What is the Impact of the Federal Mandate to Prioritize Chronic Homelessness on Local Communities?
Communities are being forced to overlook the results of their own needs assessments in order to meet federal mandates to serve “chronically homeless” people. As a result, federal funding is not addressing the service gaps determined by communities. In distributing homeless assistance grants, HUD asks communities to rank local needs and prioritize the gaps in the resources available to meet those needs. It then awards grants based on that process, called the “Continuum of Care.” Over the past few years, as a result of the “chronic homelessness” initiative, HUD has given preference to communities that use funds for permanent housing to “end homelessness for chronically homeless people.”[8] This preference disregards local needs, realities, and emerging trends, and is therefore in direct conflict with the stated goal of the Continuum of Care process: rather than enabling local communities to determine their own priorities based on local need, HUD has determined their priorities for them.
