Reports & Articles

SONOMA COUNTY

California Homeless Housing Needs Assessment – CSH, Dec 12, 2022
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- No Safe Place: Advocacy Manual
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SONOMA COUNTY

Sonoma County Housing and Homelessness Update, July 12, 2022

Published by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, Tina Rivera, Director of Health Services, and Dave Kiff, Interim Director, CDC. Read

Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury 2021-2022 Final Report

The Grand Jury provides oversight to county, city government, and special districts within Sonoma County, bringing positive change in the best interest of all residents. Read

Organizational Charts – Sonoma County Homeless Facilities

State of Housing in Sonoma County – 2022 Report

Published by Generation Housing, January 2022
The State of Housing in Sonoma County report is a comprehensive report, over 60 pages, covers, among other things, housing stock and cost, density, land use, homebuilding, population shifts and demographic breakdowns of housing cost burden and overcrowding. This report aims to educate the public, community leaders, and policy-makers so that we can make informed, evidence-based decisions on policy, projects, and funding as we address our housing shortage. Read

What is Housing Vouchers? Sonoma County Community Development Commission

Published: December 21, 2021
Sonoma County Housing Authority and Santa Rosa Housing Authority present information on Housing Voucher Programs. More

Homelessness and Policy in Sonoma County – 2021

Students from Sonoma State university undergo qualitative research methods and interview advocates, front line workers, and elected officials to get firsthand perspectives of needed policy for the community they serve. Data collected are from 23 interviews conducted from most areas of Sonoma County.

Their conclusion, “Ultimately, in our research we observed that there are a lot of great programs, great ideas, and hope of incoming projects. However, we are fragmented in our approaches to address the problem. Despite the great ideas and hard work and millions of dollars put into the homeless crisis, it will not be enough unless the entire community comes together in consensus that we need to address the problem as a community and not push it off to the corners of our area where we do not want to see it. Our research team applauds the decades efforts of those who have served our community and listened to those whose voices and pain that have been lost or are left unheard. We urge leaders in Sonoma County to continue to invest in continued research to the root causes of homelessness in our community with the voices that need to be heard most: the houseless.” Read

Sonoma County Annual Homeless Census and Survey – 2015-2020

The Continuum of Care for Sonoma County, Santa Rosa and Petaluma, the Commission and its partners have been required to conduct a point-in-time census of sheltered and unsheltered homeless families and individuals in the last 10 days of January in alternate (odd-numbered) years. Beginning in 2015, we began conducting a point-in-time census of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals and families on an annual basis. Read

Proposed Interim Changes to the Coordinated Entry Vulnerability Assessment

Published by Karissa White, Continuum of Care Coordinator, January 22, 2021
On September 17, 2020, the Housing First and Coordinated Entry Task Group met and unanimously approved replacing the language of similar questions in the first version of the assessment tool to reflect the wording of those listed in version two of the VI-SPDAT and the following interim changes to the weight of the scoring of the current Coordinated Entry prioritization tool. This item was scheduled for the Home Sonoma County Leadership Council for approval on September 24, 2020. Read

Operations and Maintenance Budget – Fiscal Year 2020-21

Published by City of Santa Rosa, July 1, 2020
FY 2019-20 was a challenging year for the City and its budget. This budget is a byproduct of the uncertainty our local economy faces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The shelter-in-place order for Sonoma County deeply affected businesses, restaurants, and tourism and lodging industries within the City. The City Council goal setting process had to be cancelled as public gatherings and meetings were not allowed and was rescheduled to August 2020, after budget adoption. Read

Sonoma County Major Housing Projects Tracker

Generation Housing advocates for housing projects across Sonoma County that help increase the supply, diversity, and affordability of housing. In this tool, Gen H helps track and update local residents about proposed housing projects to engage a broader audience about the local housing happenings. Gen H endorsed projects, which have gone through our project review process and align with our guiding principles, are noted as such. [Use the tool]

Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury 2019-2020 Final Report

Published by the Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury, August 2, 2020
The Grand Jury’s Foreman wrote, “The Grand Jury’s mission is to facilitate positive change in Sonoma County. We are changed with overseeing city, County, and special district operation. We investigate these entities to evaluate their efficiency, honesty, fairness, and dedication to serving the public. Based on our findings, we make recommendations.” [Read]

Reports include:

Continuity Report 2018-2019
Springs Specific Plan
Homeless Youth Report
Coroner Report Final
Grand Jury Homeless Report
Emergency Water Shortages in Sonoma Valley
Sonoma Valley Regional Water Resources

High Utilizers of Multiple Systems in Sonoma County

We use a powerful new cross-domain dataset to identify Sonoma County’s highest utilizers of multiple systems, a group of approximately 6,600 people. The average high utilizer spent nearly two months each year in a publicly subsidized inpatient or residential setting, such as a jail, a hospital, or homeless shelter. They used at least $27,000 in state and county government services annually. Despite making up only 1% of the population, each year they accounted for an average of 28% of behavioral health costs, 52% of nights in housing or shelters for the homeless, and 26% of jail time in Sonoma County. [Read]

Affordable Rental Housing Benefits Map

Data tool developed by the California Housing Partnership. Use this tool to:
– See quantitive estimates of social and economic benefits of affordable housing for individual residents and families, taxpayers, and the local economy
– Display property-level information on specific affordable housing developments
– Create reports on affordable housing’s impact in counties and legislative districts
[View tool and user instructions]

Santa Rosa Arrest Log

Published by the City of Santa Rosa Open Data
This table contains arrest logs for the last 7 days for the City of Santa Rosa (CA) Police Department. It is updated nightly. Click on the “Data” tab at the top left to get to the data, then scroll left/right to see each line’s detail. [Read]

Sonoma County 2020 Affordable Housing Needs Report

Published by California Housing Partnership, June 2020
16,825 low-income renter households in the county do not have access to an affordable home. In Sonoma County, state funding decreased 27% while federal funding increased 84% for housing production and preservation from FY 2008-09 to FY 2018-19. [Read]

By the Numbers – Housing Data in Sonoma County

Posted by Generation Housing, June 1, 2020
This is a series of charts showing housing data in Sonoma County, including median home prices, median rents, job growth to housing production, severely crowded renter households, building permits, homeownership, housing production, funding, etc.
Generation Housing (Gen H) has an inspiring new vision of housing and quality of life in Sonoma County, advocating for and supporting the action to build the housing our community needs to thrive. [Read]

Preserving Opportunity

Lessons from Local Efforts to Preserve Affordable Housing
Webinar hosed by Generation Housing, May 19, 2020
Video, 58 mins, Spanish interpretation available.
Panelists: Megan Basinger, Housing and Community Services Manager, City of Santa Rosa, David Hagele, City of Healdsburg Councilmember, and Lary Florin, CEO of Burbank Housing. [Watch]

2020 Sonoma County Consolidated Plan and One Year Action Plan

Published by Sonoma County, May 2020
The 2020 Sonoma County Consolidated Plan is a five-year plan covering FY 2020-2021 through FY 2024-2025. It is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to receive certain federal housing, homelessness, and community development funds. Review and comment accepted until 5 pm on May 31, 2020. [Read]

Housing Funding Trends & Resources in Sonoma County

Published by Generation Housing, July 2019
Prepared by Baird + Driskell Community Planning
This memo summarizes housing funding patterns in Sonoma County. However, it is hard to capture what is typical because there is a tremendous amount of year to year variation. This includes both the amount of housing produced and the funding sources. For example, in 2016 Sonoma County produced 102 units of deed restricted affordable housing. That fell to 26 units in 2017 and jumped to 314 units in 2018 (California Housing Partnership). [Read]

Sonoma County Housing Policy Scan

Commissioned by Generation Housing, July 2019
This report summarizes housing policies in all Sonoma County jurisdictions. It offers a high- level overview of what policies jurisdictions have enacted and whether they are in compliance with relevant state housing laws. [Read]

An Affordable Housing Playbook, Sonoma County, CA

Prepared by The Case Made, with support from the Community Foundation of Sonoma County.
[Read]

Sonoma County Mental Health Services Act

2018-2019 Plan Update & Annual Update for 2016-2017
Report produced by Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Behavioral Health Division, Santa Rosa, CA. January 2019

The purpose of this document is twofold: to provide Sonoma County stakeholders with an update on the direction of mental health services in Sonoma County for 2018-2019, and to report on the activities, services, and programs funded through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 201602917. [Read]

City of Santa Rosa 2016-2020 Amended Consolidated Plan and 2018/2019 Action Plan

Produced by the City of Santa Rosa, CA
The purpose of the Consolidated Plan is to identify a city or state’s housing and community development needs, priorities, goals, and strategies; and to stipulate how funds will be allocated to housing and community development activities over the period of the Amended Consolidated Plan. [Read]

Published by Sonoma County, Bureau of Land Management, ArcGIS Online
This interactive map shows homeless-related incidents that the City of Santa Rosa’s Police and Fire departments have reported. [Read]

Sonoma County Homeless Census and Survey Comprehensive Report 2019

Report produced by Applied Survey Research (ASR), San Jose, CA
The 2019 Sonoma Homeless Point-in-Time Census was a comprehensive community effort. With the support of 96 individuals with lived experience of homelessness, 163 community volunteers, staff from various city and county departments, and law enforcement, the entire county was canvassed between the hours of 5:00 AM and 10:00 AM on January 25, 2019. [Read]

Sonoma County Homeless Census and Survey Comprehensive Report 2018

Report produced by Applied Survey Research (ASR), San Jose, CA
The 2018 Sonoma County Point-in-Time Count was a community-wide effort conducted on February 23, 2018. In the weeks following the street count, a survey was administered to 519 unsheltered and sheltered homeless individuals to profile their experience and characteristics. [Read]

3 Steps to Ending Chronic Homelessness

A 3-part series of posts by Andrew Hening, Director of Homeless Planning & Outreach, City of San Rafael
Hening will discuss the root causes, overarching strategies and tactics for addressing homelessness in your community.
* Step 1 – Determine who is most vulnerable
* Step 2 – Place the most vulnerable in permanent supportive housing
* Step 3 – Track outcomes and continually improve the system

Homeless Talk: Citywide Conversations, Visions for Change

A 2017 report on facilitated small group discussions with over 500 people in the course of seven months, gathering and analyzing more than 1300 comments about homelessness in Santa Rosa. [Report]

Homeless Encampments and Villages 2017

A media research compilation with background studies by Homeless Action! [Report] [Appendix 2] [Appendix 3] [Appendix 4]

Sonoma County Homeless Census & Survey Comprehensive Report 2017

Report produced by Applied Survey Research (ASR), San Jose, CA
The 2017 Sonoma Homeless Point-in-Time Count was a comprehensive community effort. With the support of 77 individuals with lived experience of homelessness, over 120 community volunteers, staff from various city and county departments, and law enforcement, the entire county was canvassed between the hours of 6 am and 12 pm on January 27, 2017. This resulted in a peer-informed visual count of unsheltered homeless individuals and families residing on the streets, in vehicles, makeshift shelters, encampments and other places not meant for human habitation. Shelters and facilities also reported the number of homeless individuals and families who occupied their facilities on the night prior to the day of the count. [Read]

Sonoma County Homeless Point-In-Time Census & Survey Comprehensive Report 2016

Report produced by Applied Survey Research (ASR), San Jose, CA
The 2016 Sonoma County Point-in-Time Count was a county-wide effort. With the support of 147 community volunteers and homeless guides recruited and trained by shelter and ASR staff, the entire county was canvassed between daybreak and noon on January 29, 2016. This resulted in a visual count of unsheltered homeless individuals and families residing on the streets, in vehicles, makeshift shelters, encampments and other places not meant for human habitation in all areas of Sonoma County. Shelters and transitional housing reported the number of homeless individuals and families who occupied their facilities on the night of January 28, 2016. [Read]

Sonoma County Homeless Census and Survey Executive Summary 2011

Published by Applied Survey Research, Watsonville, CA for the Sonoma County Community Development Commission in 2011
This study included a comprehensive enumeration of homeless individuals residing in Sonoma County on January 28, 2011. In order to generate detailed profiles of homeless individuals in Sonoma County, 617 surveys of homeless individuals were conducted in the weeks following the census. Data from this representative survey sample revealed more detailed information about the population. [Read]

Sonoma County Homeless Census and Survey Comprehensive Report 2009

Published by Applied survey Research, Watsonville, CA for the Sonoma County Community Development Commission in 2009
During the early morning hours of January 23, 2009, the 2009 Sonoma County Homeless Census took place. The Census had two components: a Street Count – a point-in-time enumeration of unsheltered homeless people; and a Shelter and Institution Count – a point-in-time enumeration of sheltered homeless people. The entire county was canvassed from four deployment locations, including Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg, and Guerneville. In order to capture the number of homeless people staying in shelters, an online Survey went out to every shelter in the county. These shelter data were collected for the night of January 22, 2009, to capture the number of individuals who would not be out on the street during the morning of the Census. [Read]

Building HOMES: A Policy Maker’s Toolbox for Ending Homelessness

Published by the Sonoma County Community Development Commission, August 2015
Building HOMES: A Policymaker’s Toolbox for Ending Homelessness seeks to provide an understanding of the needs and opportunities to end homelessness in Sonoma County by 2025. It reviews proven strategies, proposes new initiatives to strengthen and build upon the 10- Year Homeless Action Plan: 2014 Update (Sonoma County Continuum of Care), and acknowledges that hard choices, substantial investments, and committed action will be required. [Read]

California

How Many Affordable Homes Are At Risk of Conversion in California?

