Maryellen Hess Cameron spent over 25 years as the Executive Director of non-profit agencies in the social.... You might be one of those people who think a family is homeless just because it doesn’t have a place to live. Technically you are correct, but that doesn’t mean the family is eligible for housing for homeless people. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides the lion’s share of funding for homeless programs, making it the final arbiter of who counts as homeless. Before you read further let me clarify that homelessness is not an eligibility factor for Public Housing Authority housing and Housing Choice Vouchers. Every client you serve who is homeless or low-income may be eligible and benefit from it’s long term stability. But it can take years to move up the Housing Authority waiting lists. If you have clients who are literally homeless, they may qualify for another pool of money designed specifically for people who experience literal homelessness. The programs for literally homeless people flow through local Continuum of Care programs (CoC) to nonprofit housing agencies. That is, they are sleeping in places not meant for human habitation. That could be sleeping in their car, under a highway overpass or in an abandoned building. Residents of homeless shelters retain their homeless status. Sleeping under a bridge still might not be enough to get CoC help. HUD established a funding preference for people who have repeated or lengthy episodes of homelessness. If your client meets this criteria, they might just be homeless enough to qualify for this program and a relatively short waiting list. This article explains HUD’s definition of chronic homelessness, documentation you will need, and advice for collecting it in Casebook. Categories of Homelessness HUD has four categories of homelessness. Only Categories 1 and 4 are relevant to HUD programs for CoC funds for homeless people. Clients must fall into Category 1 if they are seeking long-term housing assistance. For example, they want a rent subsidy that will not expire for as long as they need it, (assuming they follow program guidelines.) Category 1: Literally Homeless Literal homeless, which is the most restrictive category for eligibility. Individuals or families enter one of the permanent programs if they are in at least one of the following situations: A homeless shelter designed to provide temporary living arrangements OR Living on the streets, in cars, abandoned buildings or other places not fit for human habitation Exceptions that don’t end their status as literally homeless: They entered an institution from the streets and leave within 90 days of entering it, and they will return to the streets or a shelter. Institutions include a jail, hospital or nursing home. They have a room in a motel room that is paid for by a non-profit or a government program.