Our September blog series has brought hard news, one post at a time. Federal homelessness funding has shifted away from permanent housing; Indiana’s new camping law has taken effect; the most recent Point in Time (PIT) Count showed homelessness rising in Indiana and growing fastest in rural communities; and more of the people losing their homes are families and older adults living on fixed incomes and families with children. The month also looked closer to home, at the zoning decisions and public hearings that determine whether new homes can be built at all, and at the practical steps any resident can take this fall. This final post brings those threads together around one idea that runs through them all: the solutions that begin with a home are critical to keeping individuals housed.
What “Housing-Centered” Means
Housing-centered approaches, commonly known as Housing First, focus on helping individuals transition into stable, permanent housing first. Afterward, providers support health, recovery, employment, and other needs. This approach does not require individuals to complete treatment or meet conditions before gaining housing. Services remain central to the model; the order changes. The idea rests on the fact that keeping a job, managing an illness, or caring for a family becomes much more difficult without a stable address and a place to call home.
What the Evidence Shows
Few social policy approaches have been studied as closely. A 2020 systematic review conducted for the Community Preventive Services Task Force examined 26 studies involving more than 17,000 participants and found that Housing First programs reduced homelessness by 88 percent and improved housing stability by 41 percent compared with programs that required treatment first. Research has also consistently found that stable housing reduces use of emergency rooms, hospitals, and jails, among the most expensive places a community can meet a person in crisis.
Why These Solutions Need Protecting Now
In July 2025, Executive Order 14321 directed federal agencies to end support for “housing first” policies, and this year’s Continuum of Care funding notice, the main federal source of money for homeless housing programs, followed that direction by protecting a much smaller share of renewal funding for existing projects and shifting priorities toward other approaches. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimated that at least 97,000 people nationwide could lose their housing as a result. After a federal court set the notice aside this summer, an appeals court allowed it to move forward on September 16, and HUD has set a new application deadline of September 30, so the changes are now moving ahead while the legal challenge continues.
Indiana’s camping law adds pressure of its own. Because the law does not allow prosecution when no shelter or mental health bed is available within five miles, the number of beds and homes within reach determines how the law operates in practice. A citation can move a person from one block to the next, but it cannot create a single unit of housing. The idea is that this citation creates a contact point for unhoused individuals to seek support services; however, when the services are not available, the situation only perpetuates or turns into a criminal charge.
What Protecting These Solutions Looks Like
Housing is a human right, not a prize to be won. Protecting Housing First solutions and prioritizing affordable housing is also not a personal issue; it is a community issue. For a community’s health and stability, affordable housing must be part of the conversation and prioritized as critical infrastructure for healthy communities. While Housing First helps those who are currently unhoused with stable housing, affordable housing protects those most at risk of becoming unhoused. Both solutions matter, and both are needed within the community. Here is how you can support both solutions in your community:
- Telling elected officials at every level that permanent housing works and deserves continued investment, including through HUD’s public comment period, which is open through October 13. You can submit your public comment here: HUD Public Comment Form
- Showing up at the housing review hearing every Indiana county, city, and town must hold before January 1, 2027, and supporting the homes proposed there.
- Standing with the organizations in this region that build, own, and operate permanent affordable homes through volunteering, sharing their work, and giving.
Policy will keep changing, and pressure on communities, budgets, and families is unlikely to ease soon. What is at stake is whether communities continue to invest in responses that have repeatedly been shown to end homelessness and keep people housed. Next month, the conversation shifts from policy to the porch light and to the neighbors who can help build what comes next.
Also in this series:
What You Can Do Locally: A Practical Advocacy Guide for This Fall
Land Use Is Housing Policy: The Local Levers Communities Control
Who’s Actually Becoming Homeless: Families, Older Adults, and the Priced-Out
The 2025 Count in Context: Indiana’s Rising Homelessness by the Numbers
We Can’t Cite Our Way Out of Homelessness: Why Criminalization Fails
Indiana Bill SEA285: What It Means Now That It’s in Effect
The Federal Retreat From Housing: What the Latest Funding Cuts Mean for People at Risk
Sources
- Peng et al., “Permanent Supportive Housing with Housing First to Reduce Homelessness and Promote Health among Homeless Populations with Disability: A Community Guide Systematic Review,” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (2020)
- National Low Income Housing Coalition, “The Evidence Is Clear: Housing First Works”
- Federal Register, Executive Order 14321, “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” (July 24, 2025)
- National Low Income Housing Coalition, “HUD Releases FY26 Continuum of Care NOFO, Putting At Least 97,000 People at Risk of Losing Housing” (June 15, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Continuum of Care Program Competition
- National Association of Counties, “HUD Expected to Revise CoC NOFO Following Court Decision” (Sept. 14, 2026)
- Indiana Capital Chronicle, “Public Camping Ban, Military Police and Other Laws Go Into Effect July 1” (June 25, 2026)
- Indiana Capital Chronicle, “Rural Homelessness Growing Faster Than Cities” (Jan. 20, 2026)
- Homeward Bound Villages, “The 2025 Count in Context: Indiana’s Rising Homelessness by the Numbers”
- Indiana General Assembly, House Enrolled Act 1001 (Public Law 73, 2026)