Published by California Housing Partnership on Feb 28, 2022.
The current California affordable housing crisis will only worsen if nothing more is done to protect the thousands of subsidized affordable rental homes at risk of market rate conversion. According to the Affordable Homes At Risk | 2022 Report by the California Housing Partnership, 20,792 subsidized affordable rental homes have already been lost through conversion to market rate units and 7,053 more are at risk of conversion to market rate as soon as this year. The Partnership has also begun early research into the number of unsubsidized apartments still affordable to low income renters in California, often referred to as “naturally-occurring” affordable housing or NOAHs. Defining the universe of California’s subsidized and unsubsidized affordable rental homes compared to its vast lower income renter population puts into perspective why every affordable home is vital to preserve. Read

California Homeless Housing Needs Assessment

Published by Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) December 12, 2022.
Needs assessments help states and communities understand the amount and types of additional investments needed to solve homelessness, allowing for more efficient use of resources1. Local and state governments that have reduced homelessness began with clear numeric goals, goals typically based on data on need2. Instead of asking, “what do we have,” needs assessments begin by asking, “what would it take.” Read

Unlocking Housing Opportunities for People Experiencing Homelessness

Published by Terner Center for Housing Innovation, UC Berkeley, March 17, 2022
This new report explores lessons from the first round of funding for California’s Homekey initiative, an innovative program to address homelessness by dramatically increasing funding for permanent supportive housing. Authored by our Faculty Research Advisor Carolina Reid, Senior Research Associate Ryan Finnigan, and Research Assistant Shazia Manji, the report California’s Homekey Program: Unlocking Housing Opportunities for People Experiencing Homelessness offers seven case studies on local approaches, including Los Angeles, Fresno, Oakland, and Riverside, and gives a robust portrait of how the Homekey 1.0 funding has been deployed and how service providers, developers, and local agencies are implementing the program on the ground.

Putting the Funding Pieces Together – Guide to Strategic Uses of New and Recent State and Federal Funds to Prevent and End Homelessness

Published by California Homeless coordinating and Financing Council, November 2021. (This Guide replaces the earlier Guide to Strategic Uses of Key State and Federal Funds to Reduce Homelessness During the COVID-19 Pandemic Issued in 2020).
This Guide is intended to help leaders and planners within local governments and Continuums of Care in California understand and make strategic use of many important resources made available in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to support economic recovery, within efforts to prevent and end homelessness for Californians. Read

HOMEKEY: California’s Statewide Hotels-to-Housing Initiative

Published by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, July 2021.
– Sources of Funding: Federal, State, Loca, Philanthropic
– Number of Units Created: 6066 units, 95 projects, 51 communities
– Administrative Model: State Agency administered, local public entity implementation
– Program Outcomes: 4.5 of Homeless Households (2020 PIT count) Read

Bay Area Homelessness: New Urgency, New Solutions – 2021

Published by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute in June 2021.
This report is the Bay Area Council Economic Institute’s second look at homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area. In our first report, Bay Area Homelessness: A Regional View of a Regional Crisis, released in 2019,
we used interviews with local service providers and data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to capture the true scale and regional nature of the Bay Area’s homeless crisis. In this report, we examine the potential for using shelter mandates, also known as right to shelter policies, to help solve the Bay Area’s homelessness crisis. [Read]

State of California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency – 2020 End of Year Report

Published by the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, Year-end 2020. [Read]

Understanding Homelessness in California 2020

Published by the State of California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, Year-end 2020.
Understanding the dynamic nature of the people that seek homelessness services over time gives us a clearer picture of what we can do to end homelessness, together. This and so many other topics are now possible to explore through California’s newly launched Homeless Data Integration System (HDIS). [Read]

California’s Master Plan for Aging

Published by California Department of Aging, January 2021
The Master Plan for Aging outlines five bold goals and twenty-three strategies to build a California for All Ages by 2030. It also includes a Data Dashboard for Aging to measure our progress and a Local Playbook to drive partnerships that help us meet these goals together. [Read]

Regional Action Plan – A Call to Action from the Regional Impact Council

Published by the Regional Impact Council, February 2021
The Bay Area’s homelessness crisis is a chronic problem, arguably the region’s greatest and most serious challenge. The scale and complexity of this challenge is undeniably daunting. As a region we have fought to solve this crisis for decades, to limited avail. However, the problem can and will be solved. We need a new approach to homelessness, marked by new levels of regional cooperation. The Regional Impact Council (RIC) envisions a Bay Area that is united and coordinated against homelessness: a Bay Area that is organized to seamlessly share best practices, data systems, advocacy efforts, and resources. In the Bay Area we envision homelessness is a rare, brief, and non- recurring situation for those who experience it. In this future vision, we have closed racial and economic disparities and created an equitable, stable, and prosperous region. The path to this future will not be easy. It will require action and commitment from all levels of government and community. The RIC believes that we can and must do the work to make this vision real. The first step is to acknowledge that homelessness is an emergency requiring immediate action. [Read]

Annual Funding Report 2021

Published by California Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, February 2021
This annual funding report serves as a detailed summary of data collected, as required by statute, from all HEAP and HHAP grantees through September 30, 2020. This report provides a synopsis of HEAP and HHAP Round 1 expenditures, performance metrics, and narratives around key initiatives in the areas of racial equity and strategic partnerships. It should not be read as an evaluation of either program, nor does it intend to provide recommendations around best practices or further investments. [Read]

Homelessness in California: The State’s Uncoordinated Approach to Addressing Homelessness Has the Hampered the Effectiveness of Its Efforts

Report published by the Auditors of the State of California
Report No: 2020-112
– Summary
– Fact Sheet (PDF)
– Full Report (HTML)
– Full Report (PDF)

Homelessness Continues to Significantly Increase in California According to January 2020 Homeless Counts

Report by Joe Colletti, PhD, published by Hub for Urban Initiatives, Homeless and Housing Strategies for California, October 2020.
In 2020, 22 of the 44 California Continuums of Care (CoCs) conducted an unsheltered and sheltered homeless count in January and publicly reported and/or shared their results with Urban Initiatives to be included in this report. The other 22 CoCs conducted a sheltered count. HUD will combine their 2020 sheltered counts with their 2019 unsheltered counts and report their totals as their 2020 sheltered and unsheltered homeless count. Of the 22 California CoCs that conducted an unsheltered and sheltered homeless count, 17 or more than three-fourths (77.3%) counted more persons as homeless in 2020 when compared to the number of persons counted in 2019. [Read]

California Master Plan for Aging: Goal 2: Livable Communities & Purpose

Published August 2020, the Master Plan for Aging provides the catalyst needed to prepare for the reality of an older population. To have truly livable communities, California must address the systemic disparities inherent in our built and social environments by intentionally advancing solutions that build toward equity. To be truly livable, communities must value people of all ages, races, and backgrounds and fully integrate them into the social world. [Read] Read the background to the creation of the Master Plan for Aging here.

