This blogpost, authored by the Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), describes the 10 listening sessions that ACF held nationally among key stakeholders to address family homelessness. These stakeholders, who provided input on the latest trends and local innovative programs, included parents with homelessness experience, grantee and non-grantee service providers, faith-based partners, educators, and government leaders. Five of ACF’s program offices either directly focus on homelessness or offer services and resources to move families from homelessness towards self-sufficiency and include: the Office of Head Start, the Family and Youth Services Bureau, the Office of Child Care, the Office of Family Assistance, and the Children’s Bureau.

Prepared for the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, this Abt Associates literature review provides information on literature about housing models that can best serve persons with opioid use disorder who are either homeless or encounter housing instability.

This Chapin Hall Research-to-Practice brief examines the diverse range of causes for youth homelessness, based on interviews with 215 youth, ages 13 to 25, in urban and rural communities. Four common experiences among the interviewed youth included: earlier disruptions of family and home (40 percent of interviewed youth had been in foster care); significant personal losses such as the loss of a parent or primary caregiver; conditions involving systems, peers, and families; and frequent moves or fluidity in sleeping arrangements.

This United States Interagency Council on Homelessness brief is a transcript of a set of interviews conducted with housing officials in Montgomery County (Pennsylvania), Columbus (Ohio), and Los Angeles (California). The discussion identifies their approaches and initiatives to stem eviction and divert persons from entering homelessness.

This United States Interagency Council on Homelessness issue brief reviews the relationship between housing costs and housing stability; more affordable housing options reduce the likelihood of families becoming homeless, and help homeless families exit homelessness more quickly. The issue brief also notes recent reports identifying housing affordability and stability challenges and efforts the Council has made to address them.

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC), in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Family and Youth Services Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, and SchoolHouse Connection, will host a webinar on May 7, 2019 from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. ET which will focus on preventing homelessness and supporting homeless youth. The webinar will review intervention strategies and how to interact with communities and local homelessness systems. It will conclude with a Q&A session. This event will be moderated by Francis Mendez, Project Director, NTTAC, and will include the following presenters:

• Christopher Holloway, Runaway and Homeless Youth Program Manager, Family and Youth Services Bureau
• Patricia Julianelle, Director of Program Advancement and Legal Affairs, SchoolHouse Connection
• Norman Suchar, Director, Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness will convene a webinar on April 3, 2019 at 12 noon ET to discuss the agency’s strategic planning tool to ensure access to affordable housing for persons with housing barriers. This webinar will also discuss the findings of an earlier report that outlined 9 action steps that integrate affordable housing options with approaches to end homelessness.

This U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness report provides a set of 9 action steps and a list of recommended resources pertaining to each action step that community groups can use to integrate affordable housing with approaches to end homelessness. These steps reflect a strategic approach that: aligns efforts; sets goals; encourages messaging to build awareness; promotes development; leverages federal, state, and local funding; integrates health and housing resources; and ensures access to affordable housing for persons with housing barriers.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will hold a webinar on March 6, 2019 between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET to cover findings following the Family Options Study that was conducted for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Researchers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will review patterns of public assistance receipt, employment, family separations, the well-being of adolescents and young children, adult behavioral health, and predictions for reoccurrence of homelessness. Findings related to the experiences of homelessness in parents and children will also be presented.

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness provides updated statistics and trend analysis in this briefing, while also using the data to discuss implications for efforts to eliminate homelessness. In 2017, homelessness rose slightly for the first time since 2016, which was driven entirely by more unsheltered homeless individuals without families. The Council links to further resources that detail trends for youth, families, worst case housing needs, and affordable housing throughout the country. Considering all of this data, the Council stresses the need for affordable housing, unsheltered support services, and attention to racial disparities through combined federal and local efforts across agencies, sectors, and lawmakers.