 

integrate employment services and opportunities into our efforts to ensure that all individuals and 

families, parents, youth, and people with disabilities, can develop their skills, sustain employment, advance
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 25

their careers, and strengthen their futures.

• Continuing to strengthen our data collection and analysis. We are continuing to focus on data and helping

communities to use their own local data to craft and tailor effective strategies into the future. We have 

been working with communities to conduct the strongest possible point-in-time counts -- especially for 

youth, so that we can accurately measure national and local progress on ending youth homelessness. At 

the same time, we need to continue to strengthen and analyze other data on housing and service needs to 

have the most accurate projection of the array of strategies, interventions, and resources communities will 

need to end homelessness.

• Ensuring all communities can provide real access to opportunity and advancement. We must continue to 

innovate, and to identify public and private funding sources, to ensure that all Americans, regardless of 

where they live, have access to a full range of opportunities, including high-quality housing, employment, 

and advancement. We’re driving forward on efforts to provide more assistance to rural communities and 

American Indian and Alaskan Native communities to ensure that the housing and services interventions 

necessary to prevent and end homelessness are available to their community members as well.

• Maintaining and building on partnerships at all levels of government. To sustain the progress we’ve 

made to date, we’re continuing to deepen our collaborative approach across federal, state, and local 

government, with federal activities carefully targeted to ensure that they are complementary to and 

supportive of on-the-ground efforts by state and local officials to address community-specific challenges.

• Building lasting responses that will sustain our success. Finally, we are working closely with communities 

to sustain investments into the best practices, strategies, and programs that are driving progress toward 

ending homelessness, knowing that they must be poised to respond to crisis every day.

Agency Operations

The success of our efforts to prevent and end homelessness in this country is dependent on USICH’s ability to 

maintain a highly skilled staff. USICH employee performance is tied directly to the Agency’s mission, strategies, 

objectives, and overall performance. The agency’s organizational structure, shown below, supports USICH’s 

success in achieving its mission, goals and objectives as outlined in its strategic plan, consistent with the entity's 

strategic plan, Opening Doors.

To keep operational costs at a minimum and focus budgetary resources directly on accomplishing the Agency’s

mission, USICH outsources support for several mission support components to other government entities, the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the General Services Administration (GSA), via cost-sharing

arrangements. These support areas include HR, finance, payroll, legal counsel, and EEO processing. USICH

maintains control of the work and authorization processes, and both USDA and GSA execute transactions and

performs other operations support work as directed by USICH. USICH also outsources its website and network 

support to private entities. These mission support areas fall under the direct responsibility of the Agency’s

Director of Finance and Administration.

USICH utilizes USDA’s accounting system to track and report on its finances, as financial management 

support. No instances of improper payments occurred during FY 2017 or previous years.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 26

Financial Statements, Auditor’s Reports, and Other Requirements

As a Federal agency, USICH prepares annual financial statements in conformity with U.S. Generally Accepted 

Accounting Principles and undertakes an independent annual audit to ensure reliability in assessing the Council’s 

financial health and performance. Each year, USICH prepares the following financial statements:

• Balance Sheet

• Statement of Net Cost

• Statement of Changes in Net Position

• Statement of Budgetary Resources

These statements are accompanied by corresponding notes. For FY 2017, USICH received an unmodified

opinion, the highest level of assurance, that the financial statements were fairly stated in all material respects.

USICH manages its finance and payroll support functions through USDA and GSA in Kansas City, MO. These

transactions are supported by USDA’s Pegasys accounting system, and other subsystems. During FY 2017, both

USDA and GSA received favorable opinions on their SSAE No. 18 audits.

USICH’s financial statements and notes are presented in the format required for the current year by OMB

guidance, such as Circular A-136, Financial Reporting Requirements, and other applicable guidance, and are

audited via the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards issued by the AICPA and the standards of financial audits 

contained in the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, and

other applicable guidance.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 27

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet presents the total dollar amounts available for use by USICH (assets) against the amounts owed

(liabilities) and amounts that comprise the difference (net position). Total Assets for USICH total $1,135,384 and

$1,126,864 are attributable to the Agency’s Fund Balance with the Department of Treasury (Treasury), $3,556 

attributable to Accounts Receivable and $4,964 attributable to Property, Plant and Equipment. Fund Balance with 

Treasury is funding available for specific fiscal years through the Department of Treasury accounts from which 

USICH is authorized to make expenditures and pay amounts due.

