United States Interagency Council on Homelessness


The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is an independent federal agency within the U.S. executive branch that leads the implementation of the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. USICH is advised by a Council, which includes the heads of its 20 federal member agencies. The immediate past chair was Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, and the vice chair was Secretary of Education John King. USICH partners with these 19 federal agencies, state and local governments, advocates, service providers, and people experiencing homelessness to achieve the goals outlined in the first federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors.
The mission of USICH is to:
USICH is made up of a small team headquartered in Washington, D.C., led by Executive Director Robert Marbut since December 2019. Previously it was led by Executive Director Matthew Doherty from April 2015 until November 2019. Policy staff work closely with each of the 20 Federal Agencies that make up the Council to make progress on the goals and strategies of Opening Doors. USICH works directly with states and communities through five Regional Coordinators who connect with state and local governments in the creation of strategic plans and to promote the strategies of Opening Doors in local communities.
USICH works with its partners to
In 2010, the agency released the first federal strategic plan to end homelessness in the United States which includes four goals
  1. To finish the job of ending chronic homelessness by 2015.
  2. To prevent and end homelessness among Veterans by 2015.
  3. To prevent and end homelessness for families, youth, and children by 2020.
  4. To set a path to ending all types of homelessness.

    History

The Interagency Council on the Homeless was authorized by Title II of the landmark Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act enacted on July 22, 1987. The McKinney Act established the Interagency Council on the Homeless as an "independent establishment" within the executive branch to review the effectiveness of federal activities and programs to assist people experiencing homelessness, promote better coordination among agency programs, and inform state and local governments and public and private sector organizations about the availability of federal homeless assistance. In 2002, Council members voted to approve changing the name of the agency to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, a change that was enacted into law in 2004.
The most recent reauthorization of USICH occurred in 2009 with enactment of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act..
The Council originally included the heads of 16 Federal agencies. Five additional agencies were subsequently added by Council vote or statutory amendments, while two agencies are now inactive. The current members of the Council include the heads of the following 19 Departments and agencies: U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, Corporation for National and Community Service, General Services Administration, Office of Management and Budget, Social Security Administration, United States Postal Service, and the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

Opening Doors

It is estimated that 550,000 women and men are without shelter each night in the United States. Mandated by Congress under the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009, USICH was tasked to create a national strategic plan to end homelessness which will be updated periodically to reflect progress and changing priorities. As a result, Opening Doors was drafted and serves as the nation's first comprehensive national strategy for ending homelessness.
This strategic plan, entitled Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, was presented on June 22, 2010 to President Obama's staff and members of Congress. The plan was created to help strengthen existing programs geared towards addressing the issues of homelessness and works to create partnerships with not only existing programs, but forge new ones in the effort to help the nation. The strategy also presents cost-effective strategies for states, local and the federal government.
"Opening Doors" serves as a roadmap for joint action by the 19 federal agencies of USICH, along with state and local partners in both the private and public sectors. In the process of developing this comprehensive plan, USICH held stakeholder meetings, work group meetings to focus on statistics of the population pertaining to this issue, held expert panels, and sought public comment through an online website.
Aside from the plan's four main goals listed above, objectives were created around five main themes in order to specify how the strategy will work to address the issue of homelessness. The themes include the following:
Increase leadership, collaboration, and civic engagement
Increase access to stable and affordable housing
Increase economic security
Improve health and stability
Retool the Homeless Crisis Response System
The Council is composed of the following members: