The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign is calling for an ambitious federal response to the nation's housing affordability crisis. In a new report, the campaign identifies three essential long-term policy strategies for Congress to act upon:
Dramatically expanding rental assistance.
Dramatically expanding the supply of housing affordable to the lowest-income renters.
Creating a new national program that provides temporary financial assistance to help cover rent for households experiencing unexpected economic shocks.
The report also calls on Congress to immediately enact short-terms measures, such as creating 500,000 "Opportunity Vouchers" to help families with young children access high-opportunity neighborhoods, and increasing annual funding for the national Housing Trust Fund to $3.5 billion.
A new resource from HUD draws on PIT Count and American Community Survey data to help CoCs identify racial disparities among people experiencing homelessness in their communities. Among the tool's features is a discussion guide to help CoCs evaluate results and better recognize racial and ethnic bias that may exist in systems and services.
In a new roundtable discussion, Urban Institute convenes experts to address where the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program fits within other interventions for veterans, how it has been used most effectively to date, and some of the challenges facing the program in high-cost rental markets.
Thanks to the leadership of innovative youth RRH providers and the advocacy of young people themselves, communities are embracing Housing First and rapid re-housing (RRH) to end youth homelessness. Since 2014, federal funding for youth RRH has increased by a factor of 20.
