Homelessness Policy Watch

California's audit report defines essential terms for tracking homelessness programs and data systems:

• Cal ICH: California Interagency Council on...

New Jersey's homelessness rose 70% from 2021-2025, yet it spends less on services than four of five peer states.

• Funding comparison: Massachusetts...

Local counts reveal sharply different 2026 trends, underscoring why strategies must fit each community's conditions.

• Culver City raw count fell 30%...

Louisiana's Act 788 bans public camping and sleeping with penalties up to $500 and six months jail, while letting judges create homelessness courts...

• Smaller-city funding priority: AB 1708 requires CoCs to give smaller jurisdictions first access to $500M HHAP Round 7 grants, needing compliant...

Culver City recorded a 30% drop in homelessness, from 105 people in 2025 to 74 in 2026, including a 25% decline in unsheltered cases and a 69%...

Portland's Joint Office of Homeless Services calls for a systematic, data-informed process to analyze shelter needs, inventory, and gaps.

Key...

Two federal lawsuits are set to determine whether LAHSA can compete for up to $241 million in HUD grants this year.

• LAHSA's suspension from the...

St. Paul emergency shelters are already at maximum capacity with no room to expand ahead of the August 5 encampment clearing deadline. Model Cities'...

• Milestone reached: Unity House opens as first permanent facility on the Community Care Campus, offering 29 family units with childcare, healthcare,...

Oregon’s expanded tuition waiver is proving a lifeline for students who experienced homelessness, covering gaps after other aid and enabling nearly...

Where will people go after St. Paul clears its largest encampments?

• Minneapolis and St. Paul have cleared camps for years, yet no viable housing...

The Doe Fund's Ready, Willing, and Able program shows how combining housing, employment, and support helps people exit homelessness.

• Over 130...

Washington shifted from crisis response to prevention after 2015, creating the Office of Homeless Youth and passing the Homeless Youth Prevention and...

Trump's executive order shifts federal policy toward mandatory treatment and civil commitment, prioritizing funding for states that adopt stricter...

Binghamton’s two-day workshop on the Direct To Housing strategy signals smaller cities embracing rapid, site-by-site re-housing for unsheltered...

A new Avenues for Youth facility in north Minneapolis provides 20 shelter beds, 2 emergency beds, and 8 apartments specifically for youth ages 16-24,...

Dane County's new men's shelter opens next month with funding secured for its first year of 24/7 operations, yet long-term viability depends on raising a $20 million endowment to prevent future cutbacks.

The same federal disruptions at HUD are throttling new homelessness grants across regions.

• Pennsylvania saw new federal grants plummet 98% to just...

• Durham cleared Oakwood Park encampment by offering all 18 residents hotel rooms at $60–$80 nightly via federal and county funds, with case...