The SYSTEM Series

Housing First is at the foundation of an effective, evidence-based community response to ending homelessness. But what does it mean to truly be a Housing First community, and how can systems ensure they’re properly aligned with Housing First principles? The following resources can help.

Housing First Resources

• Housing First Fact Sheet
• Housing First Provider Pledge
• Housing First Community Assessment
• Housing First Infographic
• Rapid Re-Housing Works
• Critical Time Intervention for Rapid Re-Housing

Housing First Tools

• Housing First Assessment Tool (HUD)
• USICH: Housing First Checklist (USICH)
• Homeless System Evaluator Tool (National Alliance to End Homelessness)
• Stella (HUD)
• Rapid Re-Housing Toolkit (National Alliance to End Homelessness)

Housing First Blog Posts

• What Housing First Really Means (Alliance Blog, March 2019)

Housing First Videos

CoC data is a fundamental tool for understanding any homelessness system’s performance. The following resources explore how to best understand and leverage CoC data, to guide decisions on program investments and allocations.

Data Tools

• HUD System Performance Measures Guidance
• HUD HMIS Fact Sheet
• HUD HMIS Data and Technical Standards
• Rapid Re-Housing Performance Benchmarks and Program Standards
• Rapid Re-Housing Performance Evaluation and Improvement Toolkit

Data Resources

• COVID-19 Homeless System Response: Transactional to Transformational: Person-Centered Data Collection (hudexchange.info)
• Homeless System Response: Non-HMIS Data (2022)
• State of Homelessness Report (2024)
• State Solutions to Ending Family Homelessness (2019)
• The Demographic Data Project (2019)
• Reallocating Permanent Supportive Housing (2016)

Data Blog Posts

• Examining Data: Exploring Unsheltered Family Homelessness (Alliance Blog, August 2019)

Racial disparities are present in nearly all homeless service systems, and it is up to CoCs to reduce these disparities and promote equity. CoCs should assess racial disparities in program outcomes, identify barriers to achieving racial equity, and take steps to eliminate these barriers in their systems. This process should include input from people of different races and ethnicities, especially those over-represented in the local homelessness system.

Race Equity Resources

• Alliance Racial Equity Network Toolkit
• HUD CoC Analysis Tool on Race and Ethnicity
• Racial Disparities in Homelessness – Interactive Data Visualization
• Racial Disparities in Homelessness – Data Snapshot

Race Equity Publications

• Fair Housing and Why It Matters to Ending Homelessness (Alliance Blog, April 2024)
• Moving The Needle: Leveraging the CoC Program Competition NOFO for Justice and Equity (Alliance Blog, August 2022)
• Race and Ethnicity: Demographic Data Project (Alliance Research Brief, July 2019)

Unsheltered homelessness is on the rise, especially in West Coast cities. People experiencing unsheltered homelessness are more likely to experience homelessness for a longer period than people who are sheltered. They face unique challenges in accessing housing and services, experience serious physical, mental, and behavioral health challenges, and likely to have ongoing involvement with the criminal justice system. Systems that effectively align their resources around outreach, low-barrier shelter, targeted federal relief, and the appropriate housing programs are best prepared to make meaningful progress towards shelter and housing for those who are unsheltered.

Federal Resources

• ALL IN: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness (USICH)
• Serving Unsheltered People with Severe Service Needs (HUD)
• Homeless System Response: Housing Surges—Special Considerations for Targeting People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness (HUD)

Unsheltered Homelessness Tools

• Critical Time Intervention for Rapid Re-Housing

Unsheltered Homelessness Publications

• Race Equity and Unsheltered Homelessness: What We Learned at Our Conference and Where We Go From Here (Alliance Blog, March 2022)
• Unsheltered Homelessness: Trends, Characteristics, and Homeless Histories (Urban Institute, December 2020)
• Health Conditions Among Unsheltered Adults in the U.S. (California Policy Lab, October 2019)
• To Address Unsheltered Homelessness, Shelter and Housing Must Be Connected(Alliance Blog, July 2018)

The increasing visibility of unsheltered homelessness has prompted some communities to expand the criminalization of homelessness. A combination of emerging strategies and effective best practices are central to helping systems overcome harmful policies, reduce and reshape police interactions with unhoused people, and stop the cycle of fines, citations, and arrests associated with being homeless.

