National Alliance to End Homelessness

05/29/2026

BREAKING: For the first time since 2016, overall homelessness in America has decreased. 📉

Homelessness service providers have spent years building and refining the programs that drove those reductions.

But here's the hard truth: the progress we're celebrating today is now at serious risk. The Trump administration is trying to cut the very programs that made this possible. If these rollbacks continue, experts warn we'll be back to record-high levels of homelessness before long.

Read the full press release: https://bit.ly/4uQvtGY

05/29/2026

Mental Health Month is almost over, but the work must continue year-round.

Approximately 23 percent of adults in the United States experience mental illness, yet access to care is increasingly difficult. For our neighbors experiencing homelessness, the barriers to care are increasingly hard to overcome.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4tWnYgv

05/28/2026

As Mental Health Awareness Month wraps up, let's talk about what people experiencing homelessness actually need, and what isn't working.

An estimated 154 million Americans live in a Mental Health Professionals Shortage Area. Forced institutionalization, expanded guardianship, and expensive "campus models" won't fix that shortage.

The solution? Investing in community-based care, funding proven outreach programs, and making it easier for everyone, housed or unhoused, to access the help they want and need.

Read our latest blog to learn more about the mental health care gaps driving homelessness, and the evidence-based solutions that can close them. https://bit.ly/4tWnYgv

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.

05/22/2026

Gender-expansive people in the United States face a disproportionately high risk of homelessness.

When they do seek shelter, they face discrimination and violence; 97% report being verbally harassed and sexually assaulted while homeless or in shelters.

Despite this vulnerability, the Trump administration is threatening the Equal Access Rule, which provides protections for LGBTQ+ people and families in shelter.

Read the report from the Alliance and Advocates for Trans Equality: https://bit.ly/4dnvADW

05/21/2026

Housing First is under fire under President Trump and HUD Secretary Scott Turner. During recent Congressional testimony, Secretary Turner shared his own family member's experience of homelessness. And when he described what worked best to help them exit homelessness, he pointed to veteran homelessness programs that combine housing and supportive services.

There's just one problem: the VA programs he praised before the Senate Appropriations Committee ARE Housing First programs.

Housing First is research-proven, field-supported, and evidence-backed. Repealing and replacing these support systems will not end homelessness; it will make it worse.

05/08/2026

Older adults experiencing homelessness face a compounding crisis, especially when the systems designed to help them don't work together.

Continuums of Care (CoCs) coordinate housing resources. Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) deliver home- and community-based services. Both serve many of the same older adults, but misaligned funding streams, different eligibility criteria, and separate data systems mean people fall through the cracks.

Cross-sector integration is not optional, it’s essential. To support this work, the Alliance and USAging launched “Doors to Housing for Older Adults”, a practical initiative with action guides, training videos, and resources for both homeless response and aging professionals.

Read the blog and explore the full resource library → https://bit.ly/4tS43Am

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.

04/24/2026

"Most medical training focuses on the biology of disease. What it often misses is context -- housing, safety, trauma, access to food, the conditions people must survive long before they ever see a doctor."

Saumya Sao, president of the Stanford Med Outreach Program, brings healthcare to people experiencing homelessness in Santa Clara County, California. Through her work, the fragmented care people are able to receive pushes the lack of housing past just a social issue, calling housing a "medical prerequisite" to health and healing.

Learn how more about how street medicine impacted their understanding of medicine: https://bit.ly/41zzcfl

We cannot treat or prevent disease without understanding our patients' lived environment

04/22/2026

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Join fellow service providers, system leaders, advocates, and people with lived experience of homelessness for the Alliance’s upcoming National Conference on Ending Homelessness and Capitol Hill Day. The conference will take place from July 8-10, 2026 in Washington, D.C., with Capitol Hill Day on July 9.

Registrants will have the opportunity to attend roundtable discussions, plenaries, and workshops focused on emerging issues surrounding homelessness. In addition to regular workshops, the conference will offer a variety of session formats to provide attendees exciting new ways to learn, engage, and foster connections.

Register today: https://bit.ly/4eCoJY0

04/01/2026

BREAKING: The Alliance sued the Trump administration and won – twice.

Two times in two days, federal courts ruled against the Trump Administration's efforts to illegally interfere with federal homelessness programs.

While the cases are separate, the throughlines are similar. HUD demanded that service providers and programs comply with administration policies that had nothing to do with homelessness to receive funding. These stipulations included policies on immigration enforcement, transgender rights, and more.

These rulings are a significant win for the communities we serve, but this is not the end of our litigation. While the first case is resolved, the second case is still active with the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

The Alliance extends its deep gratitude to Democracy Forward, National Homelessness Law Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and ACLU of Rhode Island for its legal representation in this case.

Read the full press release:

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to preventing and ending homelessness in the United States.

03/19/2026

A California shelter pilot program slashed homelessness rates beyond the statewide average by doing one simple thing: allowing pets.

The program’s goal was to accommodate people with pets so that no one had to choose between staying in a shelter or abandoning their companion. Since 2019, the number of people experiencing homelessness alongside their pet has increased, likely because of skyrocketing first-time homelessness caused by rising housing costs.

Learn more about the pet-friendly program from WMNF Community Radio: https://bit.ly/4bnYrH6

More unhoused people become more willing to stay in a shelter if it allows people to keep their pets.