Strategic Opportunity #4

Strategic Opportunity #4

Addressing Homelessness

USDA Center for Faith

April 16, 2025

 

Background

Homelessness is a complex, multifaceted issue, characterized by the lack of stable, safe, and adequate housing, resulting in forcing millions of people across the world to live in places not meant for human habitation, such as streets, abandoned buildings, or temporary shelters.

The causes of homelessness are varied and can be attributed to social, economic, and political factors. Addressing homelessness requires a holistic understanding of these factors, along with a commitment to solutions that go beyond just providing housing.

According to the 2024 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of individuals experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024 reached an all-time high.

A total of 771,480 people – approximately 23 out of every 10,000 individuals in the United States – were found to be homeless, whether residing in emergency shelters, safe havens, transitional housing programs, or living in unsheltered locations across the country.

According to a Public Health Reports meta-analysis of 3398 unique articles and 40 studies, over 57% of people experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness were also food insecure, which is more than 4 times higher than the food insecurity rate in the general U.S. population.

USDA Center for Faith

The USDA Center for Faith has a unique opportunity to connect large philanthropic organizations and the government sector to deep-rooted faith groups that share a common commitment to service to facilitate a greater response to the nation’s escalating homelessness crisis.
[Why is homelessness escalating?]

Faith-based partners are important when working to help the homeless for several key reasons:

• Established Trust and Relationships: Many faith-based organizations have longstanding relationships with communities and individuals in need, making them trusted partners, which can be crucial in engaging homeless individuals who may be wary of traditional institutions or services.
  [Where is the fruit of the faith based?]
• Holistic Support: Faith-based organizations often provide more than just material support (like food and shelter); they also offer emotional, spiritual, and psychological care, addressing the complex needs of homeless individuals. [Where are the results?]
• Wide Reach and Network: Faith-based organizations frequently have extensive volunteer networks and connections within local communities, allowing them to mobilize resources quickly and effectively. They can leverage their networks for donations, volunteer efforts, and outreach.
• Non-judgmental Approach: Many faith-based organizations approach homelessness with compassion and without judgment, focusing on the dignity of individuals, which can help break down barriers for people who have faced stigma or discrimination.
• Long-term Commitment: Faith-based partners often focus on long-term recovery, not just temporary relief.Their approach often includes a commitment to long-term solutions, such as housing programs, addiction recovery, job training, and spiritual healing.
  [Where is the fruit of this?]
• Advocacy and Awareness: Faith communities are often strong advocates for social justice and may have platforms to raise awareness about homelessness, influencing public opinion and policy change. [Where is the fruit of this?]
• Resource Access: Faith-based organizations may have access to unique resources like donations, community support, and government or charitable grants that can be vital for funding homeless services and programs. [dead end]

USDA Center for Faith and Homelessness

In an effort to engage citizens, professionals, and community organizations in addressing homelessness, we propose a series of activities focused on how USDA can support this intractable problem and challenge.

USDA will explore its programs that can support this community, particularly in regard to food security, as well as rural housing. The Center will collaborate internally with agencies to develop outreach resources to support organizations with USDA programs and technical assistance, will participate in convenings hosted by partners in this space, and develop pilot or strategic initiative to highlight this important issue.

As an initial step, the USDA Center for Faith proposes hosting a webinar series to highlight best practices, address needs and challenges, and dialogue with key actors in the sector.

These sessions will focus on various aspects of homelessness and food insecurity, including its causes, social impacts, and potential solutions.

The webinars will also provide a platform for sharing successful case studies, current resources available to individuals’ experiencing homelessness, and ways the community can get involved in local efforts to sustain long term commitments to combat homelessness and interrelated food insecurity.

Proposed webinar topics could include:

• Key Partners and Resources Roundtable
• Understanding Homelessness or Transitional Living Urban and Rural Areas: Causes and Consequences
• The Housing First Model: A Pathway Out of Homelessness
• Food Insecurity and Affordable Housing Solutions: What Governments, Faith-based Organizations and Communities Can Do
• Support Services for Long-Term Success of Homeless Individuals: Mental Health, Addiction, and Job Training

Appendix
The following partners are participating in the events, playing various co-host and sponsoring roles across the program that will be detailed further.

• National Alliance to End Homelessness: The National Alliance to End Homelessness coordinates the federal response to homelessness across government and provides leadership for activities to assist homeless families and individuals with the goal of preventing and ending homelessness in the nation. The Housing First is a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, thus ending their homelessness and serving as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals and improve their quality of life.
• National Low Income Housing Coalition: Founded in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, NLIHC educates, organizes, and advocates to ensure decent, affordable housing for everyone. Our goals are to preserve existing federally assisted homes and housing resources, expand the supply of low-income housing, and establish housing stability as the primary purpose of federal low-income housing policy. NLIHC’s staff teams work together to achieve our advocacy goals. Our research team studies trends and analyzes data to create a picture of the need for low-income housing across the country.The policy team educates lawmakers about housing needs and analyzes and shapes public policy. Our field team mobilizes members and supporters across the country to advocate for good housing policy.Our communications team shapes public opinion about low-income housing issues, and our administration team works to ensure that NLIHC remains a sustainable, high-capacity organization.
• The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness: USICH was originally authorized by Congress through Title II of the landmark Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 to serve as an independent establishment in the executive branch.The agency was most recently reauthorized by the 2009 Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act.The mission of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) is “to coordinate the federal response to homelessness and to create a national partnership at every level of government and with the private sector to reduce and end homelessness in the nation while maximizing the effectiveness of the federal government in contributing to the end of homelessness. [Why wasn’t this implemented, considering the 1999 Resolutions]
• Catholic Charities: Catholic Charities USA was founded more than a century ago by women and men who believed that the collective efforts of the church to faithfully serve people in need could change the course of poverty in our nation.Having a safe, affordable home is fundamental to well-being. Explore some of the initiatives of Catholic Charities agencies across the country as they find creative, workable solutions to the shortage of affordable housing units and the nation’s homelessness crisis.
• Zakat Foundation of America: We help Muslims, and the charitable of every conviction, take the steep road — to carry out their Zakat and charity duties easily, correctly, and with maximum humanitarian impact by delivering their aid personally, swiftly and with dignity to the direly needful of our world — the poor, the destitute, the hungry, the thirsty, the stricken, the war-ravaged, the bereaved, and the dislocated.
• Lutheran Services in America: Lutheran Services in America’s Housing Solutions Collaborative is a national initiative to increase access to affordable and stable housing for the one in 50 people in America served by Lutheran Services in America.With more than 20 leading nonprofit organizations working across 25 U.S. states and Washington D.C., the initiative addresses systemic barriers to affordable housing for people who need it most, including people with disabilities, older adults and families experiencing poverty, refugee communities, and more.
• MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national organization fighting to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United States and Israel.
• The Met Council: Met Council is America’s largest Jewish charity dedicated to fighting poverty. Met Council’s ten different departments are staffed by experts who helped over 325,000 clients in 2023 and continuously advocate on behalf of all needy New Yorkers.Our holistic programs range from 100% affordable housing at 20 locations to our award-winning family violence program to comprehensive Holocaust survivor assistance to senior programming to crisis intervention to the largest free kosher food distribution program in the world.Our network of 101 food pantries, 20 affordable housing sites, and 15 JCCs provide services directly in neighborhoods across New York.