USICH Fact Sheet for Congress

Last updated on June 28, 2022

Who We Are: 

USICH is the only federal agency solely dedicated to ending homelessness. We set and coordinate U.S. homelessness policy, primarily through the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, and we work with state and local communities to end homelessness. The council has the collective power of 19 federal agencies.

USICH Leadership: Executive Director Jeff Olivet

Council Leadership: HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge (Chair) and VA Secretary Denis McDonough (Vice Chair)

Our Impact:

In the decade since we released our first federal strategic plan, homelessness dropped roughly 10% overall, 50% among veterans, and 30% among families, according to the annual Point-in-Time count. National and local leaders credit USICH with increasing collaboration—especially among previously unengaged stakeholders—and helping them effectively and efficiently use existing resources. According to one stakeholder, without USICH, “the sense of a shared vision would weaken, as would the momentum to tackle the difficult work ahead.”

Solutions:

1. Housing and Services
2. Crisis Response
3. Prevention 
4. Equity
5. Data and Evidence
6. Collaboration

­­­­­­­­What We Believe:

1. Housing is a human right.
2. Housing is health care.
3. We must acknowledge and eliminate systemic racism and the racial disparities it has created. 
4. Data and evidence are the basis for effective policymaking. 
5. People who have experienced homelessness should be in positions of power to shape policy. 
6. We can prevent homelessness before it starts.
7. Housing and services are critical to ending homelessness. 
8. The federal government has a duty to listen to local needs and support local innovation. 
9. We will end homelessness by fixing systems—not blaming the people being failed by them.   

Stay Connected:

1. Congressional Point of Contact: sarmat.chowdhury@usich.gov
2. Regional Coordinators
3. Newsletter
4. Twitter
5. LinkedIn
6. Facebook