White House Launches New Initiative to Tackle Unsheltered Homelessness
Yesterday , the Administration launched The ALL INside, a first-of-its-kind initiative to address unsheltered homelessness across the country. The following details on the initiative were include in a White House Fact Sheet:
Through the ALL INside initiative, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and its 19 federal member agencies will partner with state and local governments to strengthen and accelerate local efforts to get unsheltered people into homes in six places: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix Metro, Seattle, and the State of California.
To accelerate ongoing efforts by local leaders, the Biden-Harris Administration will offer innovative and tailored support to participating communities for up to two years, including by:
- Embedding a dedicated federal official in each community to accelerate locally-driven strategies and enact system-level changes to reduce unsheltered homelessness;
- Deploying dedicated teams across the federal government to identify opportunities for regulatory relief and flexibilities, navigate federal funding streams, and facilitate a peer learning network across the communities; and
- Convening philanthropy, the private sector, and other communities to identify opportunities for follow-on support and collaboration.
In addition, the Administration will launch new efforts to address major barriers to housing, health care, and other support for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. They include:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will provide technical assistance to help communities leverage federal programs like Medicaid to cover and provide housing-related supportive services and behavioral health care.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration (SSA), and HHS will collaborate to address barriers that people may encounter when obtaining various forms of government-issued identification and other critical documents.
- The SSA will work with the communities and the federal ALL INside team to leverage data-sharing and regulatory flexibilities that can help facilitate access to support services like housing vouchers or Medicaid.
- The U.S. Department of Labor will connect the communities with local workforce boards and Job Corps sites to fully leverage local and state government employment opportunities for unsheltered youth.
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide technical assistance to the communities to facilitate greater operational coordination in response to disasters, which often increase homelessness.
- HUD will help communities troubleshoot barriers to connecting people to rental assistance or housing programs, as well as assist communities to use regulatory flexibilities to speed up the processes enabling residents to move into properties and transition into permanent housing.
Additional USICH member agencies, including AmeriCorps, Department of Agriculture, Department of Justice, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, the General Services Administration, as well as the Department of the Treasury, have also made commitments to support the ALL INside communities.
2023 Innovative Housing Showcase on National Mall
On June 9-11, HUD will host the 2023 Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall. Per HUD’s announcement, “The Showcase will be an open-to-the-public event on the National Mall to raise awareness of innovative and affordable housing designs and technologies that have the potential to increase housing supply, lower the cost of construction, increase energy efficiency and resilience, and reduce housing expenses for owners and renters. Policymakers, housing industry representatives, media, and the public are invited to attend…. The showcase will feature dozens of exhibits, including full-sized, enterable prototype homes, displaying accessible innovative building technologies that address affordability, resilience, and the future of housing. This will be the third iteration of the Showcase on the National Mall…. To complement the Showcase, HUD will live stream several technical sessions on June 8th and June 9th from the National Building Museum. On June 8th, HUD is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy and EMerge Alliance to offer a morning and afternoon broadcast. On June 9th, HUD is collaborating with the International Code Council for an afternoon broadcast.”
“Innovation in housing is a crucial component of our work to increase housing supply and lower costs for American families. The Innovative Housing Showcase will display cutting edge designs from across the building industry—from affordability to resiliency and energy efficiency…I encourage everyone to join us on the National Mall this June to experience the future of housing.” – HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge
A detailed agenda and links to attend some portions virtually will be posted on www.hud.gov/Innovative_Housing .