Stop the Revolving Door

Unhoused people in San Francisco say the city’s system for helping them creates a “revolving door,” shuffling homeless people into shelters and right back out again. The entire homeless system needs to change, they say. Throw it out. Reinvent it. Take police out of the homelessness response entirely, replace overcrowded shelters with service-oriented tent encampments and provide rental subsidies to tenants on the verge of eviction. Those are the top-level findings of “Stop the Revolving Door,” a study conducted of homeless people, by homeless people, who were trained by academics from universities across the Bay Area, including UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University and San Francisco State University. The report was organized by the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness. [Read article] [Read report]

Racial Disparities in Housing Security from COVID-19 Economic Fallout

by Lindsay Rosenfeld, California Housing Partnership, August 11, 2020
Racial disparities in access to safe, stable, and affordable housing were present long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit California. Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s new Household Pulse Survey, conducted for twelve weeks beginning in the spring of 2020, shows that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified the racial disparities in California’s housing crisis. [Read]

California’s Roadmap Home 2030

Published by Housing California and the California Housing Partnership, June 2020
California’s Roadmap HOME 2030 is an initiative to develop and implement a “Marshall Plan” for statewide housing and homelessness solutions. This 10-year policy blueprint will illustrate how, with the right solutions and the will, we can create a California with homes for all. [Read]

USC Housing Typologies Toolkit

This toolkit was developed as a product of the University of Southern California Initiative to Eliminate Homelessness in collaboration with both the City and County of Los Angeles on behalf of housing development for persons experiencing homelessness.

The Housing Typologies Toolkit is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the new and promising models for housing development in the region. Each typology presented has a summary of information that helps the user quickly gain an understanding of the model in terms of use, benefits, challenges, policy-related issues, perspectives of consumers, sustainability, costs, financial models, and knowledgeable contact persons. [Read]

Complaint-Oriented Policing: Regulating Homelessness in Public Space

Published by Chris Herring in the American Sociological Review 2019

Over the past 30 years, cities across the United States have adopted quality-of-life ordinances aimed at policing social marginality. Scholars have documented zero-tolerance policing and emerging tactics of therapeutic policing in these efforts, but little attention has been paid to 911 calls and forms of third-party policing in governing public space and the poor. Drawing on an analysis of 3.9 million 911 and 311 call records and participant observation alongside police officers, social workers, and homeless men and women residing on the streets of San Francisco, this article elaborates a model of “complaint-oriented policing” to explain additional causes and consequences of policing visible poverty. [Read]

SF Homeless Project 2016-2019

Published by the San Francisco Chronicle
For the fourth year, The Chronicle is leading the SF Homeless Project, a consortium of media organizations focusing on the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness. Program has been made, but problems remain. See our comprehensive coverage [here].

HUD 2019 Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Programs: Homeless Populations and Subpopulations – California

Point-in-time Date: January 29, 2019
Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Programs Homeless Populations and Subpopulations Reports provide counts for sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons by household type and subpopulation, available at the national and state level, and for each CoC. The reports are based on Point-in-Time (PIT) information provided to HUD by CoCs in the application for CoC Homeless Assistance Programs. The PIT Count provides a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night during the last ten days in January. [Read]

Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) 2019

Report produced by Stanford Healthcare, Stanford Medicine, Stanford, CA
The Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is designed as a tool for guiding policy, advocacy, and program-planning efforts. For hospitals, it also supports the development of community benefit plans mandated by California State Senate Bill 697 and meets the IRS requirements for Community Health Needs Assessment and Implementation Strategies mandated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act. [Read]

State of Homelessness: 2020 Edition

As the Alliance publishes this updated version of the State of Homelessness, COVID-19 is creating a health and economic crisis in America and throughout the world. It is too soon to determine its ultimate impacts. Thus, this year’s report represents a baseline—the state of homelessness before the crisis began. It also reflects some early considerations and predictions about the influence of the pandemic on this vulnerable population. [Read]

State of Homelessness – California

Published by National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington, DC
The State of Homelessness in America charts progress in ending homelessness in the United States, profiling California on this page. Using the most recently available national data, it is intended to serve as a reference for policymakers, journalists, advocates, and the public on trends in homelessness, homeless assistance, and at-risk populations at the national and state levels. [Read]

Protect Tenants, Prevent Homelessness

Published by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
While many communities across the country are working to end homelessness, too few have adopted legal protections to help renters find, and stay in, housing. This report explores the links between housing instability and homelessness as well as the laws that can reduce housing instability. While increasing the availability of affordable housing is a necessary component of ending homelessness, it may not be sufficient if low-income families and individuals are not able to access and keep stable housing. Legal protections can help increase housing stability and reduce homelessness. [Read]

Homeless Task Force Report: Tools and Resources for Cities and Counties

Published by League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, prepared by Institute for Local Government, 2018
California is home to 21 of the 30 most expensive rental markets in the nation and the state does not have enough affordable housing stock to meet the demand of low-income households. The state’s 2.2 million extremely low-income and very low-income renter households compete for 664,000 affordable rental homes. As national and state programs fall short of fully addressing this issue, local governments are coming together to find solutions for their communities. Collaboration, cooperation, and support at the local level are key to addressing this crisis. [Read]

State of Homelessness – California – One-page Factsheet

Published by National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington, DC
A one-page fact sheet for the homelessness problem in California [Read]

What is a Continuum of Care?

