July 23 Joint Advancing Homelessness Solutions Webinar Discussed Lessons Learned from Protecting Emergency Housing Vouchers

NLIHC, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) hosted “Learning From and Protecting Emergency Housing Vouchers” on Wednesday, July 23. This webinar was the latest in our joint Advancing Homelessness Solutions webinar series. We have uploaded a recording of the call, as well as the presentation slides. 

Sonya Acosta, senior policy analyst at CBPP, provided an overview of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program and its background. The EHV Program was created in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to address homelessness and housing insecurity among people at risk or experiencing homelessness or fleeing domestic violence and trafficking. Since then, it has helped more than 70,000 households secure stable and affordable housing and 59,000 households still rely on EHVs to pay rent every month. Funding for EHVs is projected to run out midway through 2026 or sooner; however, largely because rents increased drastically by 22% between April 2021 and April 2023, Sonya highlighted the need for additional funding to make the EHV program permanent or expand similar programs. Importantly, the EHV program has shown that it is possible to quickly and successfully house people at risk of or who are experiencing homelessness. 

Pear Moraras, senior research associate at the Urban Institute, provided an overview of case studies on the implementation of EHVs across six different communities – Connecticut; Oklahoma City, OK; Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, PA; Chicago, IL; Dakota County, MN; and the city and county of Santa Barbara, CA. The Urban Institute case studies highlighted the importance of the flexibilities that the EHV program offers both in terms of its implementation design and use of the service fee, as well as the importance of strong formalized partnerships between Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and Continuum of Care (CoC) organizations in managing the influx of vouchers into target communities. Following the case studies overview, Alliance Program and Policy Analyst Ken Williamson moderated a Q&A panel. The panelists included Pear Moraras, Noelle Muñoz of All Chicago Making Homelessness History, Charles Parks of the Oklahoma City Housing Authority, and Lisa Hohenstein of the Dakota County Community Development Agency – all of whom worked to administer EHVs in the key areas studied by the Urban Institute. 

Resources discussed on the webinar: 

• The Urban Institute’s EHV Case Studies 

• The Alliance’s Federal Budget Resources 

• NLIHC’s FY26 Advocacy Toolkit 

• EHV Advocacy Toolkit 

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Last year, more than 14,000 people participated in our monthly Homelessness and Housing First webinar series. Given the tremendous interest among stakeholders and the worsening homelessness and affordable housing crises, we decided to continue and expand the series to focus on solutions to homelessness. On the webinars, we will share more about proven strategies to successfully end homelessness, best practices for state and local advocacy, and actions advocates can take to advance solutions. 

Homelessness demands urgent action from all levels of government. We know what works to end homelessness: providing individuals with stable, accessible, affordable housing, and voluntary supportive services. We hope you will join us in building the political will and congressional support necessary to do so!