Homelessness

California Governor Announces Plan to ‘Create More Housing, Faster’

In an effort to tackle one of the country’s largest homeless populations, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week announced plans to build 1,200 tiny homes and spend $1 billion on local homelessness initiatives.

  • By Molly Bolan

Tackling Rural America’s ‘Hidden’ Housing Crisis

Over the past two years, the rate of homelessness and housing insecurity rose faster in rural places than the country at large, but community-based organizations are in a unique position to offer solutions.

  • By Jan Pytalski and Taylor Sisk, The Daily Yonder

L.A.’s Scoring System for Subsidized Housing Gives Unhoused Black and Latino People Lower Priority Scores

An investigation by The Markup found racial disparities in L.A.’s intake system for people experiencing homelessness.

  • By Colin Lecher and Maddy Varner, The Markup

One State's Plan To Amass Homelessness Data

To target services and funds aimed at reducing and preventing homelessness, California’s data sharing platform allows state and local leaders to coordinate services, policies and programs.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Feds Award $315 Million in Grants for Homelessness Programs

Nearly four dozen communities across the country will share in the money.

  • By Molly Bolan

Voters Approved Millions for Affordable Housing. Advocates Say Congress Should Do the Same

Voters in Colorado and nine cities across the country approved housing affordability measures in November. The efforts sought to finance the construction of affordable housing, preserve existing rental properties and support renters.

  • By Casey Quinlan, Idaho Capital Sun

Why a Federal Funding Deal Matters So Much for States and Localities

A full-year budget package would set spending levels for key programs and could also include important policy changes.

  • By Kery Murakami

New York City Agencies to Involuntarily Admit More Severely Mentally Ill People for Evaluations

Mayor Eric Adams clarified that people do not have to be a danger to themselves or others to receive help.

  • By Sahalie Donaldson

City’s Custom-built App Scores Homeless Encampment Safety

With the Homeless Emergency Management Tracking and Prioritization Tool, Austin gets consistent health, safety and impact data on encampments citywide to support cross-departmental intervention.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Housing Program Shows Signs of Helping Homeless While Reducing Arrests

A new study finds an initiative in Denver has the potential to break a cycle of police spending hundreds of hours arresting people repeatedly for minor infractions.

  • By Molly Bolan

Audit Reveals Why One City’s Efforts to Curb Homelessness Fall Short

Oakland, California, doesn’t have the data to tell if it’s making any progress on reducing homelessness, a new audit shows.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Strategies for Solving Homelessness Across the US

A look at how communities are making progress helping people who are homeless.

  • By Pete Tomao and Molly Bolan
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NYC’s Public Spaces are Becoming Increasingly Hostile Towards Homeless People

Limited seating, or a lack of it, in places like Penn Station, don’t make the city’s affordability problem go away.

  • By Maia Pandey

Trump Wades Deep Into State and Local Matters During DC Speech

The former president's remarks focused heavily on public safety, as he put forward proposals like moving the homeless to tent cities, hiring thousands of police and overriding governors unwilling to deploy the National Guard.

  • By Bill Lucia

A Three-Phase Strategy to Reduce Homelessness

COMMENTARY | As cities grapple with rising homelessness, states struggle to distribute relief money. But change is within our grasp.

  • By Andrea Danes

San Francisco Rations Housing by Scoring Homeless People’s Trauma. By Design, Most Fail to Qualify.

A process called coordinated entry, used by cities across the country, is meant to match homeless people with housing. In San Francisco’s version, the system could be making it harder for some populations to get indoors.

  • By Nuala Bishari, ProPublica

Homeless Camping Bans Are Spreading. This Group Shaped the Bills

A Texas-based think tank is promoting a ban on unofficial encampments.

  • By Kristian Hernández, Stateline

Federal Pandemic Aid is Providing a Boost to City Housing Programs

City officials are tapping American Rescue Plan Act dollars to expand affordable housing and reduce homelessness, challenges that predate Covid-19 but that were also heightened by it.

  • By Jared Brey

Libraries Hiring Social Workers as Mental Health Issues and Homelessness Soar

The placement of full-time licensed social workers in public libraries nationwide will become even more pronounced in the next few years, experts say.

  • By Sharon O'Malley

The Rise of Tiny House Villages in the Fight Against Homelessness

More cities are turning to the small-sized structures as an alternative to group shelters. But critics have likened them to "sheds" that fall well short of permanent affordable housing.

  • By Jared Brey

In San Francisco, Hundreds of Homes for the Homeless Sit Vacant

In spite of a growing Department of Homelessness with an annual budget of $598 million, eligible people still wait months or even years after being approved for assisted housing. Meanwhile, hundreds of units remain unused.

  • By Nuala Bishari, ProPublica