Published by National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington, DC. January 14, 2010
A Continuum of Care (CoC) is a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals. CoCs represent communities of all kinds, including major cities, suburbs, and rural areas. [Read]

Homeless Bill of Rights

National Coalition for the Homeless, Washington, DC
Years of research and advocacy around criminalization of homelessness and increasing violence committed against people experiencing homelessness has shown that added protections are needed to preserve the civil rights of people experiencing homelessness. [Read]

Homeless Youth

Know-Your-Rights Toolkit for Unaccompanied Youth & Families Who Lack Stable Housing

This toolkit is about students’ rights under a federal law known as the McKinney- Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Students have these rights whether they are homeless alone (in which case they are an unaccompanied youth) or with their families. Students are homeless if they lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime home. [Read Toolkit]

Guiding Youth Home: A Design-Based Approach to Preventing and Ending Youth Homelessness

Published by Homeless Hub, curated by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada, 2019.
This document is part policy provocation and part inspiration. It’s intended for anyone who is interested in learning more about Duty to Assist—an innovative, rights-based approach to homelessness prevention pioneered in Wales—and wants to learn how to use design to improve the policy development process. [Read]

The Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness

Published by Homeless Hub, curated by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada, 2019.
The Roadmap is a useful guide to why and how prevention can contribute to a comprehensive systems response to youth homelessness, detailing evidence-based and informed program models that can help communities and governments implement plans to prevent and end youth homelessness. The Roadmap has been directly informed by consultations with youth across Canada who have experienced homelessness. In order to reform our response to youth homelessness, it is critical that youths’ voices, experiences, and insights are the cornerstone of the work. [Read]

A New Direction: A Framework for Homelessness Prevention

Published by Stephen Gaetz and Erin Dej, 2017
The aim of the framework is to begin a nation-wide conversation on what prevention looks like, and what it will take to shift toward homelessness prevention. Using international examples, the framework operationalizes the policies and practices necessary to successfully prevent homelessness and highlights who is responsible. Above all, it situates prevention within a human rights approach. Now is the time to prioritize homelessness prevention. [Read]

Homeless Student Resource

Published by Santa Rosa Junior College
23% of Santa Rosa Junior College students are homeless, and 63% are housing insecure. The College’s Santa Rosa Campus Student Resource Center is a Coordinated Entry Point to efficiently match people experiencing homelessness to available housing, shelter, and services. [Read]

Emergency Housing Resources

Published by Sonoma State University, Santa Rosa, CA
List of short-term transitional housing, community housing resource, and winter shelters. [Read]

Study of Student Basic Needs

Published by the California State University, Basic Needs Initiative.
The CSU is a national leader in studying the prevalence of food and housing insecurity as well as identifying and implementing solutions to support students’ basic needs. This is a 3-phase study commissioned by CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White covers housing-displaced and food-insecure students. [Read]

California Homeless Youth Project

A policy initiative of the California Research Bureau
The California Homeless Youth Project (HYP) is a research and policy initiative of the California Research Bureau (CRB). The project is committed to bringing youth to the policy table and to informing policymakers, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders about the needs of unaccompanied homeless youth. [Read]

Youth Homelessness in California: A Quick Overview

In California, the term “homeless youth” generally refers to unaccompanied minors ages 12 through 17 who are living apart from their parents or legal guardians – and young adults ages 18 through 24 who are economically and/or emotionally detached from their families – and are experiencing homelessness or living in unstable or inadequate living situations. [Read]

Basic Needs in College: What Do We Want to Do or See Happen?

A California Homeless Youth Project – Voices from the street [Read]

Homeless Youth and Higher Education

By the Affordable Colleges Online
A 2018 report by PBS News Hour found that more than 1.3 million primary and secondary students identified as homeless in 2017 – a number equal to all students living in the state of Virginia. Though many of these youth aspire to college, they lack a network of support and an awareness of resources to see their dreams through. This guide highlights some of the common challenges of this population and offers information on resources for individuals trying to further their education while battling homelessness. [Read]

Resource for Youth Homelessness

Published by HUD Exchange
This page compiles information on a range of initiatives and programs that can assist youth service providers to help prevent and end youth homelessness. The page includes policy guidance, best practices, publications, tools, and links to other agencies and organizations. [Read]

Rapid Rehousing Models for Homeless Youth

Published by HUD Exchange
Rapid re-housing (RRH) for youth (defined as less than 25 years of age) is an evolving model that can be implemented using the PH-RRH component type under HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program. [Read]

SNAPS In Focus: Integrating Persons with Lived Experiences in our Efforts to Prevent and End Homelessness

Published by HUD Exchange. January 15, 2020
Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) partnered with young people with lived experiences of homelessness to develop the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), from its initial planning and ongoing through its implementation. [Read]

Cheap Apartments for College Students

Published by Sublet.com
You can use the search widget to find a Cheap Apartments for College Students. Select your Region, State or Country, City and Area – this will tell us where in the world you’d like to see cheap apartments. [Read]

National

Principles for Addressing Encampment

Published by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), June 15, 2022
Communities across the United States are facing a crisis of unsheltered homelessness. This was made clear in 2020 when, for the first time, more individuals experiencing homelessness were unsheltered living on the streets than staying in shelters. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this ongoing emergency that takes the lives of thousands of people each year.
Local decision-makers are caught between demands for swift action and the realitythat permanent, sustainable solutions—housing with voluntary supportive services—take time and investment to bring to scale. Some communities have turned to aggressive law enforcement approaches that criminalize homelessness and close encampments without offering shelter or housing options. While these efforts may have the short-term effect of clearing an encampment from public view, without connection to adequate shelter, housing, and supportive services, encampments will appear again in another neighborhood or even in the same place they had previously been.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but the following principles—developed by USICH in coordination with the departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Justice (DOJ), and Veterans Affairs (VA); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and several national partners—can help communities more effectively address encampments:

Principle 1: Establish a Cross-Agency, Multi-Sector Response
Principle 2: Engage Encampment Residents to Develop Solutions
Principle 3: Conduct Comprehensive and Coordinated Outreach
Principle 4: Address Basic Needs and Provide Storage
Principle 5: Ensure Access to Shelter or Housing Options
Principle 6: Develop Pathways to Permanent Housing and Supports
Principle 7: Create a Plan for What Will Happen to Encampment Sites After Closure

Click to read USICH’s full “Principles for Addressing Encampments.”

Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) During the Pandemic: Implications for the Design of Permanent ERA Programs

Published by National Low Income Housing Coalition, March 2022
In the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, states, localities, and tribal entities across the country have launched and administered ERA programs to assist households struggling to pay rent.1 These programs have disbursed billions of dollars to eligible households, primarily using federal funds but also using local and philanthropic sources.2 Along the way, programs have evolved as some ERA administrators built up capacity and infrastructure, learned from their successes and failures, and responded to adjustments in federal policy and to new funding streams.

Our research has documented this evolution through a series of four national surveys of ERA program administrators and case studies of 15 early ERA programs. In this report, we draw on the fourth and final survey, as well as our cumulative research, to highlight the challenges and changes that have shaped emergency rental assistance programs. We end with implications for future policy. Read

Year in Review: How USICH and the Biden Administration Addressed Homelessness in 2021

… much like the state and local leaders we work with, USICH spent last year in crisis response mode. Our mission was to rebuild relationships with federal, state, and local stakeholders, and to regain the trust of communities—which I hope and believe we did—so we could help them maximize their use of federal resources to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, to rehouse people, to decriminalize and prevent homelessness—and to do it all equitably with a Housing First approach.
… Launching of House America, a federal initiative that helps mayors, county officials, governors, and tribal leaders use the American Rescue Plan to rehouse at least 100,000 people experiencing homelessness and expand the supply of affordable housing by at least 20,000 units. Read

Election Checklist for Homeless Service Providers

To help more Americans exercise their right to vote, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) created step-by-step voting guides for homeless providers and for people experiencing homelessness. Both are available in five languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog.