For depreciation purposes, a threshold of $5,000 per item is used in order to determine capitalization. Capitalized 

property, plants, and equipment is recorded at original acquisition cost. Straight line depreciation and a useful 

life of five years are used in depreciation calculations. Acquisitions not meeting these criteria are recorded as 

expenses.

Total Liabilities equal $683,593, including accounts payable, which consists of liabilities to other government 

agencies, commercial vendors, contractors and disbursements in transit. At fiscal year-end, USICH accrues the 

amount of estimated unpaid expenses. Also, at fiscal year-end, USICH accrues payroll for services rendered by 

USICH employees and leave accrued, but not yet paid out. To the extent current and prior-year appropriations 

are not available to fund annual leave earned but not taken, funding is obtained from future appropriations.

Statement of Net Cost

This statement presents the annual cost of operating USICH. The gross cost less any offsetting revenue is used 

to arrive at the net cost of operations. All of USICH’s costs incurred were directly related to the support and 

advancement of its mission and directives per the Administration and Congress. Net Cost of Operations for FY 

2017 equals $3,547,231.

Statement of Changes in Net Position

The State of Changes in Net Position presents accounting items that caused the net position section of the balance

sheet to change from the beginning to the end of the reporting period. USICH’s net position for FY 2017 is

$451,791.

Statement of Budgetary Resources

This statement provides information on how budgetary resources were made available to USICH and the status 

of those budgetary resources at year-end. USICH is funded through a congressional appropriation totaling

$3,600,000 for FY 2017. Net outlays for activity during FY 2017 totaled $3,236,563.

Limitations of the Financial Statements

As required by OMB Circular A-136, Financial Reporting Requirements, USICH discloses the following limitations 

on USICH’s FY 2017 financial statements, which are contained in this Report. The financial statements are 

prepared to report the financial position and results of operations of USICH, pursuant to the requirements of 

31 U.S.C. § 3515 (b). The statements are prepared from the books and records of USICH in accordance with 

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for federal entities and the formats prescribed by OMB. 

These statements are in addition to the financial reports used to monitor and control budgetary resources,

which are prepared from the same books and records. The statements should be read with the realization that 

they are for a component of the U.S. Government, a sovereign entity.
November 2017

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 28

Fraud Reduction 

OMB Circular A-136 requires agencies to report on its fraud reduction efforts undertaken in FY 2017 and 4th

quarter of FY 2016. USICH reports the following actions:

• USICH has taken measurements to reduce fraud opportunities and incidents. We have in place 

controls that keep the likelihood of these events to a minimum, including the following:

o New employees are required to attend ethics training upon hire with

HUD ethics attorneys.

o The Handbook details certain actions that are taken seriously,

including fraud, waste and abuse, and associated actions that will

be taken by management in the event that these actions occur, 

including an Ethics/Code of Conduct Policy. Each employee is 

required to sign an acknowledgement of/and agreement to 

adhere to this and other applicable policies upon receipt and

review of the Handbook.

o A periodic review, update, and physical count of USICH inventory and property.

o Management sets the ethical tone at the Council through its own

actions and through its dialogue with Council staff.

o USICH contracts with the General Services Administration for 

posting and processing of all financial transactions, generation of 

vendor payments, generation of financial reports and financial 

statements, and processing of payroll and benefits payments and 

withholding for USICH employees. GSA employees review each 

transaction for accuracy, as well as validity.

Biennial Review of User Fees

OMB Circular A-136 requires agencies to review, on a biennial basis, fees, rents, royalties, and another charges 

imposed by the agency for services and things of value. For FY 2017, USICH had no items applicable to this review 

requirement.
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Board of Directors

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Washington, D.C.

Report on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of the United States Interagency Council on 

Homelessness (USICH) as of September 30, 2017 and 2016, and the related statements of net cost, changes 

in net position, and budgetary resources, for the years then ended (collectively referred to as the financial 

statements), and the related notes to the financial statements.

Management’s Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in 

accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles; this includes the design, implementation, 

and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements 

that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted 

our audit in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards and the standards

applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller

General of the United States; and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin No. 17-03, Audit 

Requirements for Federal Financial Statements. Those standards and OMB Bulletin No. 17-03 require that 

we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are 

free from materialmisstatements.

