White House and USICH launch initiative to tackle unsheltered homelessness

Key Takeaways

On May 18, the White House and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) launched the ALL INside initiative to address unsheltered homelessness. The initiative is part of the All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness that aims to reduce homelessness 25 percent by 2025.

USICH and 19 federal member agencies will partner with state and local governments for up to two years to strengthen efforts to combat homelessness. Under the initiative, each community will have a dedicated federal official embedded within the community to work with local officials to help accelerate efforts to reduce homelessness. The federal partners will also help cities navigate funding opportunities and identify potential areas for regulatory relief.

USICH selected six communities for the upcoming initiative, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix Metro, Seattle and the state of California. Specific actions include:

• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will provide technical assistance to help communities leverage federal programs like Medicaid to cover and provide housing-related supportive services and behavioral health care;
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration (SSA), and HHS will collaborate to address barriers that people may encounter when obtaining various forms of government-issued identification and other critical documents;
• The U.S. Department of Labor will connect communities with local workforce boards and Job Corps sites to fully leverage local and state government employment opportunities for unsheltered youth;
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide technical assistance to the communities in response to disasters;
• HUD will help communities troubleshoot barriers to connecting people to rental assistance or housing programs, as well as assist communities to use regulatory flexibilities to speed up the processes enabling residents to move into properties and transition into permanent housing.