This Election Guide is a checklist for helping people vote without a permanent address. Read

Voting Checklist for People Experiencing Homelessness

To help more Americans exercise their right to vote, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) created step-by-step voting guides for homeless providers and for people experiencing homelessness. Both are available in five languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog.

This Voting Guide is a checklist for people experiencing homelessness on how to vote without a permanent address. Read

Homelessness Bill of Rights

The Homeless Bill of Rights (also Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Acts of Living bill) refers to legislation protecting the civil and human rights of homeless people. These laws affirm that homeless people have equal rights to medical care, free speech, free movement, voting, opportunities for employment, and privacy.^[1] Legislation of this type is currently being debated at the state level in the United States.^[1] Over 120 organizations in five different states have shown public support for a Homeless Bill of Rights and are working towards its implementation.^[2] A Homeless Bill of Rights has become law in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Illinois and is under consideration by several other U.S. states, including California, Delaware, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont.^[3] From Wikipedia. Read

Getting It Done – The American Rescue Plan Way

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to significantly reduce homelessness in some communities and end it in others. These historic resources should be prioritized for the most vulnerable people, including the rising unsheltered population living in tents and cars.
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) interviewed several communities about how they’re implementing ARP funding. The resulting guidance is intended to help other communities maximize the impact of this funding to prevent and end homelessness. Read

2021 NOFO Resource Series

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2021 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Continuum of Care program presents vitally important opportunity for homelessness response systems across the country. The following resources are intended to help clarify what’s new in this year’s CoC Program NOFO, and provide guidance on the opportunities to complete a competitive application. [Read]

Hotels to Housing Case Studies

Published by National Alliance to End Homelessness, July 20, 2021
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous states and localities successfully expanded their housing capacity by rapidly acquiring hotels and motels and converting them into permanent housing. The following case studies outline some of the most noteworthy hotels-to-housing initiatives across the country. Each document includes an overview of the funding sources that were implemented, the administrative approach that guided the initiative, and the overall project development process. They also include an assessment of the key success factors and the major lessons learned for each effort. They include cases from California, Oregon, Vermont, Minnesota, Fort Worth, TX, Los Angeles and San Diego, CA. [Read]

The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress

Report Part 1: Point-In-Time Estimates of Homelessness
Published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development, January 2021
On a single night in 2020, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. Six in ten (61%) were staying in sheltered locations—emergency shelters or transitional housing programs—and nearly four in ten (39%) were in unsheltered locations such as on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation. [Read]

Federal Response for Families and Individuals Experiencing Homelessness

Updated as of December 31, 2020, this report is focused on the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ (USICH) efforts and national outcomes during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on families and individuals experiencing homelessness through December 31, 2020. The first part of this report is an “update” covering July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020, and includes lessons learned throughout the year of 2020. [Read]

Homeless Mortality Data Toolkit
Homeless Mortality Data Toolkit

Published by the Homeless Mortality Data Workshop of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, January 2021
The experience of homelessness has well-documented long-term consequences on health and well-being. However, due to a lack of national review or standardized data collection for homeless mortality, it is difficult to calculate the extent that homelessness is killing people.
In 2019, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council initiated the Homeless Mortality Data Workgroup to unite expertise on homeless mortality reviews across the county. The workgroup includes researchers, advocates, public health department officials, health center leaders, clinicians, government officials, and communities involved in homeless mortality reviews. The group is charged with sharing best practices on how localities carry out homeless mortality work, discussing how to best organize mortality data reports, and planning advocacy work that can be carried out with, and on behalf of, homeless mortality data. [Read]

A “Common Ground” Strategy to Save Our Economy

By Bill Barberg, President & Founder of InsightFormation, Inc., November 2020
Following the intensely polarizing election, the United States needs healing and pathways forward to address the serious challenges faced by our neighborhoods, nation, and world. Together we must improve the economy by addressing the financial struggles of individuals and small businesses. [Read]

2018 AHAR: Part 2 – PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S.

Published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, September 2020
The 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR): Part 2 presents the most recent national estimates of homelessness, focusing on people who experience homelessness as individuals, as family members, and as members of specific subpopulations. For each of these populations, the estimates describe how homelessness has changed over time and provide a demographic profile of homelessness in America. In 2018, HUD shifted its data collection platform to the Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA), which collects more detailed information on the characteristics of and system use by people experiencing homelessness. While this shift provides exciting new opportunities, the entirely new methodology used to produce the report this year means that estimates in this report cannot be compared to those from prior years. The AHAR is delivered each year to the U.S. Congress, and its contents are used to inform Federal, State, and local policies to prevent and end homelessness. Information pertaining to homeless veterans is incorporated into this report. [Read]

2018 AHAR: Part 1 – PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S.

Published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, January 2018.
This report outlines the key findings of the 2018 Point-In-Time (PIT) count and Housing Inventory Count (HIC) conducted in January 2018. Specifically, this report provides 2018 national, state, and CoC-level PIT and HIC estimates of homelessness, as well as estimates of chronically homeless persons, homeless veterans, and homeless children and youth. [Read]

Updated Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response

The newly-updated Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response contains the most comprehensive changes to this document to date. The Framework has now been restructured around five Action Areas: Unsheltered People, Shelters, Housing, Diversion and Prevention, and Strengthening Systems for the Future. The new version brings greater focus to the future vision we all need to strive for in our responses, and more clearly expresses the priorities for strengthening systems for the work that lays ahead.

National Alliance to End Homelessness, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, National Low Income Housing Coalition, and National Health Care for the Homeless came together to create the Framework for an Equitable COVID-19 Homelessness Response. The purpose is to help policymakers address the public health implications of COVID-19, help contain the spread of the virus, and help communities quickly get back on track economically. The Framework provides a guide to help communities to maximize their resources and use them wisely. The Framework encourages organizations to work together to develop better solutions to homelessness. [Read]

Expanding the Toolbox: The Whole-of-Government Response to Homelessness

A new strategy plan was released by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USIH) on October 19, 2020. The strategic plan emphasizes addressing the root causes of homelessness and prioritizing trauma-informed care to support the success of each individual and family experiencing homelessness. The plan also focuses on the importance of promoting self-sufficiency across federal agencies as a way of ending the cycle of homelessness and dependency. “The status quo is not working, and homelessness is increasing across the board with many cities in crisis. Real change needs to occur to truly reduce homelessness,” Dr. Robert Marbut, Jr. Executive Director of USICH. [Read]

