As metropolitan areas across the nation continue to grapple with challenges related to housing their homeless populations, the White House announced on Thursday the launch of a new initiative designed to address unsheltered homelessness.
“ALL INside” is part of a larger plan introduced by the Biden administration in December 2022 called “All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness,” which has a goal of reducing homelessness in America by 25% by the year 2025. The ALL INside initiative focuses on addressing homelessness issues in both key metropolitan areas and the nation’s most populous state.
“Through the ALL INside initiative, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and its 19 federal member agencies will partner with state and local governments to strengthen and accelerate local efforts to get unsheltered people into homes in six places: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix Metro, Seattle, and the State of California,” the White House said in its announcement.
The White House plans to support the initiative by assigning a dedicated federal official in each community to assist in the implementation of locally-designed homelessness strategies. It will also dedicate staff across the federal government to identify areas where regulatory relief would help to spur actions for reducing unsheltered homelessness.
Such staff will also “navigate federal funding streams, and facilitate a peer learning network across the communities,” the White House said.
The White House will also work to connect a network of philanthropists and the private sector to facilitate additional support for the measures.
A number of federal agencies will also play a part in supporting the initiative. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will, for example, work in concert with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address barriers that the unhoused population may encounter when trying to obtain government-issued identification.
HUD will also “help communities troubleshoot barriers to connecting people to rental assistance or housing programs, as well as assist communities to use regulatory flexibilities to speed up the processes enabling residents to move into properties and transition into permanent housing,” the White House said.
Other agencies committed to supporting the new initiative include AmeriCorps, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the Departments of Energy, Treasury and Transportation. The General Services Administration is also involved, but the specific details regarding how these agencies will contribute were not specified.
