CEO Corner:
April 8, 2025

Another week has passed by — how did that happen so quickly? In this week’s CEO Corner, I want to focus on a few topics that impact the day-to-day work life for many of our newsletter readers.  

Here’s a quick update of where some key items stand in the homelessness field.  

Federal Funding Requests 

The Alliance is ramping up our efforts with Members of Congress on Capitol Hill, asking for increased funding in FY 2026 to address local needs through both Homeless Assistance Grants Accounts (Continuum of Care and Emergency Solutions Grants). We will also be working with other national partners to support other FY2026 requests, including maintaining Emergency Housing Vouchers.  As our advocacy efforts increase, be on the lookout for materials to keep you informed when talking to your Members of Congress.   

Grant Agreements 

The Alliance continues to receive questions about the new language included in the 2024 CoC Program Grant Agreements. We are working closely with legal experts and other partners to develop guidance for communities on what the new language means for grantees, and how communities can plan to mitigate risk in the future.  

While this guidance will not provide as much information as securing your own legal counsel, our hope is that you will have a greater level of information to help you navigate a path forward. In the meantime, our partners at HomeBase have developed a practical guide (“Managing uncertainty for CoCs and service providers”) that we encourage funding recipients to review. 

Conference Updates 

Even though it feels like we just wrapped up our West Coast conference, Alliance staff is already working on our upcoming National Conference in Washington, D.C. (Registration for the conference opened last week and can be found here). 

While we typically pair the Alliance’s July conference with a Capitol Hill Day, Congress will be on recess that week, making it difficult to conduct meetings with their offices. Therefore, we will not hold an in-person Capitol Hill Day in July. But mark your calendars for a virtual Capitol Hill Day on September 17.  

We recognize that not everyone can travel for an in-person conference, so participating in the virtual Capitol Hill Day can be a way for the entire field to show up and voice our needs. More details to come! 

Staying Prepared  

Our thoughts are with those states grappling with the latest extreme weather, such as tornadoes in Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, and more historic flooding in Kentucky.  

These weather events are an important reminder to forge proactive connections among various organizations in your community. Homeless service organizations, the Continuum of Care, emergency response management, and culturally specific organizations should work together to ensure that people experiencing homelessness are included in any disaster preparedness plan, response, and recovery efforts. With uncertainty about the federal government’s continued support to disaster impacted areas, these connections are more important now than ever.   

Good News 

To close out, I want to share a few “glimmers” that the Alliance team has gathered from our news clips and from discussions with communities. (A glimmer is the opposite of a trigger — moments that create joy and hope. There are a lot of triggers out there for many of us right now, and glimmers are an active and intentional way of countering them.) 

Glimmers serve as a reminder that good work is happening despite the political challenges, and CoCs across the country continue to get people into housing every day. I encourage you to read the glimmers below, and think of the glimmers you may see in your own life and community: 

• In Virginia, the Greater Richmond Continuum of Care recently reported a nearly 30% decrease in unsheltered homelessness from 2024–2025. 

• Officials in Boston, MA just celebrated opening the largest Permanent Supportive Housing site in New England. The community has 202 units, with 140 apartments for people moving out of homelessness and 62 units for income-eligible families. 

• Mecklenburg County, NC transformed a second former hotel into a place to stay for people over the age of 55 who have been experiencing homelessness and have underlying medical conditions. 

• An Oregon judge just temporarily paused the camping ban in Grants Pass, the city at the heart of last year’s Supreme Court case on unsheltered homelessness. 

With all the uncertainty of these past few months, providers have been exceptionally adaptable despite not knowing what is to come. I’m so grateful to work alongside people so committed to ending homelessness across the country, no matter what comes their way. I know it’s a lot to juggle the day-to-day demands of homeless services on top of funding uncertainty. The Alliance continues to advocate for more resources and clarity in this time.  

As a reminder, if there are questions that are coming up in your community or information that you are looking for from the Alliance, please don’t hesitate to reach out and send an email to info@naeh.org with the subject line “FIELD INFO REQUEST.”