This year, we gathered more than 1,100 dedicated homelessness advocates from across the country to participate in our Capitol Hill Day, holding 261 virtual legislative meetings to lend Congress our voice and experience. This year we shifted our policy goals to meet the need: we are focusing more closely on solutions to rising numbers of homelessness among older adults and working to end ongoing racial disparities among people experiencing homelessness. We’ve been able to broaden our base of advocates by adapting our technology and making our advocacy activities more accessible than ever before.

And the way that the Alliance is engaging with our field partners has grown and changed. We are happy to report that our Capacity Building Team is back to in-person engagements with communities nationwide to help them be well-equipped to end homelessness. We have also taken what we learned about online work during the pandemic and broadened our suite of online trainings. Providers can now access the Alliance’s vital trainings and resources on demand – anywhere, anytime. The result is that we are now able to amplify our work and reach people in a way we never have before.

Our Homelessness Research Institute has produced content that has gained national attention: research that informs homelessness system leaders, policymakers, advocates, members of the media, and others committed to ending homelessness. With a bold research agenda, our team has taken the lead on how we can dig deeper into pressing issues facing the field – things like racial disparities, rising older adult homelessness, and staffing shortages among homeless service providers nationwide.

This summer, we held our first in-person conference since February 2020, gathering more than 1,200 people in the field together to exchange new ideas, connections, and fellowship. It was nothing short of incredible to witness and feel the energy of that room – so many people coming together and inspiring each other in pursuit of a common goal. We centered people with lived experience and increased the diversity of both the presenters and participants throughout all aspects of the conference. To do this work well, we need to bring voices in of people who are closest to the issue – and our conference brought home that point.

And maybe most importantly, we celebrated an announced 11% decline in veteran homelessness over the past two years– proof that the programs we advocate for are working and working well.

Throughout it all, the Alliance has committed even more strongly to its equity work, naming a dedicated Chief Equity Officer to bolster our commitment to equity both inside and outside of the organization. Using this lens in our operations and decision-making is shaping the way we think about homelessness policy, how we conduct our trainings, and how we talk about our research and policy agendas. Having a dedicated staff member to guide this process has brought us closer to integrating equity in all aspects of the organization – and in the homelessness field overall.