HUD Releases New Report on Encampment Responses and Associated Costs

April 8, 2021  

HUD Releases New Report on Encampment Responses and Associated Costs

HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research has released a new report examining encampments and cities’ responses to them. The recent rise in encampments is consistent with the overall increase in homelessness rates in major U.S. cities; yet, little evidence exists on ways to assess and respond to this phenomenon. Conducted in 2019 prior to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the study aims to shed light on current responses to encampments by synthesizing findings from a literature review, stakeholder interviews, and site visits to four cities — San Jose, Tacoma, Chicago, and Houston — for which the researchers produced an indepth report that focused on identifying what these communities were doing to specifically address encampments in their communities and the costs associated with those efforts.

The study team finds that, in the communities that were the focus of this study, local systems prioritized outreach services dedicated to connecting people living in encampments to resources in the wider homeless assistance system, including to permanent housing and programs using the Housing First approach. Outreach and other core responses at the heart of this effort involve coordination amongst multiple implementation partners, such as city departments and service providers. The study team determined that encampment expenditures in the four cities ranged from $1,672 to $6,208 per unsheltered person in the community in 2019. Policymakers who read this report will not only learn about ways cities have already responded to encampments, but also the experiences of communities using other sources of funding and alternative outreach practices that meet the specific needs of encampment residents.

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