Scale what works: Support and increase funding for existing federal programs that have been proven effective, including making Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) available to all eligible households, supporting Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Grants, Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), HOME Investments Partnerships Program (HOME), Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement Program (Manufactured Housing Program), Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing Program (PRO Housing), and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), including increasing the public services cap and permanent authorization of the CDBG-Disaster Response program.
Build on the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) model by creating a comprehensive HUD-HHS program to help families and individuals experiencing homelessness who have behavioral health, mental health or substance abuse issues, or other barriers to assistance. In addition, permanently authorize the HUD-VASH program.
Support increased resources for working families and funding that helps our aging and elderly homeless, which a University of Pennsylvania study forecasts will nearly triple by 2030, as well as interim housing solutions that aid our unsheltered homeless.
Support additional vouchers for special populations to ensure families, individuals with disabilities, low- income youths, and other residents experiencing homelessness can receive housing.
Treat housing as infrastructure: Expand tools and financing to stimulate private market production of affordable housing for working and low-income families. Provide increased incentives for affordable and attainable housing construction near concentrated employment centers and transit hubs. Reduce the 50% test for tax-exempt bonds to 25% for LIHTC-funded projects. Work to increase investment in down-payment assistance and produce more affordable housing available for purchase.
Stop homelessness before it happens: Invest in cost-effective strategies to prevent housing- insecure families from becoming homeless in the first place. Expand recent successful efforts, like the existing Emergency Rental Assistance Program, into a permanent stabilizing fund to provide one-time, short-term emergency housing assistance to very low-income households that lack any cushion when facing a housing emergency. Invest in prevention and stabilization up front – including mental health and substance abuse treatment, with an increased focus on resources to address the fentanyl and methamphetamine crisis.
Cut red tape: Streamline and allow more local flexibility in existing federal housing programs to make these programs more effective. Urge HUD to consider changes to their regulations that would make resource allocation more effective, provide flexibility in funding innovative housing and shelter models, improve our ability to utilize private market housing, and reduce local inefficiencies created by incompatible federal practices.
Increase flexibility to allow more project-based Section 8 HCVs and HOME funds to be used as capitalized operating subsidies for affordable housing. Streamline environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to expedite homeless and affordable housing development.
Invest in new ideas: Create a Housing Innovation Fund that encourages new funding for innovative affordable housing models and innovative building techniques that support the development of collaborative, cross-sector projects in local communities to address homelessness and affordable housing challenges, such as the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, non-congregate transitional shelter villages, safe parking sites, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), panelized modular structures, and innovative regional housing solutions.
Expand community resiliency: Homeless residents are not eligible for assistance under current FEMA standards, exacerbating the challenges homeless populations experience when faced with disasters and their larger community is in crisis. Urge HUD and FEMA to prioritize accessibility and scalability of non-traditional, non-congregate housing solutions for residents that are already ineligible for FEMA assistance in disaster-prone areas.
Improve data collection: Urge HUD to update its methodology, data and techniques for calculating Fair Market Rents (FMRs), which establish the maximum monthly subsidy that a public housing authority can pay for an assisted family, to accurately reflect actual market rents. Currently, FMRs are often set below actual rents and do not account for local variations.
Prioritize investments in high-quality, real-time data systems to equip local leaders with the information necessary to drive measurable reductions in homelessness. The federal government should enhance the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to support real-time tracking of homelessness outcomes, system performance, program access, and the number of people experiencing homelessness at any given time. Emphasis should be placed on integrating data standards that enable communities to assess progress toward achieving reductions in actively homeless populations and improving equitable access to services.
Request that HUD reclassify safe parking and safe sleeping sites as shelters under future Point-in- Time (PIT) counts to reflect new approaches taken to address unsheltered homelessness.
Build local capacity: Provide resources to strengthen local, skilled, organizations that ensure the effective and efficient deployment of available federal resources to help local governments reach their most vulnerable citizens.