Better HUD Oversight of Data Collection Could Improve Estimates of Homeless Population

Report to the Chairwoman, Committee of Financial Services, House of Representatives, published by the United States Government Accountability Office, July 2020
Data collected through the Point-in-Time (PIT) count—a count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night—have limitations for measuring homelessness. GAO recommends that HUD (1) conduct quality checks on CoCs’ data-collection methodologies, (2) improve its instructions for using probability sampling techniques to estimate homelessness, and (3) assess and enhance the assistance it provides to CoCs on data collection. HUD concurred with the recommendations. [Read]

Transgender Homeless Adults & Unsheltered Homelessness: What the Data Tell Us

Published by National Alliance to End Homelessness and Homelessness Research Institute, July 24, 2020
Limited information exists about the number of transgender people experiencing homelessness. There are very few data sets relative to this population, but all the data tells a similar story: transgender people are more likely to be unsheltered than their cisgender peers, and those who are unsheltered have considerably more health and safety challenges than those who are sheltered. [Read]

Nowhere To Go

Nowhere To Go is a project created in an unprecedented collaboration among seven university journalism programs spanning the country. Led by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, the consortium included the University of Oregon, Boston University, Stanford University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Florida and Arizona State University.

The project wanted to take a nationwide snapshot of how homeless people are being treated in America, studying criminalization, encampments, and Dignity Village in Gainesville, FL.

The collaboration produced more than two dozen stories — national investigative pieces, a long-form narrative, explanatory stories, case studies, a podcast, photos, videos and graphics. They targeted 54 metropolitan regions where median rent was more than 32% of median income, driving up homelessness. They collected and analyzed 311 complaints over the last decade, looking for patterns and trends. They surveyed local and state laws that were aimed at criminalizing homelessness. And using court data from across the country, they examined how those policies were playing out on the ground.

The primary reporting and data analysis were conducted by nearly 50 graduate and undergraduate journalists spanning the campuses, supported by more than 15 data journalists. [Read]

COVID-19 Homeless System Response:
Rehousing Activation: Planning and Implementation Tips

Many communities have indicated a need for more information about where and how to start rebuilding and transforming a housing system that is shifting due to the pandemic. In the midst of this, communities must move quickly to re-house individuals and families experiencing homelessness by creating clear pathways to housing. Here are four key frameworks to begin strategically planning, dedicating, and implementing your resources. [Read]

2019 Advocacy Guide – A Primer on Federal Affordable Housing & Community Development Programs

The Advocates’ Guide: A Primer on Federal Resources Related to Affordable Housing Programs and Community Development is, as the title suggests, a guide to affordable housing. But on many levels it is much more than that. The guide comprises hundreds of pages of useful resources and practical know-how, written by leading experts in the affordable housing and community development field, with a singular purpose: to educate residents, advocates, and affordable housing providers of all kinds about the programs and policies that make housing affordable to low-income people across America. [Read]

Housing First and Homelessness: The Rhetoric and the Reality

Report by Stephen Eide, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, April 2020

Over the past two decades, a policy known as “Housing First” has come to dominate the government response tohomelessness. Housing First has two chief tenets: (1) the most effective solution to homelessness is permanent housing; and (2) all housing for the homeless should be provided immediately, without any preconditions, such as sobriety requirements. The movement to “end homelessness,” in which hundreds of communities have participated, is centered on the implementation of Housing First.

More recently, the Trump administration has begun modifying the federal government’s commitment to Housing First. These changes have been prompted, in part, by the fact that, in California and elsewhere, community efforts to end homelessness have failed even to arrest its increase. Though the changes thus far have been modest, they have been strenuously criticized by advocates who sense a weakening in the Housing First consensus.

This report contributes to the debate over homelessness policy by assessing Housing First’s rhetoric—the claims made by proponents—in light of the available evidence. It argues that proponents overstate the ability of Housing First to end homelessness, the policy’s cost-effectiveness, and its ability to improve the lives of the homeless. [Read]

How to Effectively Work with Federal, State, and Local Leaders

Toolkits and Training Materials published by National Alliance to End Homelessness, May 20, 2020
Regular engagement with elected officials is critical to any community’s efforts to end homelessness. Programs depend on federal, state, and local funding, so it is essential to regularly educate policymakers that investing in ending homelessness is good for their community.
This toolkit provides resources to help you and the people in your homelessness system communicate with elected officials and other policymakers. It provides context for the federal budgeting cycle, guidance on how to engage with policymakers, and tools to effectively make contact and elevate homelessness as a priority issue. [Read]

State of the Homeless 2019 – House Our Future Now! – State of New York

By Giselle Routhier, Policy Director, Coalition for the Homeless, New York, NY, April 2019
State of the Homeless 2019 examines the recent causes and consequences of mass homelessness in New York City, analyzes City and State policy developments, and offers practical recommendations to effectively address the crisis and meet the needs of homeless families and individuals. If the Mayor and the Governor implement the recommendations outlined in this report, the number of people sleeping in shelters each night would decrease by 20 percent over the next four years (more than 11,000), rather than continuing to rise year after year. [Read]

Understanding Encampments of People Experiencing Homelessness and Community Responses: Emerging Evidence as of Late 2018

Published on January 7, 2019, this paper documents what is known about homeless encampments as of late 2018, based on a review of the limited literature produced by academic and research institutions and public agencies, supplemented by interviews with key informants. This paper is part of a larger research study, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The goal is to contribute to the understanding of homelessness, including the characteristics of homeless encampments and the people who stay in them, and of local responses addressing encampments and their associated costs. The larger final research report is anticipated January 2020. [Read]

Housing Not Handcuffs 2019

Published by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, December 2019
Executive Summary: Housing is a human right. While three-quarters of Americans agree that housing is a human right, and an increasing number of elected officials are addressing it as such, our country has not put in place the policies to ensure that right, and as a consequence, millions of Americans experience homelessness in a national crisis that gets worse each year. Many people experiencing homelessness have no choice but to live outside, yet cities routinely punish or harass unhoused people for their presence in public places. Nationwide, people without housing are ticketed, arrested, and jailed under laws that treat their life-sustaining conduct—such as sleeping or sitting down—as civil or criminal offenses. In addition, cities routinely displace homeless people from public spaces without providing any permanent housing alternatives.

This report—the only national report of its kind—provides an overview of laws in effect across the country that punish homelessness. With the assistance of the law firms Dechert LLP, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Kirkland & Ellis, the Law Center examined the city codes of 187 urban and rural cities across the country. Through online research, we identified laws that restrict or prohibit different categories of conduct performed by homeless people, including sleeping, sitting or lying down, and living in vehicles within public space. We refer to these policies and their enforcement collectively as the “criminalization of homelessness,” even though these laws are punishable as both criminal and civil offenses.

