Resource Type: Policy Information
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Opioid Abuse and Homelessness
The issue of opioid abuse has risen to a level of national crisis as the number of people abusing prescription drugs and heroin has dramatically risen, and the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths has tripled since 2000.2 In 2014, an estimated 2.5 million people had opioid-use disorders (OUD) involving prescription drug or heroin abuse, and…
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Homelessness: A State of Emergency
In 2015, largely due to increases in their unsheltered homeless population, three communities, Seattle/King County, WA, Portland, OR, and the State of Hawaii officially declared a homelessness state of emergency (SOE); Los Angeles has also stated its intent to declare. This brief will describe the homelessness SOEs that have been declared since October 2015, note…
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Rapid Re-Housing: A History and Core Components
This resource provides a brief overview of the history and effectiveness of rapid re-housing and provides context for the Alliance’s “Core Components of Rapid Re-Housing” resource, which the Alliance developed in collaboration with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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What is a Point-in-Time Count?
This resource describes the “point-in-time counts” – the regular count of people experiencing homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities to submit these counts as part of their application for federal homeless assistance funds.
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Changes in the HUD Definition of “Homeless”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a final regulation to implement changes to the definition of homelessness contained in the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. The new definition is outlined here.
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Rural Homelessness
The number of people who experience rural homelessness is unknown, but the last national count of homeless people found that 9 percent live in rural areas. The same structural factors that contribute to urban homelessness—lack of affordable housing and inadequate income—also lead to rural homelessness. One of the most important strategies in ending rural homelessness…
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What is a Continuum of Care?
This resource explains what a Continuum of Care is, as well as details the necessary parts of a Continuum of Care (CoC) and how to plan a CoC. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development began to require communities to submit a single application for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants in 1995. In 2009, there…
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HEARTH Act Section-by-Section Analysis
This document provides a section-by-section analysis of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act signed into law in May 2009.
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Summary of HEARTH Act
This brief provides a detailed overview of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act that was included in the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which was signed into law on May 20, 2009 by President Obama. The document explains the legislation's background, provides details on its provisions, and discusses the…