Explainer: What is a Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness?
In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness released A Plan, Not a Dream: How to End Homelessness in Ten Years. Drawing on research and innovative programs from around the country, the plan outlined key strategies in addressing the issue locally, which cumulatively can address the issue nationally. Since the release of this blueprint, over 300 communities have undertaken efforts to end homelessness and over 180 communities have completed plans to end homelessness.

Explainer: What is a Continuum of Care?
This resource that details the necessary parts of a Continuum of Care (CoC) and how to plan a CoC. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development began to require communities to submit a single application for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants in 1995. In 2006, there were 476 CoCs.

Explainer: Why is Homelessness an Important Issue?
This document provides statistics on the prevalence of homelessness and describes what is being done local and nationally to end homelessness.

Fact Checker: Youth Homelessness
Youth homelessness is disturbingly common. Although the prevalence of youth homelessness is difficult to measure, researchers estimate that about 5 to 7.7 percent of youth experience homelessness each year.

Fact Checker: Affordable Housing Shortage
As incomes fail to keep pace with housing costs, Americans face complicated choices: desperately trying to put food on the table, pay for quality healthcare, educate their children, and keep a roof over their head. Those that cannot manage that balancing act become homeless or live on the periphery.

Fact Checker: Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is the immediate cause of homelessness for many women and children. In November 2006, over 22,000 victims of domestic violence—12,000 children and 10,000 adults—received housing services from 1,243 domestic violence service providers.

Fact Checker: Chronic Homelessness
Although chronic homelessness represents a small share of the overall homeless population, chronically homeless people use up more than 50 percent of the services. The most successful model for housing people who experience chronic homelessness is permanent supportive housing using a Housing First approach.

Fact Checker: Rural Homelessness
The number of people who experience rural homelessness is unknown, but the last national count of homeless people found that 9 percent live in rural areas. The same structural factors that contribute to urban homelessness— lack of affordable housing and inadequate income—also lead to rural homelessness. One of the most important strategies in ending rural homelessness is prevention.

Fact Checker: Family Homelessness
Every year 600,000 families with 1.35 million children experience homelessness in the United States, making up about 50 percent of the homeless population over the course of the year. This fact sheet examines the causes and demographics of family homelessness and the programs and policies that are making progress in ending family homelessness.

Fact Checker: Veterans and Homelessness
Counting the number of homeless veterans and determining the causes of homelessness for veterans are difficult tasks. This fact sheet examines these questions and programs and policies in place to assist homeless veterans.

Explainer: How Much Does the Federal Government Spend on Homelessness?
Answering the question about how much the federal government spends on homelessness should be as simple as summing the total expenditures for homeless assistance programs. Homeless programs, however, do not fit neatly into one federal agency; instead they are spread across several, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Education (ED), and the Department of Labor (DOL).