You Should Give These USICH Resources from 2017 Another Look

Did you know that in 2017, we posted close to 100 new articles, tools, and resources on our website to help you prevent and end homelessness in your community?  We know that’s a lot for you to read and digest, so we’ve picked some of our favorites to give you another chance to take a look.

• Updated Criteria and Benchmarks for Achieving the Goal of Ending Veteran Homelessness as well as a number of case studies from communities on how they achieved the goal.
• Criteria and benchmarks for ending family homelessness and youth homelessness , along with answers to frequently asked questions about the youth criteria. (And don't forget the criteria and benchmark for ending chronic homelessness !)
• Using Homelessness and Housing Needs Data to Tailor and Drive Local Solutions provides an overview of some key data sources, describes what they measure, and highlights how communities can use that range of information to strengthen their efforts to address homelessness, housing instability, and other housing needs. We also published analyses of the 2016 AHAR report , the 2017 PIT count results, and new research on housing affordability .
• You’ve Been Talking, We’ve Been Listening: What We’ve Learned So Far About Strengthening the Federal Strategic Plan reviews stakeholder input so far on revising and strengthening the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness.
• Emerging Strategies for Addressing Racial Inequities in Our Efforts to End Homelessness explores the ways we’ve been deepening our conversations with many in the field about concrete strategies to address racial inequities in our efforts to prevent and end homelessness. We also wrote about using GIS mapping to help address disparities in homelessness assistance .
• Key Considerations for Implementing Emergency Shelter within an Effective Crisis Response System discusses how shelter can divert people from the homelessness service system when possible, foster low-barrier access to emergency services, and serve as a platform for housing access.
• Enhancing Coordinated Entry through Partnerships with Mainstream Resources and Programs is a companion guide for communities to reference while implementing the new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requirements around coordinated entry .
• Ending Homelessness for People Living in Encampments profiles efforts in six communities to create solutions for people living in encampments within their efforts to implement effective and efficient coordinated entry systems.
• Engaging Legal Services in Community Efforts to Prevent and End Homelessness describes ways that engaging and partnering with legal services providers can contribute to communities' efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
• Strategies to Address the Intersection of the Opioid Crisis and Homelessness identifies strategies that communities, providers, and policymakers can use to address the intersection of homelessness and the opioid crisis, and highlights resources developed by federal and national partners to support such efforts, including case studies about successfully connecting people affected by opioid use to housing .
• Advancing an End to Youth Homelessness: Federal and National Initiatives highlights some of the significant efforts underway to end youth homelessness, both among federal agencies and between the government and locally-driven efforts.
• Communicating Effectively About Ending Homelessness and People Experience Homelessness, They Aren’t Defined By It discuss ways to build greater consensus around the need and strategies to end homelessness.
• Questions to Consider Regarding Inclusionary Zoning Policy helps cities and states explore inclusionary zoning as one tool to expand the supply of affordable housing.
• Higher Education Partnerships for Ending Unaccompanied Youth Homelessness features innovative partnerships in two communities to help unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness navigate the transition from high school to higher education.
• Demonstrating the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing for Families in the Child Welfare System profiles the lessons learned from five communities that were awarded five-year demonstration grants by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to test the effectiveness of supportive housing for particularly vulnerable families involved in the child welfare system.

What tools or resources would be helpful for your efforts to end homelessness in 2018? Let us know!