Criminalization Resources

• Criminalization Resources (National Homelessness Law Center)

Criminalization Publications

• Take a Stand Against the Criminalization of Homelessness (Alliance Blog, February 2023)
• Is Being Homeless a Crime? (Alliance Blog, June 2021)
• No Access to Justice: Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness and Jail (Vera.org, August 2020)

Criminalization Videos

The process of incorporating insights and feedback from people with lived experience is essential to effective system design. But meaningful input means much more than sporadic focus groups or token gestures. Learn how systems can re-center their strategies around the needs and perspectives of the people they serve.

Lived Experience Resources

• Homeless System Response: Paying People with Lived Experience and Expertise (HUD)
• The Value of Lived Experience in the Work to End Homelessness (USICH)
• Beyond Mere Principle: Strategies for Truly Partnering with People Who Have the Lived Experience in Our Work (USICH)
• Integrating Persons with Lived Experiences in our Efforts to Prevent and End Homelessness (HUD)
• Equity Means Engaging People with Lived Experience (Alliance Blog, February 2024)

No system can go it alone. But collaborative, accountable partnerships between homelessness systems and those in the housing, health, and other human service sectors make it possible to work faster, smarter, and to make the greatest impact on ending homelessness in a community.

Housing Partnership Resources

• What Can (and Can’t) Local Government Do to Address Homelessness? (Alliance Blog, January 2023)
• Exploring the Potential Impacts of COVID-19 Emergency Housing Resources – Interactive Tool
• Using EHVs to Get People Housed: Focus Group Discussions on Challenges and Current Strategies (Alliance Research Brief, April 2022)
• What Happened After Congress Invested in Emergency Housing Vouchers: A Survey of Homeless Services Providers (Alliance Research Brief, December 2021)

Health Partnership Resources

• Expanding Options for Health Care Within Homelessness Services: CoC Partnerships with Medical Respite Care Programs (The Framework for an Equitable Homelessness Response, January 2022)
• Strengthening Partnerships for Better Health Outcomes During COVID-19 (The Framework for an Equitable Homelessness Response, January 2021)

The availability of affordable housing allows homelessness systems to operate more effectively. CoCs play a critical role in educating local leaders and stakeholders on this need and about the consequences of the continued lack of affordable housing. CoCs should communicate with jurisdiction leaders, including for the development of Consolidated Plans, about the harmful effects of the lack of affordable housing, and they should engage local leaders about steps such as zoning and land use reform that would increase the supply of affordable housing.

Affordable Housing Resources

• Focusing on Solutions: The Supreme Court and Housing Justice (Alliance blog, May 2024)
• How CoCs Can Engage Local Leaders on Affordable Housing (Alliance blog, August 2022)
• Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing (HUD)
• New Housing in High-Productivity Metropolitan Areas: Encouraging Production (HUD)

People in the LGBTQ community face homelessness at disproportionate rates, and can be discriminated against when seeking shelter or housing. CoCs should implement and train providers on anti-discrimination specific to the LGBTQ community, as well as develop and/or update anti-discrimination policies at both the CoC and provider levels.

Anti-Discrimination for LGBTQ Blogs

• Housing for LGBTQ+ Older People (Alliance Guest blog, May 2023)
• Intersectionality and Homelessness: We Need to Take a Deeper Dive (Alliance blog, February 2023)
• Improving Assistance to LGBTQ+ Individuals (Alliance blog, August 2022)

Anti-Discrimination for LGBTQ Resources

• Equal Access Agency Assessment Tool (HUD)
• HUD’s Equal Access Rule
• Federal Data Demonstrates the Need for Safe, Supportive, and Specific Housing for Gender-Expansive People
• Transgender Homeless Adults & Unsheltered Homelessness: What the Data Tell Us

Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHE) are encouraged to review for information on how to engage in CoC activities and apply for funding. This would apply to Tribes or Tribally Designated Housing Entities who either completed the FY 2023 CoC Program Registration as a Collaborative Applicant, provided a Tribal Resolution authorizing a CoC to include trust land or reservation, or are considering future participation in the CoC program.

TDHE Resources

• Program Participation: Decision-Making Approach – CoC Program Resources for Tribal Communities (hudexchange.info)
• Connecting Community Activities and Program Activities – CoC Program Resources for Tribal Communities (hudexchange.info)
• Program Recipient and CoC Roles – CoC Program Resources for Tribal Communities (hudexchange.info)
• Determining the Amount of Available Funds – CoC Program Resources for Tribal Communities (hudexchange.info)
• CoC Program Participation Decision and Assessment – CoC Program Resources for Tribal Communities (hudexchange.info)
• Continuing the CoC Program Paths – CoC Program Resources for Tribal Communities (hudexchange.info)