The ordinances from our research group of 187 cities are listed in our Prohibited Conduct Chart in Appendix A. While the chart catalogues the existence of these laws in different cities, actual enforcement of them may vary widely. Punishments also vary: some laws subject homeless people to as much as six months in jail, while some result in expensive fines, fees, and/ or displacement from public space. Threats of enforcement are also used to harass homeless people and to displace them from location to location. It is important to note that these 187 cities are only a sampling; criminalization ordinances exist in many more municipalities than just the ones covered here. [Read Report]

Understanding Homelessness

This project is sponsored by Sasaki through an internal research grant program. Begun in 2015, the work has drawn upon the expertise of our team of planners, designers, and software developers, combined with valuable insights from organizations who work with the homeless every day. The intent of this work is to help overcome negative stigmas about people experiencing homelessness through education, bring transparency to the geolocated data that exists about the homelessness issue in the United States, and provide inspiration and solutions for city officials, organizations, and citizens to approach this challenge with hope. We seek to apply innovative visualization and communication techniques to the study of this population which is so often overlooked. [Read]

Homelessness in America

National Coalition for the Homeless, Washington, DC
Why are people homeless? What are the types of homelessness? Who experiences homelessness? Where do people experience homelessness?[Read]

How the 2020 Census Counts People Experiencing Homelessness

Published by the United States Census Bureau, January 27, 2020
People experiencing homelessness live in a variety of situation, such as temporarily staying with family or friends, living outside or living at a shelter. The 2020 Census has procedures to count people outdoors, where they receive services, and at other locations where they are known to sleep. [Read]

State of the Homeless 2017 (New York City)

By Giselle Routhier, Policy Director, Coalition for the Homeless, 2017
New York City remains in the midst of the worst crisis of homelessness since the Great Depression, with more than 62,000 men, women, and children sleeping in shelters each night. A chronic shortage of affordable housing and the potent combination of rising rents and stagnant wages have fueled a daunting and unabated 79 percent increase in the demand for shelter in the last decade… The City cannot succeed in turning the tide and achieving meaningful reductions in homelessness until it 1) fully utilizes all of its existing housing resources, and 2) creates a new capital development program to finance construction of at least 10,000 units of affordable housing for homeless households over the next five years . [Read]

2010 Census Ethnographic Study of Group Quarters Population: Homeless Population

Published by Irene Glasser, Eric Hirsch, and Anna Chan
Center for Survey Measurement Research and Methodology Directorate, US Census Bureau, Washington, DC. June 3, 2013
This report sought to discover what types of census enumeration would lead to the most complete and accurate count of homeless population. Findings are based upon ethnographic data collected in 11 sites that serve the homeless populations in three cities in a Northern US state. [Read]

A Systemic Approach to Ending Homelessness

By David Peter Stroh and Michael Goodman, Applied Systems thinking Journal, Topical Issues, Article 4, October 7, 2007.
This article provides a case study of how Systems Thinking was applied by the authors with a community brought together by the Battle Creek Homeless Coalition to address the chronic homelessness in surrounding Calhoun County, Through this collaboration involving broad multi-sector representation, the community designed an initiative that is leading to change for lasting social impact. [Read]

SNAPS in focus: Why Housing First

Published by HUD Exchange, July 25, 2014
Housing First is a paradigm shift from the traditional housing ready approach. It follows a basic principle—that everyone is ready for housing, regardless of the complexity or severity of their needs. [Read]

Housing First in Permanent Supportive Housing Brief

Published by HUD Exchange. July 2014
Housing First is an approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. [Read]

Ending Chronic Homelessness: Cost-Effective Opportunities for Interagency Collaboration

Departmental Papers, University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy and Practice. March 1, 2010
Abstract: Faced with a difficult economic climate with high levels of unemployment and widespread home foreclosures, the Administration of President Barack Obama has created a unique opportunity to rethink and redirect fundamental policies and practices ranging from health care to regulation of the financial industry. A similar opportunity exists to change Federal homeless assistance policies and programs. [Read]

No Safe Place: Advocacy Manual

A report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, 2014
Since the previous edition of this manual was published in 2011, there have been significant trends in case law regarding criminalization. We examine these trends in three specific areas – laws that forbid sharing food with homeless and poor persons, laws that prohibit sleeping, camping, sitting, or storing property in public places, and laws that criminalize begging, solicitation, or peddling. [Read]

No Safe Place: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities

A report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, 2014
Imagine a world where it is illegal to sit down. Could you survive if there were no place you were allowed to fall asleep, to store your belongings, or to stand still? For most of us, these scenarios seem unrealistic to the point of being ludicrous. But, for homeless people across America, these circumstances are an ordinary part of daily life. [Read]

International

The Cost of Homelessness: Analysis of Alternate Responses in Four Canadian Cities

Prepared for National Secretariat on Homelessness. Final Report March 2005.
Highlights: Overall costs tend to be significantly higher for institutional responses than is the case for community/residentially based options – even when a fairly high level of service is provided in the later. Institutional uses often incur daily costs well in excess of $200/day and depending on facility and city reaches as high as $600/day. [Read]

Cost Analysis of Homelessness – Canada

Homeless Hub, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, Toronto, ON, Canada
Significant research has been done that explores the cost of housing someone in jail, hospitals or the shelter system compared to housing them in social or supportive housing – and the difference is quite shocking. [Read]

Hub Solutions – Canada

Homeless Hub, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, Toronto, ON, Canada
In an effort to bridge the gap between research, policy and practice, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) goes beyond the mandate of a traditional research institute. Through Hub Solutions — a COH social enterprise — we support agencies, communities and policy makers, to improve their capacity to end homelessness. [Read]

Our World in Data – Homelessness

By Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser, University of Oxford
This entry studies available data and empirical evidence on homelessness, focusing specifically on how it affects people in high-income countries. Homeless people are among the most vulnerable groups in high-income countries. [Read]

Global Homelessness Statistics

By Homeless World Cup Foundation [Read]

What is the Homeless World Cup Foundation?

[Read] [News article] [Kicking It – Movie trailer]

Housing First Europe Hub

Housing First is an internationally evidence-based approach, which uses independent, stable housing as a platform to enable individuals with multiple and complex needs to begin recovery and move away from homelessness.

Through the provision of intensive, flexible and person-centered support, 70-90% of Housing First residents are able to remain housed. Having a place to call home also leads to improvements in health and wellbeing, and reduces ineffective contact with costly public services.

Unlike other supported housing models, individuals do not need to prove they are ready for independent housing, or progress through a series of accommodation and treatment services. There are no conditions placed on them, other than a willingness to maintain a tenancy agreement, and Housing First is designed to provide long-term, open-ended support for their on-going needs. [Read]