Unsheltered homelessness is on the rise and will continue to increase unless federal, state, and local governments make unprecedented investments in housing assistance. People forced to sleep outside often have negative interactions with police, including encampment sweeps, citations, arrests, and incarceration. Addressing homelessness through law enforcement does not work.

People forced to endure unsheltered homelessness are often trapped in a homelessness-jail cycle, rotating in and out of jails, shelters, emergency rooms, detoxification facilities, and other emergency services. This cycle is costly and ineffective for community budgets that fund public services, and it fails to give people experiencing homelessness the help they need.

We’re elevating evidence-based strategies—rooted in the Housing First approach—that can help communities disrupt the status quo and more effectively address unsheltered homelessness, house people, and break the homelessness-jail cycle.

New resources

• Working Paper: Ending and Preventing Homelessness and Evictions
• Five Ways to Address Unsheltered Homelessness, No Matter How SCOTUS Rules on Grants Pass v. Johnson
• Policing Doesn’t End Homelessness. Supportive Housing Does.
• Understanding Denver’s STAR Program: Alternative Crisis Response in Denver

• Alternatives to Arrests and Police Responses to Homelessness

• Five Charts That Explain the Homelessness-Jail Cycle—and How to Break It

• Addressing Chronic Homelessness through Policing Isn't Working. Housing First Strategies Are a Better Way

• Why Communities Should Prioritize Rapid Re-housing for People Forced to Live Outside

• Three Ways Communities Can Promote Inclusive Public Space and Better Support People Forced to Live Outside

Previous work

• How Much Do You Know about Homelessness in America?
• Homelessness Is Solvable, But Only with Sufficient Investment in Housing
• Housing First Is Still the Best Approach to Ending Homelessness

• Denver Supportive Housing Social Impact Bond Initiative

• Starting with Stability: How Denver Is Breaking the Homelessness-Jail Cycle

• Why Homeless Encampment Sweeps Are Dangerous during COVID-19

• Housing First Is Working in Denver. The City Needs More of It.

• We Can End Homelessness through Housing First Interventions

• The First Step Toward Breaking the Homelessness-Jail Cycle

Researchers

Samantha Batko, Senior Fellow
Sarah Gillespie, Associate Vice President  
Pear Moraras, Research Associate
Alyse Oneto, Senior Research Associate
Maureen Sarver, Senior Research Associate

Policy staff

Alex Berger, Senior Federal Affairs Advisor

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

 Photo by Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images