Homelessness

2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress

July 2009 report from the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) that provides the latest counts of homelessness nationwide--including counts of individuals, persons in families, and special population groups such as veterans and chronically homeless people. The report also documents disabilities among people who are homeless. This link opens a PDF document.

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Accessing Mainstream Employment & Income Support Programs

Guide for homeless assistance and workforce development providers and planners to help them promote self-sufficiency among their clients by connecting them to mainstream employment and income support programs. This link opens a PDF document.

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An Ounce of Prevention: Programs to Prevent Homelessness in 25 States

This report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty reviews state level prevention efforts, including an overview of how their programs work, funding sources and their capacity relative to need, and their impact. Between 2.5-3.5 million people were homeless each year, living in shelters, transitional housing or public places. This link opens a PDF document.

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Assistance for Homeless Veterans Fact Sheet

Information on VA programs that provide assistance to homeless Veterans, including the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program, Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans Program, inpatient and outpatient health care, readjustment counseling and disability benefits and entitlements. This link opens a text document.
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Coordinating Community Plans Guidebook

Explains the workforce planning process to housing and homelessness service practitioners, and provides practical examples of how planners involved in homeless services can provide input to Workforce Plans and develop partnerships with those involved in their creation. This link opens a PDF document.
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Defining Chronic Homelessness: A Technical Guide for HUD Programs

Provides information on the federal definition of chronic homelessness and the standards for qualifying persons for housing under this definition. This link opens a PDF document.

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Directory of Homeless & Housing Advocacy Coalitions

List of organizations working at the state and local level to prevent homelessness and help people who are homeless.
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Ending Chronic Homelessness through Employment & Housing Projects

Information on a program that is working to increase and improve employment opportunities for chronically homeless individuals with disabilities.
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Ending Family Homelessness: Lessons From Communities

This report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness examines key strategies that communities are using to address family housing needs.  It presents the experiences of several communities that successfully reduced family homelessness.  The report also identifies six strategies that are important to ending homelessness.  The report can be downloaded in PDF format.

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FirstStep - Benefits for People Who Are Homeless

Online tool to assist case managers and outreach workers in finding services for the homeless. Includes information on key federal benefits programs that can support the homeless.

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Guide to Federal Homeless Assistance Programs

Information on federal programs that help people who are homeless, including Veterans, people with substance abuse issues, those living with mental illness and children and youth. This link opens a PDF document.
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Homeless Assistance Programs - Building Effective Coalitions

Guidebook that explains how to build an effective community-wide coalition to serve people who are homeless. Individuals who are homeless require many services and supports beyond what homeless service providers offer. Mainstream agencies (i.e., agencies that do not specifically focus on homelessness) provide many of the services and support that people who are homeless need, including mental health and substance abuse treatment, health care, employment services, and other social services. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's homeless assistance programs require that jurisdictions that are eligible to apply for federal financial support must create coalitions called Continuums of Care (CoC), whose members come together to submit a single comprehensive application. This link opens a PDF document.

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Homeless Assistance Programs - Rural Continuums of Care

Guidebook designed for providers in rural communities who are interested in forming a new Continuum of Care or joining or improving an existing one. Strategies for addressing homelessness that work well in urban areas may not be effective in rural areas. Rural homeless populations often are "unseen," spread out in remote locations. This guide contains tools, ideas and strategies used by continuums across the country to overcome barriers in rural areas and effectively deliver housing services. This link opens a PDF document.

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Homelessness Resource Center

An interactive community of providers, consumers, policymakers, researchers, and public agencies at federal, state and local levels. A program of the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services.
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Homelessness Resource Exchange

Provides persons who need shelter with a locator to find contact information for Continuum of Care offices throughtout the country.
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National Coalition for the Homeless

National network of people who are or have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers and others committed to ending homelessness. Find where to go for help.

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Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent & End Homelessness

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has released a comprehensive federal plan that will serve as a roadmap to prevent and end homelessness. The plan notes that in 2009 forty-three percent of adults without families in shelters or transitional housing had a disability. The plan calls for ending Veterans and chronic homelessness by 2015, and to ending homelessness among children, family and youth by 2020. Opening Doors includes strategies based on the fact that housing, health, education and human service programs must be coordinated to end homelessness. The plan also calls for increased access to stable and affordable housing and permanent supportive housing. This link opens a 74 page PDF document. For more information watch a video of the White House announcement about the report.

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PATH - Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness

A SAMHSA grant program that funds the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and four U.S. Territories to support service delivery to individuals with serious mental illnesses, as well as individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders, who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
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SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access & Recovery Initiative (SOAR)

The SOAR technical assistance initiative is a program dedicated to assisting individuals who are both homeless and who have a disability. SOAR-trained case managers work with eligible individuals to help them complete applications for benefits.
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Services in Supportive Housing (SSH) 2009 Report

Annual report on the SSH program, which works to help prevent or reduce chronic homelessness by funding services for individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness. Section 520A of the Public Health Service Act authorized the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide services through Supportive Housing program grants. This link opens a PDF document.

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Shelter Plus Care Program

Information on a program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that provides rental assistance to hard-to-serve homeless persons with disabilities.
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The Applicability of Housing First Models to Homeless Persons with Serious Mental Illness

Report presenting findings from a study of the Housing First approach of providing permanent supportive housing to single, homeless adults with mental illness and co-occurring substance-related disorders. Housing First is an approach developed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to address the chronically homeless population. This link opens a PDF document.

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Toward Understanding Homelessness: The 2007 National Symposium on Homelessness Research

This report includes 12 papers presented at the second National Symposium on Homelessness Research. Two themes from the symposium showed how homelessness research and practice have evolved since the 1998 symposium. These include an increase in homeless assistance resources across all levels of government and among local providers and consumers, and an increased emphasis on collecting and using data to understand better the characteristics of homelessness. This link opens a PDF document.

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VA Programs for Homeless Veterans

Programs and initiatives designed to help homeless Veterans live as self-sufficiently and independently as possible.
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