endhomelessness.org

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) organizes its advocacy around two policy priorities—increasing federal funding for homelessness programs and expanding the affordable housing supply—and five key issues: reducing unsheltered homelessness, decriminalizing homelessness, expanding resources to help people thrive, expanding the homelessness workforce, and addressing environmental justice. This guide is for policymakers, advocates, and community organizations who want to know whether NAEH's positions align with their own work. All items below come from the organization's own site (endhomelessness.org).

Policy Priorities

NAEH lists two federal-level priorities:

• Increase federal funding for homelessness programs. The Alliance advocates for more federal dollars directed at homelessness services and housing interventions.
• Expand the affordable housing supply. Alongside funding, it pushes for more affordable housing units, framing the shortage of affordable housing as a root cause of homelessness.

These two priorities connect directly to the causes NAEH identifies on its site: a shortage of affordable housing, income not keeping up with housing costs, limited access to healthcare and voluntary services, and systemic racism and marginalization.

Key Issues

NAEH's "Key Issues" section names five areas of work:

Advocacy Stance on Punitive Policies

The site takes an explicit position against criminalization. A featured blog post is titled "Punitive Policies Will Never Solve Homelessness: The Evidence is Clear," and the decriminalization issue is framed as "Stop treating homelessness like it's a crime." If your organization works on encampment policy, camping bans, or local ordinances, this is the clearest signal of where NAEH stands.

How the Work Is Organized

NAEH describes its mission as spanning several activities: conducting research and analysis, building the capacity of the homelessness sector, ending homelessness through policy, connecting communities, building awareness and public will, and building equity into systems. It also convenes external advisors through a Leadership Council, Capacity Building Network, Research Council, and Lived Experience Advisors.

Who This Is Relevant For

• Policymakers looking for federal funding and housing-supply positions to reference or respond to.
• Advocates who want language and evidence against criminalization measures.
• Community organizations and program staff seeking technical assistance, training, webinars, toolkits, and case studies through the Alliance's Training & Resources section.

Where to Go Next

If you want the data behind these positions, the site's "State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition" presents key data from the 2024 Point-in-Time Count. For practical support, the Training & Resources area offers guided and self-paced learning, technical assistance requests, webinars, online training, toolkits, research, shareable graphics, videos, and case studies.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness offers training and practical resources for people working in or around the homelessness sector, including guided and self-paced training, webinars, online training, technical assistance you can request, and downloadable assets such as toolkits, research and analysis, shareable graphics, videos, and case studies. These materials are described as being for program staff, policymakers, advocates, academics, and others. If you need to build staff capacity, find data to support a policy argument, or get hands-on help with a local program, the Alliance's Training & Resources section is the place to start.

Training opportunities

The Alliance groups its learning offerings into a few formats, so you can pick based on how much structure and scheduling you want:

• Guided and self-paced learning — training designed for the homelessness sector, letting you choose between instructor-led and independent study.
• Webinars — scheduled online sessions.
• Online training — web-based courses and materials.

How to choose a format

Technical assistance

Beyond courses, the Alliance provides a way to request technical assistance — direct support for organizations and communities working on homelessness. This is the option to use when a general training course won't answer a specific operational or systems question you're facing.

Resource library

The Training & Resources section also collects reference and communication materials:

• Toolkits and training materials — practical guides for program staff and others.
• Research and analysis — the Alliance's evidence base on homelessness.
• Shareable graphics — visuals you can reuse in your own communications.
• Videos — recorded content on homelessness topics.
• Case studies — examples of work in the field.

These are aimed at a broad audience: program staff, policymakers, advocates, and academics.

Where this fits in the Alliance's work

The training and resource offerings sit alongside the Alliance's other activities — conducting research and analysis, building the capacity of the homeless sector, ending homelessness through policy, connecting communities, building awareness and public will, and building equity into systems. If your goal is capacity building for a local organization or coalition, the training and technical assistance options are the most directly relevant.

Practical next steps

1. Go to the Training & Resources section of endhomelessness.org.
2. Decide whether you need a course (guided, self-paced, or online), a webinar, or direct help.
3. If you have a specific problem rather than a general learning need, use Request Technical Assistance.
4. If you need data or messaging material, browse the research, graphics, videos, and case studies instead.

One thing the site does not spell out in the material reviewed here: whether any training or resources carry a fee, or whether an account or login is required. Check the individual training or resource page before assuming it is free or open-access.

endhomelessness.org is the official website of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a U.S. nonprofit that works to prevent and end homelessness through research, policy, and what it describes as proven solutions. It is a good source to check if you want national-level data, policy priorities, or practical tools for the homelessness sector — and a less useful one if you are an individual looking for direct housing help, since the site is oriented toward the field rather than toward people currently experiencing homelessness.

What the organization says it does

The site frames its mission around a single claim: "Through proven solutions and collaborative action, ending homelessness is possible." Its stated work spans six areas:

• Conducting research and analysis
• Building the capacity of the homelessness sector
• Ending homelessness through policy
• Connecting communities working to end homelessness
• Building awareness and public will
• Building equity into systems to end homelessness

It also lists three strategic goals and describes itself as "Grounded in Evidence. Centered on People. Focused on Home."

Main sections of the site

How the site explains homelessness

The "Homelessness in America" section organizes the topic into four questions, which is a useful structure if you are new to the issue:

What causes homelessness? A shortage of affordable housing, income not keeping up with housing costs, limited access to healthcare and voluntary services, and systemic racism and marginalization.

