HOMELESSNESS

Homelessness

According to the 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S., there were 567,715 people experiencing homelessness on a given night in January 2019 — a decline of 12 percent since 2007. Of that number, 70 percent (396,045 people) experienced homelessness as individuals, and the other 30 percent (171,670 people) were in families that were experiencing homelessness. Just over 37,000 Veterans were homeless, which represents a nearly 50-percent decrease since 2009. Just over 96,000 people were experiencing chronic homelessness, representing a 20-percent decrease since 2007. About 35,000 of those experiencing homelessness were unaccompanied youth under the age of 25, a four-percent decrease since 2018. Despite the reductions noted above over time, homelessness increased overall by three percent between 2018 and 2019, due in large part to increases in unsheltered homelessness.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) homelessness assistance programs provide funding to states and local governments and to nonprofit providers to serve individuals and families across the U.S. The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 reformed HUD’s homelessness programs to enable homeless planning groups to better address the unique needs of homeless persons in their communities and to continue expanding permanent supportive housing. The Act consolidated HUD's competitive homelessness assistance grant programs into one Continuum of Care (CoC) Program.

HUD's Homelessness Assistance Programs page on the HUD Exchange provides the most up-to-date information regarding HEARTH Act implementation, and serves as a one-stop resource for providers assisting persons who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

HUD's CoC 2.0 Online Training Materials include a variety of tools to help CoC Program recipients gain a better understanding of the CoC Program interim rule.

TAC Resources on Homelessness:

• TAC helped to create three resources for the HUD Exchange page on Homelessness Assistance Resources for Multifamily Housing Owners and Managers:
  • Multifamily Homeless Preference: Owners and Agents Share their Experience (video)
  • Adopting a Multifamily Homeless Preference — An Overview for Property Owners and Agents (webinar)
  • Implementing a Homeless Preference in Multifamily Housing — An Overview for Continuums of Care and Service Providers (webinar)
• Key Considerations for Serving Chronically Homeless Persons in CoC-Funded Permanent Supportive Housing
• Housing Choice Vouchers Targeted to Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities – Another Tool to Help End Homelessness

Other Homelessness Resources:

• 2019 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S. — a report to the U.S. Congress prepared by HUD on the extent and nature of homelessness in America.
• Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 2015 Annual Update — Published by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), this Federal Plan is the nation's first ever comprehensive strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.
• Disaster Recovery Homelessness Toolkit — published by HUD, this resource is for communities that want to address the needs of homeless and vulnerable populations through disaster planning, response, and recovery.
• Opening Doors through Multifamily Housing Toolkit for Implementing a Homeless Preference — a HUD toolkit providing step-by-step guidance that a community can use in bringing service providers and multifamily property owners together to serve the needs of individuals experiencing or exiting homelessness.