The number of people enduring unsheltered homelessness rose in most communities across the country last year. Homelessness response systems are working diligently to rehouse people but they face an uphill climb due to increasing levels of inflow and inadequate resources to address the problem.

In spring 2023, the federal government awarded 32 communities across the country with additional resources to address unsheltered homelessness. Before they began implementing their grants, the Alliance asked 24 representatives of the funded communities about the factors that had been preventing progress on unsheltered homelessness.

For people who work in this field, none of the barriers they named are likely to be surprising. Communities of varying sizes, locations, and geographies face similar underlying challenges. This means that a broad spectrum of communities are likely to benefit from the lessons and insights offered by these grantees; understanding the challenges they faced, and how they chose to act, can help illuminate appropriate action from policymakers and elected officials in other jurisdictions too.

Here’s what they had to say.

No community has enough affordable housing or housing assistance programs to meet the need.

Staff in all 24 jurisdictions cited the lack of affordable and permanent housing as a crucial barrier to tackling unsheltered homelessness.

Homelessness response systems are stretched thin.

Another near-universal concern is staff capacity.

People who are unsheltered need clear pathways to access homeless services.

Street outreach coverage was a barrier among two-thirds of interviewees, although many noted recent steps to address this challenge.

Some places are more challenged by shelter capacity than others.

About half of communities named specific deficiencies in their emergency shelter systems that got in the way of progress. Some rural areas, for example, may not have any shelter available for miles.

Policy and politics can get in the way of solutions that work.

As unsheltered homelessness has received more attention, it has increasingly been seen through a political lens by some elected officials.

What are communities doing to tackle these challenges?

With the new funding, communities had the flexibility to select strategies that fit their local needs and capacity.

Read the full article about unsheltered homelessness by Nicole DuBois at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.