Learn · Evidence & policy
Framework documents and evidence briefs for CoC leadership, foundation officers, federal staff, elected officials, journalists, and informed civic readers. Each piece tracks where the data is solid, where it isn't, and what that means for funding and program decisions.
Framework documents
An integrated portfolio synthesizing the evidence on what causes homelessness, what ends it, what it costs, and what a community that took the evidence seriously would do differently. Each piece stands alone; together they form a complete framework. Published May–June 2026.
01 · Framework · 45 min read
The anchor document. What homelessness is, why it persists, what the evidence says about ending it, and what a community that took the evidence seriously would do differently. For senior funders, federal staff, and CoC leadership with policy ambitions.
02 · Funder guide · 35 min read
Current philanthropic allocation is largely evidence-blind. A practical guide for foundation program officers and federal agencies on what works, what doesn't, and what better allocation looks like — with the same dollars.
03 · Diagnostic · 25 min read
A practical bottleneck-identification framework for CoC executive directors and state housing agencies. Stage-by-stage diagnostic, six common failure patterns, benchmarks, and a 25-question checklist that locates the work.
04 · Explainer · 30 min read
"Too expensive" is the wrong frame. The cost of housing someone is real, knowable, and almost always smaller than the cost of leaving them unhoused — once you compare against the right number. For elected officials, journalists, and the engaged public.
05 · Framework · 40 min read
Interventions are assigned by availability, not evidence — and the mismatch is the system's most predictable failure. A matching framework for program designers, CoC leadership, and Medicaid agencies: which intervention fits which population, and under what conditions.
06 · Analysis · 30 min read
Homelessness is the predictable output of structural conditions — housing supply, the income floor, structural racism, and a budget architecture that underinvests in what works. The case for structural change over symptom management, for policymakers and legislative staff.
Evidence briefs
Briefs responding to current field debates, policy developments, and recurring questions about what the evidence actually shows. Newest first.
Evidence brief · August 2026 · New
The federal toolkit released August 12 gets warm handoffs, peer specialists and outcome discipline right. Its claim that Housing First failed rests on a single unnamed study, set against two decades of randomized trials it never engages — and its three headline metrics will reward programs for excluding the sickest people.
Practitioner guidance · August 2026 · Competition suspended
A federal court set the FY2026 NOFO aside in its entirety on August 7, and the August 26 deadline is no longer in force. But the ruling was procedural, and the policy survived it. What the order actually holds, and eight things CoC leadership should do with the pause.
Evidence brief · August 2026
Two rulings, two grounds — unreasoned decision-making in June, and a skipped notice-and-comment step in August. What each decided, what neither reached, and why three wins have produced 48 executed contracts out of 6,689.
Evidence brief · May 2026
Congress says spending is up but homelessness is rising. What the evidence actually shows — and what CoC leaders need before the June NOFO.
Evidence brief · May 2026
Three structural predictors — coordinated entry maturity, RRH-to-inflow ratio, operational HMIS use — explain why some CoCs reduce homelessness and most don't.