As required by last year's HEARTH Act, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness is working on a federal strategic plan to end homelessness. We at NPACH remain mindful of the fact that a plan is not a home - we continue to be skeptical that our government can plan our way to ending homelessness. Instead, we would rather see efforts focused on building support for funding key interventions that we already know are successful at ending homelessness.
But since the Council is preparing a plan, NPACH submitted these comments. In our comments we urge the Council to move away from rigid one size fits all typologies of homelessness that require fixed and unchanging interventions, and instead move towards recognizing that every individual or family experiencing homelessness needs a flexible and customizable package of housing and supportive services.
We are also pleased to highlight the comments of a number of key allies.
NAEHCY comments - homeless families
NAEHCY comments - homeless youth
NCHCW comments - youth aging out of foster care