USICH Releases First-Ever Federal Homelessness Prevention Framework
Today, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) formally adopted and released Ending Homelessness Before It Starts: A Federal Homelessness Prevention Framework, as well as launched a new series spotlighting local and federal efforts to prevent homelessness.
The framework—which was informed by people with lived experience of homelessness—was developed with multiple federal agencies and formally adopted by agency leaders during today’s USICH meeting that included White House Cabinet members from the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture. It is an actionable guide intended for a wide range of partners, including local, tribal, and state governments; nonprofits, funders, systems, providers, and advocates of housing, health, human services, justice, education, employment, child welfare, and emergency services.
“We end homelessness every day for thousands of people. But for every person housed, more lose their home,” said USICH Director Jeff Olivet. “To make progress toward ending homelessness as we know it, we must close this revolving door and stop homelessness before it starts. To do that, USICH urges communities to work together across systems and sectors, using this prevention framework and our new homelessness prevention spotlight series, to keep people from ever experiencing the trauma of living without a home.”
“Homelessness can be deadly—but it is also preventable. During the pandemic, we saw the benefits of investing more in housing, health care, and other systems that prevent people from losing homes,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, who chairs USICH and led today's meeting. “During the worst of the pandemic, these nationwide efforts prevented millions of evictions and helped prevent a massive rise in homelessness (2020-2022). The federal homelessness prevention framework builds on what we learned to help communities keep people in their homes.”
The framework:
- Details steps for developing a community-wide, cross-system approach to homelessness prevention
- Defines categories of homelessness prevention
- Shares promising practices for homelessness prevention programs
- Lists federal resources that can be used for homelessness prevention
In addition to the framework, USICH published the first spotlight in a blog series on specific methods of homelessness prevention—such as guaranteed basic income and eviction prevention—with a focus on specific populations (youth, families, older adults, and people involved in the justice system). To inform the spotlights, USICH collected emerging best practices from communities that are working to prevent homelessness.
Visit usich.gov/prevention to read the framework and blog series.