Federal Priorities to Address Homelessness as a Community Health Problem

Homelessness is a major public health problem across communities in the United States. This commentary reviews required Learning Agendas of all 24 US federal agencies for items related to homelessness and housing instability covering the years 2022-2026. Across 7 federal agencies (Departments of Agriculture; Homeland Security; Labor; Health and Human Services; Housing and Urban Development; Treasury; Veterans Affairs) and 2 cross-government plans (American Rescue Plan Equity; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Equity), there is a stated focus on homelessness and housing instability. These federal priorities seek to address homelessness and housing instability in families, Native American communities, unsheltered individuals, veterans, and sexual and gender minority individuals. Several agencies also have a stated focus on evaluating the impact of housing assistance and other supports provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings reflect a national recognition and reframe of homelessness as an interdisciplinary, community health problem with opportunities for inter-agency collaboration and government support for primary and secondary prevention that have not been fully realized.