Policy: Planning

What We Know about Planning

• 42 states have established interagency councils on homelessness, but many are inactive or in the early stages of formation.
• Only 6 states have done extensive planning focused on ending homelessness for children and families.
• 24 states have done little or no planning to end homelessness for children and families.

Over the past decade, federal, state and local governments have begun to plan activities to address and end homelessness. At the federal level, these efforts have largely focused on single adults who are chronically homeless, often to the exclusion of families and children. Policies that pit one subgroup against another are counterproductive for everyone. The needs of single adults who are chronically homeless are complex and urgent. The needs of families with children without homes are also urgent. Current policy has constrained communities’ efforts to address and prevent homelessness among children and their families. It is imperative that more resources be poured into solutions to end homelessness and that policy makers shield children and families from the consequences of these difficult choices. However, during an economic recession when resources are scarce, dollars should at least be repurposed and spent efficiently on high priority issues.

When considering state planning efforts, we concentrated specifically on state efforts to end child homelessness. We also highlight 14 states that have developed initiatives to address child poverty.

State Interagency Efforts

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (U.S. ICH) encouraged states to develop their own interagency councils based on the federal model. These councils were to include representation from state agencies responsible for income support, health care, behavioral health, human services, veterans, corrections, transportation, education, and labor. A report by the U.S. Senate stated that it expected “the primary activity of the ICH to be the development of a comprehensive federal approach to end homelessness, [with an understanding that] homelessness is affected by factors that cut across federal agencies, including housing costs, job readiness, education, substance abuse, and mental health.”¹⁴⁰ Similarly, the state ICHs are intended to provide cross-agency leadership in coordinating the state’s response to homelessness. As per federal leadership, some ICHs chose to focus exclusively on chronic homelessness among single adults. Others have embraced the need to develop and implement solutions to end family homelessness as well.

Forty-two states have established interagency councils on homelessness. Roughly 22 of these councils are active, while four are in the early planning stages. The remaining 16 seem to be established, but inactive.

10-Year Planning Processes

The U.S. ICH and others have also encouraged states to engage in a 10-year planning process to end homelessness in their state. This process includes bringing together a wide group of stakeholders (e.g., non-profit, government, and private agencies) to develop goals, strategies, and objectives to end homelessness.¹⁴¹ We examined these 10-year plans to determine the extent to which children and families were included. Only 22 states have 10-year plans. All but one of these mention children and families.

Planning Classification

We classified each state into one of four categories based on their planning efforts to end child homelessness.

• Extensive Planning indicates that the state has an active Interagency Council on Homelessness and has created a comprehensive 10-year plan to end homelessness that includes a focus on children and families.
• Moderate Planning indicates that the state has an Interagency Council on Homelessness and has created a 10-year plan to end homelessness that includes some mention of children and families.
• Early Stages of Planning indicates that the state has recently established an Interagency Council on Homelessness and therefore has not created a 10-year plan to end homelessness.
• Inadequate Planning indicates that the state has not created an Interagency Council on Homelessness, has an Interagency Council on Homelessness that has made little progress in planning, or has drafted a plan that has not been adopted by any agency or is inactive for other reasons. It also indicates that the state’s 10-year plan, if they have one, does not mention children or families.

Only six states have done extensive planning to end child homelessness: Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, and Washington. These states can serve as models for states that have just begun the process or have not yet started.

Sixteen states have engaged in moderate planning efforts, mentioning children and families in their 10-year plans, but lacking the concrete goals and objectives that will ultimately help to end homelessness among children. These states are Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Utah.

Four states are in the early stages of planning and have not yet determined critical directions and key strategies. The findings in this Report Card may help inform their work. These states are Colorado, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia.

The remaining 24 states have done little or no planning to end homelessness for children and families. Among these are Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas – all of which have some of the highest rates of child homelessness in the country.