Who experiences homelessness? People who cannot afford rent, people with insufficient income, people with unaddressed health conditions, and marginalized groups subject to systemic disinvestment and discrimination.

What solves homelessness? Improving access to affordable housing, boosting income and public benefits, ensuring access to quality healthcare, treatment, and services, and creating equitable responses.

Who the content is written for

The site's resources are aimed at program staff, policymakers, advocates, academics, and the public. Its advisors include a Leadership Council, a Capacity Building Network, a Research Council, and Lived Experience Advisors, which signals that the intended audience is people working on or studying homelessness rather than people seeking immediate assistance.

Practical notes before you use it

• The site offers an "EN Espanol" option, so some content is available in Spanish.
• It publishes a "Get Help" link in its navigation, but the site is not a service provider directory; expect to be routed elsewhere for direct assistance.
• Some content sits behind a subscribe prompt for updates. The site does not present itself as a paid product, but nothing here confirms whether any training or conference offerings carry a fee — check individual pages before assuming cost or access.
• The State of Homelessness data is tied to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, so treat it as a snapshot rather than current-year figures.

If your goal is to cite national homelessness data, follow federal policy debates, or find training material for a service organization, this site is worth bookmarking. If you need shelter or rental assistance today, start with a local Continuum of Care or a 211 service instead.

The State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition is published by the National Alliance to End Homelessness and is accessible from the "Homelessness in America" section of endhomelessness.org. It presents key data from the 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, the annual nationwide tally of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. Use it when you need a citable, national-level snapshot for research, reporting, or policy work — not for local counts or real-time estimates.

How to reach the report

1. Go to endhomelessness.org.
2. Open the Homelessness in America section (it appears in the site's main navigation and is listed alongside "Blog," "About Us," "Media," "Contact," "Conferences," and "Get Help").
3. Select State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition from the items in that section.

Expected result: you land on the 2025 edition page, which the site describes as "Key data from the 2024 Point-in-Time Count."

What the report covers

The 2025 edition is framed around the same core questions the site uses to organize homelessness information:

The data itself comes from the 2024 PIT Count. The PIT Count is conducted annually in January and is the primary source for national homelessness figures in the United States.

What to check before citing it

• Vintage. The 2025 edition reflects the 2024 count, not 2025. Label it accordingly in citations.
• Scope. PIT data is a one-night snapshot and is widely understood to undercount people in unstable or hidden housing situations. Treat it as a floor, not a full census.
• Geography. The report is national in focus. For local or continuum-of-care figures, go to the original PIT data for that area.
• Updates. The site's "Stay Updated" section offers a Subscribe option for new research, stories, and impact content, which is the practical way to learn when a newer edition is posted.

Related material on the same site

If the 2025 edition is not the right fit, the site also hosts:

• Homelessness Overview — a plain-language introduction to homelessness in America.
• Key Issues pages — reducing unsheltered homelessness, de-criminalizing homelessness, expanding resources, expanding the homelessness workforce, and addressing environmental justice.
• Policy Priorities — increasing federal funding for homelessness programs and expanding the affordable housing supply.
• Training & Resources — webinars, online training, toolkits, research and analysis, shareable graphics, videos, and case studies, plus a technical assistance request option.

These are useful when you need context around the numbers rather than the numbers alone.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) frames homelessness as a structural problem with evidence-based solutions, not an individual failing. On its site, the Alliance attributes homelessness primarily to a shortage of affordable housing, incomes that haven't kept up with housing costs, limited access to healthcare and voluntary services, and systemic racism and marginalization. It points to four corresponding solution areas: improving access to affordable housing, boosting income and public benefits, ensuring access to quality healthcare and treatment, and creating equitable responses. This summary reflects the Alliance's own published framing, so treat it as an overview of one advocacy organization's position rather than a neutral survey of all research.

What the Alliance identifies as causes

The site groups causes into four categories:

• A shortage of affordable housing — not enough units exist at prices people can actually pay.
• Income isn't keeping up with housing costs — wages and benefits lag behind rent.
• Limited access to healthcare and voluntary services — people can't get treatment or support when they need it.
• Systemic racism and marginalization — disinvestment and discrimination push some groups into homelessness at higher rates.

These causes are presented as interlocking. A housing shortage alone doesn't explain homelessness; it combines with income stagnation, service gaps, and structural discrimination.

Who experiences homelessness, per the Alliance

The site describes affected populations in terms of both circumstance and group:

The framing matters: the Alliance treats these as conditions produced by systems, not personal characteristics.

What the Alliance says solves homelessness

The solutions mirror the causes:

• Improving access to affordable housing — expanding the supply of units people can afford.
• Boosting income and public benefits — raising earnings and strengthening safety-net programs.
• Ensuring access to quality healthcare, treatment, and services — making voluntary support actually reachable.
• Creating equitable responses — building fairness into how systems operate.

The Alliance also lists related key issues on its site: reducing unsheltered homelessness, de-criminalizing homelessness, expanding resources to help people thrive, expanding the homelessness workforce, and addressing environmental justice. Its stated policy priorities are increasing federal funding for homelessness programs and expanding the affordable housing supply.

How to use this information

If you're researching the topic, the Alliance's site is a reasonable starting point for its own data and framing — including its "State of Homelessness" reports based on Point-in-Time Count data. If you need to compare perspectives, look for sources that disagree with or complicate this structural framing, since the Alliance is an advocacy organization with a defined position.

For practical next steps, the site offers training, technical assistance, webinars, toolkits, and research for program staff, policymakers, and advocates.