“We need a collective effort to get service providers to understand our daily struggles. The system builds walls around us that make it more challenging to reach those in power; they want to develop programs for us but will get nowhere if they don’t ask us what we need. We are the experts on what we need, and no book can teach that. We must sit at the table and help you pioneer what the end of homelessness will look like.”
Theo O.
What Young People Have Taught Us
We will never end and prevent youth homelessness as individual organizations, following individual work plans from individual funders, accountable to people who aren’t directly impacted by homelessness, and constrained by rules that prevent us from directly lobbying for legislative change. That’s the non-profit industrial complex in action. As people who work for non-profit organizations that benefit from this system, we know the challenge of trying to do the necessary transformational work from within our current structures.
What we also know is that if we want to prevent and end youth homelessness, we need to work collectively to: 1. Develop and align our theories of change, 2. Agree on and implement a coordinated strategy that centers and is accountable to those directly impacted by youth homelessness, and 3. Work to dismantle, reimagine, and replace the structures that contribute to homelessness, including charity-based models of care. We have an unprecedented opportunity now to both defend young people and prevent harm from the ad hoc attempts to dismantle the current federal systems that fund our nonprofit youth homelessness systems and to develop our vision and pursue buy-in for rebuilding a new transformative system.
“I think the biggest issue is that homelessness as a whole is not seen as a human issue. It’s a political issue. I personally will always need help, both from the government, and from others. I can’t shower on my own, how would I do regular work and maintain a house alone?”
Kamiron K.
Links, resources, and how to get involved with rapid response and rebuilding in the youth homelessness space:
Equal Access Rule
What’s Going On & Helpful Links
As you have likely heard, the new HUD Secretary has directed HUD to stop enforcing the Equal Access Rule, which required shelters and other programs receiving HUD funding to ensure equal access to its programs regardless of gender identity. However, not enforcing the rule does not change the rule and so EAR is still law. HUD proposed their EAR changes and opened public comment on April 28, 2026 (which was closed on June 29, 2026).
Resources & How to Get Involved
Over 23,000 comments were submitted (here is ours). HUD expected to finalize the rule in November 2026. If the final rule isn’t responsive to the comments, there will likely be litigation.
HUD
What’s Going On & How to Get Involved
HUD attempted to make major changes to Continuum of Care Funding in FY25 and again in FY26. These changes include restricting funds spent on permanent supportive housing, rejecting housing first, and requiring that grantees promise to comply with illegal provisions regarding “gender ideology”, DEI, and advocating for local policies to criminalize homelessness and cooperate with immigration enforcement.
They were unsuccessful in the FY25 case due to litigation and congressional advocacy that required HUD to just renew funds to all grantees without any of the illegal provisions.
For FY26, the court ordered HUD to vacate their NOFO. HUD is appealing.
Links & Resources
Email Katie at kmeyerscott@homelesslaw.org if you have questions about this litigation.
Health and Human Services
What’s Going On & Helpful Links
On August 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed to rescind and replace the Head Start Program Performance Standards. The proposed rule would remove all twelve regulations that tell Head Start and Early Head Start programs how to find, enroll, and keep enrolled children experiencing homelessness.
Resources & How to Get Involved
SchoolHouse Connection has lots of information about how to submit a public comment to preserve protections and access to Head Start for homeless children.
ICE Raids and Immigration
What’s Going On & Helpful Links
Resources & How to Get Involved
ICE guidance for homeless shelters: https://homelesslaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/ICE-Guidance.pdf
IRS and Taxes
What’s Going On & Helpful Links
The IRS is sharing taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE will provide the IRS with a list of names to cross-reference with their confidential taxpayer databases.
There has long been a firewall between the IRS and immigration enforcement in order to encourage undocumented people to file taxes, (as they are legally required to do).
Resources & How to Get Involved
Young people who have filed taxes using an ITIN in the past should be advised to take precautions at the addresses and workplaces known to the IRS and to refresh their knowledge about their resources and rights.
“In order to heal, the wound or pain has to be in the past. We aren’t there. We are still inflicting pain. We can create healing spaces and do individual and personal healing, but as far as for all of youth homelessness, we aren’t there. There is a misalignment between political promises surrounding houselessness and actions being taken against people experiencing housing instability. Healing starts with the acknowledgement of harm.”
Focus Group Participant
Research Organizations Supporting the Movement
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that advances federal and state policies to help build a nation where everyone — regardless of income, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ZIP code, immigration status, or disability status — has the resources they need to thrive and share in the nation’s prosperity. We are particularly interested in their work on tax policy.
Chapin Hall is dedicated to the idea that evidence should drive decisions. They combine rigorous research methods and policy expertise to generate evidence and support its use. They work in three primary impact areas: child welfare systems; community capacity, including schools, courts and before- and after-school programs; and youth homelessness.
The Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization that provides data and evidence to help advance upward mobility and equity. We are a trusted source for changemakers who seek to strengthen decision-making, create inclusive economic growth, and improve the well-being of families and communities. We are particularly interested in their work on decommodification of housing.
“I work with the city's homeless coalition – we’re supposed to come together to talk about food and housing. But one member was anti-trans and now the work is distracted from the real issues to discuss if this person is allowed to treat homeless trans kids poorly. Society is built around acting on immediate dangers so we don’t have time to focus on bigger systemic pictures. It’s built so we can never stand next to each other and rise up against those to blame for our strife. Survival prevents us from elevating ourselves.”