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the 

financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgment, including the assessment 

of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making 

those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair

presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the

circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal 

control. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit includes test of compliance with provisions of 

applicable laws, regulations, and contracts that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts

and disclosure in the financial statements. The purpose was not to provide an opinion on compliance with

provisions of applicable laws, regulations and contracts and, therefore, we do not express such opinion. An 

audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of 

significant accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the

financial statements. 

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our 

audit opinion.
Opinion on the Financial Statements

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial 

position of USICH as of September 30, 2017 and 2016, and its net costs, changes in net position, and

budgetary resources for the years then ended, in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting

principles.

Other Matters

Required Supplementary Information

U.S. generally accepted accounting principles require that the information in the Management’s Discussion 

and Analysis (MD&A), also regarded as Required Supplementary Information (RSI) be presented to 

supplement the basic financial statements. Such information, although not a part of the basic financial 

statements, is required by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, who considers it to be an

essential part of financial reporting for placing the basic financial statements in an appropriate operational, 

economic, or historical context. We have applied certain limited procedures to the required supplementary 

information in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which consisted of 

inquiries of management about the methods of preparing the information and comparing the information 

for consistency with management’s responses to our inquiries, the basic financial statements, and other

knowledge we obtained during our audit of the basic financial statements. We do not express an opinion or 

provide any assurance on the information because the limited procedures do not provide us with sufficient 

evidence to express an opinion or provide any assurance.

Other Information

Our audits were conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the financial statements as a whole. 

The Message from the Executive Director, Introduction and the Other Information sections are presented 

for purposes of additional analysis and are not a required part of the financial statements. Such information 

has not been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audits of the financial statements, and 

accordingly, we do not express an opinion or provide any assurance on it.

Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements, we considered USICH’s internal control

over financial reporting (internal control) to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the 

circumstances for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the financial statements, but not for the purpose 

of providing an opinion on internal control. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion.

A deficiency in internal control exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow management

or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent, or detect and correct, 

misstatements on a timely basis. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies in

internal control,such thatthere is a reasonable possibilitythat amaterial misstatement of the entity’s financial 

statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis. A significant deficiency is a 

deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control that is less severe than a material weakness, 

yet important enough to merit attention by those charged with governance.

Our consideration of the internal control was for the limited purpose described in the first paragraph of this 

section and was not designed to identify all deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting that 

might be deficiencies, significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. During the audit of the financial 
statements no deficiencies in internal control were identified that were considered to be a material weakness. 

However, material weaknesses may exist that have not been identified.

Report on Compliance and Other Matters

As part of obtaining reasonable assurance about whether USICH’s financial statements are free from 

material misstatement, we performed tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations 

and contracts, noncompliance with which could have a direct and material effect on the determination of 

financial statement amounts. We limited our tests of compliance to the provisions described in the preceding 

sentence, and we did not test compliance with all laws, regulations and contracts applicable to USICH. The

objective was not to provide an opinion on compliance with those provisions of laws, regulations and 

contracts, and accordingly, we do not express such an opinion.

The results of our tests disclosed no instances of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be 

reported under Government Auditing Standards or OMB Bulletin No. 17-03.

Management’s Responsibility for Internal Control and Compliance

USICH’s management is responsible for (1) evaluating effectiveness of internal control over financial 

reporting based on criteria established under the Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA), (2)

providing a statement of assurance on the overall effectiveness of internal control, and (3) ensuring 

compliance with other applicable laws and regulations.

Auditor’s Responsibilities

We are responsible for (1) obtaining a sufficient understanding of internal control over financial reporting 

to plan the audit, (2) testing compliance with certain provisions of laws and regulations that have a direct 

and material effect on the financial statements and applicable laws for which OMB Bulletin No. 17-03

requires testing, and (3) applying certain limited procedures with respect to the MD&A.

We did not evaluate all internal controls relevant to operating objectives as broadly established by the 

FMFIA, such as those controls relevant to preparing statistical reports and ensuring efficient operations. 

We limited our internal control testing to testing internal control over financial reporting. Because of 

inherent limitations in internal control, misstatements due to error or fraud, losses, or noncompliance may 

nevertheless occur and not be detected. We also caution that projecting our audit results to future periods 

is subject to risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree

of compliance with controls may deteriorate. In addition, we caution that our internal control testing may 

not be sufficient for other purposes.

We did not test compliance with all laws and regulations applicable to USICH. We limited our tests of 

compliance to certain provisions of laws and regulations that have a direct and material effect on the 

financial statements and those required by OMB Bulletin No. 17-03 that we deemed applicable to USICH’s 

financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2017. We caution that noncompliance with 

laws and regulations may occur and not be detected by these tests and that such testing may not be sufficient 

for other purposes.

Purpose of the Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting and the Report on Compliance 

and Other Matters

The purpose of the Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting and the Report on Compliance and 

Other Matters sections of this report is solely to describe the scope of our testing of internal control and 
compliance and the result of that testing, and not to provide an opinion on the effectiveness of USICH’s 

internal control or on compliance. These reports are an integral part of an audit performed in accordance 

with Government Auditing Standards in considering USICH’s internal control and compliance. 

Accordingly, these reports are not suitable for any other purpose.

This report is intended solely for the information and use of the management of USICH, OMB, and U.S. 

Congress, and is not intended to be, and should not be, used by anyone other than these specified parties.

Largo, Maryland 

November 15, 2017
2017 2016

Assets:

 Intragovernmental:

 Fund Balance With Treasury (Note 2) $ 1,126,864.37 $ 809,308.52

 Total Intragovernmental 1,126,864.37 809,308.52

 Assets With The Public:

 Accounts Receivable, net (Note 3) 3,555.73 7,219.15

 General Property, Plant and Equipment, Net (Note 4) 4,963.85 7,373.09

Total Assets $ 1,135,383.95 $ 823,900.76

Liabilities:

 Intragovernmental:

 Accounts Payable $ 1,641.94 $ -

 Other (Note 6)

 Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable 17,287.71 20,909.71

 Total Intragovernmental 18,929.65 20,909.71

 Liabilities With the Public:

 Accounts Payable 483,362.07 244,228.19

 Other (Note 6)

 Accrued Funded Payroll and Leave 59,809.60 72,463.20

 Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable 2,272.40 2,776.81

 Unfunded Leave 119,219.69 123,371.90

Total Liabilities (Note 5) $ 683,593.41 $ 463,749.81

Net Position:

$ 591,509.08 $ 497,949.04

 (139,718.54) (137,798.09)

 451,790.54 360,150.95

 Total Net Position 451,790.54 360,150.95

Total Liabilities and Net Position $ 1,135,383.95 $ 823,900.76

U.S. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS

BALANCE SHEET

As of September 30, 2017 and 2016

 Total Net Position - All Other Funds (Consolidated

 Totals)

 Cumulative Results of Operations - All Other Funds

 (Consolidated Totals)

 Unexpended Appropriations - All Other Funds (Consolidated

 Totals)
2017 2016

Program Costs:

 USICH:

 Gross Costs $ 3,547,230.87 $ 3,657,109.40

 Net Program Costs 3,547,230.87 3,657,109.40

Net Cost of Operations (Note 8) $ 3,547,230.87 $ 3,657,109.40

U.S. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS

STATEMENT OF NET COST

As of And For The Years Ended September 30, 2017 and 2016
Funds From Dedicated 

Collections 

(Consolidated Totals)

All Other Funds 

(Consolidated Totals) Eliminations Consolidated Total

Cumulative Results from Operations:

Beginning Balances $ (137,798 09) $ (137,798 09)

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations used 3,460,559 18 3,460,559 18

Other Financing Sources (Non-Exchange):

Imputed financing (Note 9) 84,751 24 84,751 24

Total Financing Sources 3,545,310 42 3,545,310 42

Net Cost of Operations 3,547,230 87 3,547,230 87

Net Change (1,920 45) (1,920 45)

Cumulative Results of Operations (139,718 54) (139,718 54)

Unexpended Appropriations:

Beginning Balance 497,949 04 497,949 04

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations received 3,600,000 00 3,600,000 00

Other adjustments (45,880 78) (45,880 78)

Appropriations used (3,460,559 18) (3,460,559 18)

