The past year has been nothing short of challenging, with constant threats to our efforts to prevent and end homelessness coming from those in power at the federal level.
But thanks to persistent and creative advocacy, the homeless services field is defending funding, proven practices, and the very homelessness response infrastructure itself, as well as building the foundations for an even stronger advocacy and organizing response to come.
Because of your commitment, 2025 delivered advocacy wins that will create progress in 2026. Let’s take a look at how we got there, and how to keep building this momentum as the year continues.
The Moment Called and You Answered
There is hope when we all come together and lift our collective voices. Most recently, after months of relentless outreach from thousands of advocates, Congress passed a spending bill for programs funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that includes both increased funding for targeted housing and homelessness programs, as well as critical protections for the Continuum of Care program. This is a testament to our collective efforts.
But in our advocacy work, not all wins look the same.
Defining Success
Progress can be incremental, but we are just getting started. We need to keep pushing for big, bold change to respond with urgency to the crisis of homelessness, and we’re building towards our ideal world one step at a time.
With Congress gridlocked, homelessness an increasingly polarizing issue, and threats from every level of government, we’re still fighting and winning, even if those wins don’t immediately achieve our primary ask.
In the past several months, advocates have successfully kept pressure on policymakers:
- In February 2025, the Administration backtracked from a devastating federal funding freeze after an outpour of concern from people across the country, including from a record number of more than 10,000 advocates in our field.
- Advocates encouraged more than 180 Democratic, Republican and Independent mayors from across the country to sign on to a letter from the U.S. Conference of Mayors that urged Congress to renew all Continuum of Care grants set to expire in 2026. Advocates also urged more than 20 House Republican members to sign onto a similar letter of concern.
- Collectively, this persistence has fostered new relationships with Congressional offices, and has elevated homelessness as a top priority for Congressional offices who have historically supported increased funding and alignment with best practices.
Maintaining Progress in 2026
Advocacy is for everyone, and we need everyone to advocate and educate their decision-makers to make the progress we need to end homelessness. Advocacy can be intimidating, but like most things, the more you do it, the easier it gets. The Alliance will continue to provide tools and trainings to strengthen these efforts.
Together, we’re bringing more partners into this movement, activating allies to take their support to the next level, leveraging lived experience data to support policy asks, and more. We’re putting homelessness at the top of Congress’ policy agenda and coordinating work across communities, states, and the country.
And we’re learning from one another by building on powerful op-eds, creating template letters, and refining arguments and narratives to share with lawmakers. We know there’s so much more to do, but we’re growing together.
Thank You for Keeping in this Fight
This work is heavy, but the success of strong advocacy is a light to see us through these difficult times. The Alliance will be using these blog posts to keep you updated on these threats, wins, and opportunities for us to all grow in our advocacy together.
For starters, please join us for our Monthly Alliance Advocacy Workshop, where we will dive into topics such as organizing meetings with legislators to level up our collective skills.
Until we see you next, thank you. With you by our side, we’re not backing down.
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