New Federal Guidance
on Encampments

The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) as released 19 Strategies for Communities to Address Encampments Humanely and Effectively, guidance aimed at helping local leaders and community partners act with urgency to successfully and compassionately address the crisis of unsheltered homelessness. 

In announcing these new recommendations on April 28, USICH Director Jeff Olivet states: “Criminalizing homelessness is often portrayed as a way to fix homelessness, but this ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach actually makes homelessness worse. It shuffles people experiencing homelessness from one neighborhood to the next, from one town to the next, and from streets to jails, where people acquire criminal records that make it even harder to access shelter, housing, and jobs. It creates a vicious cycle that traps people in homelessness.”

The guidance focuses on helping people move off the streets and into homes as well as on preventing future encampments.

Click to read the full guidance and the one-page summary.