Interagency Council on Homelessness

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The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is a USA federal program and office created by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1986 (Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act) and whose charter is to "coordinate the Federal response to homelessness and to create partnerships between the Federal agencies addressing homelessness and every level of government and every element of the private sector".^[1]

It is responsible for federal government leadership for activities assisting the homeless which include:^[2]

coordinating the Federal government's activities and programs to assist homeless people, and making or recommending policy changes for the improvement of that assistance
monitoring and evaluating assistance to the homeless provided by all levels of government and the private sector
ensuring that technical assistance is provided to help community and other organizations effectively help the homeless
providing information on government resources available to assist the homeless population.

These are developed by a policy working group and task forces assisted by ICH personnel.

The ICH has asked major cities to come up with a 10 year plan to end homelessness. Many cities have come up with plans for this, although plans some are controversial because they involve the Housing first initiative which quickly gets housing for the homeless but which needs continuing support services to make the transition smooth and successful in long term outcomes. The ICH endorses the Housing First initiative as a step to end homelessness.

The annual budget of the ICH was about $2,320,000 in 2007. ^[3]