Total Budgetary Financing Sources 93,560 04 93,560 04

Total Unexpended Appropriations 591,509 08 591,509 08

Net Position $ 451,790 54 $ 451,790 54

U.S. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET POSITION

As of And For The Year Ended September 30, 2017 
Funds From Dedicated 

Collections 

(Consolidated Totals)

All Other Funds 

(Consolidated Totals) Eliminations Consolidated Total

Cumulative Results from Operations:

Beginning Balances $ (121,057.99) $ (121,057.99)

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations used 3,531,006.54 3,531,006.54

Other Financing Sources (Non-Exchange):

Imputed financing (Note 9) 109,362.76 109,362.76

Total Financing Sources 3,640,369.30 3,640,369.30

Net Cost of Operations 3,657,109.40 3,657,109.40

Net Change (16,740.10) (16,740.10)

Cumulative Results of Operations (137,798.09) (137,798.09)

Unexpended Appropriations:

Beginning Balance 531,293.71 531,293.71

Budgetary Financing Sources:

Appropriations received 3,530,000.00 3,530,000.00

Other adjustments (32,338.13) (32,338.13)

Appropriations used (3,531,006.54) (3,531,006.54)

Total Budgetary Financing Sources (33,344.67) (33,344.67)

Total Unexpended Appropriations 497,949.04 497,949.04

Net Position $ 360,150.95 $ 360,150.95

U.S. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET POSITION

As of And For The Year Ended September 30, 2016
2017 2016

Budgetary Budgetary

BUDGETARY RESOURCES

Unobligated balance brought forward, Oct 1 $ 312,743.61 $ 314,588.73

Unobligated balance brought forward, Oct 1, as adjusted 312,743.61 314,588.73

Recoveries of prior year unpaid obligations 264,717.35 22,491.76

Other changes in unobligated balances (+ or -) (40,412.81) (29,429.91)

Unobligated balance from prior year budget authority, net 537,048.15 307,650.58

Appropriations (discrectionary and mandatory) 3,600,000.00 3,530,000.00

Total budgetary resources $ 4,137,048.15 $ 3,837,650.58

STATUS OF BUDGETARY RESOURCES

New obligations and upward adjustments (total) (Note 10) $ 3,604,682.45 $ 3,524,906.97

Unobligated balance, end of year:

Apportioned, unexpired account 38,576.89 10,894.21

Unapportioned, unexpired accounts 178.19 178 19

Unexpired unobligated balance, end of year 38,755.08 11,072.40

Expired unobligated balance, end of year 493,610.62 301,671.21

Unobligated balance, end of year (total) 532,365.70 312,743.61

Total budgetary resources $ 4,137,048.15 $ 3,837,650.58

CHANGE IN OBLIGATED BALANCE

Unpaid Obligations:

Unpaid obligations, brought forward, Oct 1 $ 496,564.91 $ 517,079.76

New obligations and upward adjustments (Note 10) 3,604,682.45 3,524,906.97

Outlays (gross) (-) (3,242,031.34) (3,522,930.06)

Recoveries of prior year unpaid obligations (-) (264,717.35) (22,491.76)

Unpaid obligations, end of year 594,498.67 496,564.91 Memorandum (non-add) entries:

Obligated balance, start of year (+ or -) 496,564.91 517,079.76

Obligated balance, end of year (+ or -) (Note 2) $ 594,498.67 $ 496,564.91

BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAYS, NET

Budget authority, gross (discretionary and mandatory) $ 3,600,000.00 $ 3,530,000.00

Actual offsetting collections (discretionary and mandatory) (-) (5,467.97) (2,908 22)

Recoveries of prior year paid obligations (discretionary and mandatory) 5,467.97 2,908 22

Budget Authority, net (total) (discretionary and mandatory) 3,600,000.00 3,530,000.00

Outlays, gross (discretionary and mandatory) 3,242,031.34 3,522,930.06

Actual offsetting collections (discretionary and mandatory) (-) (5,467.97) (2,908 22)

Outlays, net (discretionary and mandatory) 3,236,563.37 3,520,021.84

Agency outlays, net (discretionary and mandatory) $ 3,236,563.37 $ 3,520,021.84

U.S. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS

STATEMENT OF BUDGETARY RESOURCES

As of And For The Years Ended September 30, 2017 and 2016
U.S. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL ON HOMELESSNESS APPROPRIATED FUND

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2017 and 2016

Note 1 – Significant Accounting Policies

Reporting Entity

Congress established the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness in 1987 with the passage of the Stewart 

B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. The mission of the United States Interagency Council on 

Homelessness (USICH) is to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and to create a national 

partnership at every level of government and with the private sector to reduce and end homelessness in the 

nation while maximizing the effectiveness of the Federal Government in contributing to the end of 

homelessness.

 

Basis of Presentation 

These financial statements have been prepared from the accounting records of the U.S. Interagency Council 

on Homelessness in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as promulgated by 

the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), and OMB (Office of Management and 

Budget) Circular A-136, “Financial Reporting Requirements.” GAAP for Federal entities is the Hierarchy 

of accounting principles prescribed in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) 

Statement on Auditing Standards No. 91, Federal GAAP Hierarchy. 

OMB Circular A-136 requires agencies to prepare principal statements, which include a Balance Sheet, a 

Statement of Net Cost, a Statement of Changes in Net Position, and a Statement of Budgetary Resources. 

The balance sheet presents, as of September 30, 2017, amounts of future economic benefits owned or 

managed by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (assets), amounts owed by the U.S. Interagency 

Council on Homelessness (liabilities), and amounts, which comprise the difference (net position). The 

Statement of Net Cost reports the full cost of the program, both direct and indirect costs of the output, and 

the costs of identifiable supporting services provided by other segments within the U.S. Interagency Council 

on Homelessness and other reporting entities. The Statement of Budgetary Resources reports an agency’s 

budgetary activity.

Basis of Accounting

Transactions are recorded on the accrual accounting basis in accordance with general government practice. 

Under the accrual basis of accounting, revenues are recognized when earned, and expenses are recognized 

when a liability is incurred, without regard to receipt or payment of cash. The preparation of financial 

statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of 

assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, 

and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results may differ 

from those estimates.
Revenues and Other Financing Sources

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is an appropriated fund and receives appropriations. Other 

financing sources for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness consist of imputed financing sources 

which are costs financed by other Federal entities on behalf of the U.S. Interagency Council on 

Homelessness, as required by Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard (SFFAS) No. 5, 

Accounting for Liabilities of the Federal Government.

Note 2 – Fund Balance with Treasury

All of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness fund balance with treasury comes from 

appropriations. This fund balance with treasury is a consolidated balance of five annual funds (910: FY 

2013, FY 2014, FY 2015, FY 2016, and FY 2017) and one no-year fund. The annual fund for FY 2012 

was cancelled and the remaining fund balance of $45,880.78 was given back to the U.S. Treasury during 

fiscal year 2017.

Note 3 – Accounts Receivable, Net

The line item represents the Account Receivable Claims from Associates. It is showing a debit balance. 

The direct write-off method is used for uncollectible receivables. The U.S. Interagency Council on 

Homelessness has historically collected any receivables due and thus has not established an allowance for 

uncollectible accounts. 

FY 2017 FY 2016

A. Fund Balance with Treasury

General Fund $ 1,126,864.37 $ 809,308.52 

B. Status of Fund Balance with Treasury

1) Unobligated Balance

a) Available $ 38,576.89 $ 10,894.21 

b) Unavailable 493,788.81 301,849.40 

2) Obligated Balance not yet Disbursed 594,498.67 496,564.91 

Total $ 1,126,864.37 $ 809,308.52 

FY 2017 FY 2016

A/R Claims- Non- Federal $ 3,555.73 $ 7,219.15

Total $ 3,555.73 $ 7,219.15
Note 4 - General Property, Plant and Equipment, Net 

As of September 30, 2017 the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness shows Equipment –

Administrative total cost of $34,250.94 and a net book value of $4,963.85. The Accumulated Depreciation 

to date shows a balance of $29,287.09. The depreciation calculation method used is Straight Line with a 

useful life of 5 years. However, for the items that were obligated in FY 2003 and received in FY 2005, the 

useful life is 3 years. A $5,000 threshold is used to determine whether items are capitalized.

Note 5 – Liabilities Not Covered by Budgetary Resources

Liabilities of U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness are classified as liabilities covered or not covered 

by budgetary resources. As of September 30, 2017, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness showed 

liabilities covered by budgetary resources of $564,373.72 and liabilities not covered by budgetary resources 

of $119,219.69.

