Policy and Planning Efforts

State governments are central to ending homelessness. The policies they implement and planning activities they undertake have profound effects on children experiencing homelessness.

For many of these areas, we examined federal policies that states are primarily responsible for implementing. For example, state governments are the primary route through which federal homelessness and other anti-poverty initiatives are implemented. When appropriately funded, states can pull critical federal dollars into communities, helping to prevent families living in vulnerable situations from plunging into homelessness. These policies can also support and stabilize currently homeless families who are trying to find safe and stable housing.

We also reviewed state planning efforts focused on ending child homelessness and gave consideration to current state policy responses. These planning efforts indicate how states are working to end homelessness. With leadership from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, many states have formed their own interagency councils. Some have engaged in 10-year planning processes that chart a course to end family homelessness in their state. Others have examined the definition of homelessness, making determinations about who is considered “homeless.” At the end of each state planning section, we have classified state planning efforts to end child homelessness into one of four categories: extensive planning, moderate planning, early stages of planning, or inadequate planning. This classification helps states understand how their planning efforts to end child homelessness align with other states.