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’s liabilities are as follows:

FY 2017 Equipment

Furniture & 

Fixtures Software Total

Cost $ 34,250.94 - - $ 34,250.94

Accum. Depr. (29,287.09) - - (29,287.09)

Net Book Value $ 4,963.85 - - $ 4,963.85

FY 2016 Equipment

Furniture & 

Fixtures Software Total

Cost $ 34,250.94 - - $ 34,250.94

Accum. Depr. (26,877.85) - - (26,877.85)

Net Book Value $ 7,373.09 - - $ 7,373.09

2017 2016

Intragovernmental

 Accounts Payable $ 1,641.94 $ -

 Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable $ 17,287.71 $ 20,909.71

 Worker's Compensation - -

Total Intragovernmental 18,929.65 20,909.71

With the Public

 Accounts Payable 483,362.07 244,228.19

 Accrued Funded Payroll and Leave 59,809.60 72,463.20

 Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable 2,272.40 2,776.81

 Unfunded Leave 119,219.69 123,371.90

Total With the Public 664,663.76 442,840.10

Total Liabilities $ 683,593.41 $ 463,749.81

Total liabilities not covered by budgetary resources $ 119,219.69 $ 123,371.90

Total liabilities covered by budgetary resources 564,373.72 340,377.91

Total Liabilities $ 683,593.41 $ 463,749.81
Note 6 – Other Liabilities 

Other liabilities with the public for the year ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 consist of Accrued Funded 

Payroll and Leave, Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable and Unfunded Leave in the amounts 

shown below. Other Intragovernmental liabilities consist of Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes 

Payable.

Note 7 – Operating Lease and Future Lease Payments

USICH occupies office space under a lease agreement that is accounted for as an operating lease. The 

current office lease term began on October 2, 2017 and expires on June 30, 2020. Lease payments are 

increased annually based on the USICH’s proportionate share of the building's operating expenses and 

real estate taxes. The total operating lease expenses as of September 30, 2017 and 2016 were $226,509 

and $265,500, respectively. 

Non-Current Current Total

Intragovernmental

Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable $ - $ 17,287.71 $ 17,287.71 

Liabilities with the Public

Accrued Funded Payroll & Leave $ - $ 59,809.60 $ 59,809.60 

Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable - 2,272.40 2,272.40 

Unfunded Leave 119,219.69 - 119,219.69 

Total Liabilities with the Public 119,219.69 62,082.00 181,301.69 

Total Other Liabilities $ 119,219.69 $ 79,369.71 $ 198,589.40 

Non-Current Current Total

Intragovernmental

Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable $ - $ 20,909.71 $ 20,909.71 

Liabilities with the Public

Accrued Funded Payroll & Leave $ - $ 72,463.20 $ 72,463.20 

Employer Contributions and Payroll Taxes Payable - 2,776.81 2,776.81 

Unfunded Leave 123,371.90 - 123,371.90 

Total Liabilities with the Public 123,371.90 75,240.01 198,611.91 

Total Other Liabilities $ 123,371.90 $ 96,149.72 $ 219,521.62 

FY 2017

FY 2016

Total Intragovernmental $ - $ 17,287.71 $ 17,287.71 

Total Intragovernmental $ - $ 20,909.71 $ 20,909.71 
Below is a schedule of estimated future payments for the term of the lease.

Fiscal Year Office Space Cost Estimates

2017 $226,509

2018-2020 (current lease expires 6/30/2020) $713,311

Total future payments $939,820

Note 8 –Costs and Exchange Revenue

Intragovernmental costs are those of goods/services purchased from a federal entity.

Note 9—Imputed Financing Sources

USICH recognizes as imputed financing the amount of accrued pension and post-retirement benefit 

expenses for current employees. The assets and liabilities associated with such benefits are the 

responsibility of the administering agency, the Office of Personnel Management. For the years ending 

September 30, 2017 and 2016, imputed financing were as follows:

Total Total 

FY 2017 FY 2016

USICH

 Intragovernmental costs $ 921,543.70 $ 1,156,152.54

 Public costs 2,625,687.17 2,500,956.86

 Total USICH costs $ 3,547,230.87 $ 3,657,109.40

 Total USICH $ 3,547,230.87 $ 3,657,109.40

Total Total

FY 2017 FY 2016

Office of Personnel Management $ 84,751.24 $ 109,362.76

Total Imputed Financing Sources $ 84,751.24 $ 109,362.76
Note 10 – Apportionment Categories of New Obligations and Upward Adjustments: Direct vs. 

Reimbursable Obligations

All obligations for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, is the amount of direct obligations 

incurred against amounts apportioned under category B on the latest SF 132.

Note 11 – Undelivered Orders at the End of the Period

Undelivered orders represent the value of goods and services ordered and obligated that have not been 

received. This amount includes any orders for which advance payment has been made but for which 

delivery or performance has not yet occurred. 

The amount of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ budgetary resources obligated for 

undelivered orders was $59,143.38 and $185,205.43 as of September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

NOTE 12 – Explanation of Difference between the SBR and the Budget of the US Government 

SFFAS No. 7, Accounting for Revenue and Other Financing Sources and Concepts for Reconciling 

Budgetary and Financial Accounting, requires an explanation of material differences between budgetary 

resources available, the status of those resources and outlays as presented in the Statement of Budgetary 

Resources to the related actual balances published in the Budget of the United States Government (Budget). 

The Budget that will include FY 2017 actual budgetary execution information is scheduled for publication 

in February 2018, which will be available through OMB’s website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb. 

Accordingly, information required for such disclosure is not available at the time of publication of these 

financial statements.

Total Total

FY 2017 FY 2016

Direct

 Category B $ 3,604,682.45 $ 3,524,906.97

Total Obligations $ 3,604,682.45 $ 3,524,906.97

Undelivered 

Orders

Delivered 

Orders, Unpaid

Unpaid 

Obligated 

Balance Net

FY 2017 $ 59,143.38 $ - $ 59,143.38

FY 2016 $ 185,205.43 $ 311,359.48 $ 496,564.91
Balances reported in the FY 2016 SBR and the related President’s Budget reflected the following:

FY2016

Budgetary 

Resources

New Obligations 

& Upward 

Adjustments 

(Total)

Distributed 

Offsetting 

Receipts Net Outlays

Statement of Budgetary Resources $ 3,837,650.58 $ 3,524,906.97 $ - $ 3,520,021.84

Budget of the U.S. Government 4,000,000.00 4,000,000.00 $ - 3,000,000.00

Difference $ (162,349.42) $ (475,093.03) $ - $ 520,021.84

The difference between the Statement of Budgetary Resources and the Budget of the United States 

Government for budgetary resources, obligations incurred and net outlays are primarily due to rounding. A 

portion of the difference in the budgetary resources is due to expired unobligated balances being reported 

in the Statement of Budgetary Resources but not in the Budget of the United States Government.

Note 13 – Reconciliation of Net Cost of Operations to Budget

Liabilities not covered by budgetary resources total $119,219.69 and the change in components requiring 

or generating resources in future period shows ($4,152.21). The ($4,152.21) is the net decrease of future 

funded expenses – leave between appropriations of annual fund 2016 and annual fund 2017. Accrued 

funded payroll liability is covered by budgetary resources and is included in the net cost of operations. 

Whereas, the unfunded leave liability includes the expense related to the increase in annual leave liability 

for which the budgetary resources will be provided in a subsequent period.

FY 2017 FY 2016

Liabilities not covered by budgetary resources $ 119,219.69 $ 123,371.90

Change in components requiring/generating resources (4,152.21) 13,162.26

Resources Used to Finance Activities

Budgetary Resources Obligated $ 3,604,682.45 $ 3,524,906.97

Spending Authority from Recoveries and Offsetting 

 Collections (270,185.32) (25,399.98)

Imputed Financing from Costs Absorbed by Others 84,751.24 109,362.76

Changes in Budgetary Resources Obligated for Goods, 

Services, and Benefits Ordered but Not Yet Provided 126,062.05 31,499.55

Resources that Finance the Acquisition of Assets 3,663.42 1,161.99

Financing Sources Yet to be Provided (4,152.21) 13,162.26

Components Not Requiring or Generating Resources 2,409.24 2,415.85

Net Cost of Operations $ 3,547,230.87 $ 3,657,109.40

The reconciliation of net cost of operations to budget for the years ended September 30, 2017 and 

2016 is as follows: