In April 2020, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) conducted a national survey of local homeless assistance coordinating agencies, or Continuums of Care, to understand the impacts of COVID-19 and how communities have responded to this unprecedented public health crisis. On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International concern and on February 11, 2020 the WHO announced the name of the new coronavirus disease: COVID-19 (WHO, 2020). By mid-March, starting with California, in almost every state in the United States, persons were encouraged to “shelter in place” and to practice “social distancing” to flatten the growth curve of infection to allow hospitals and emergency health care resources to adequately keep pace with those experiencing acute medical crises (Baral et al., 2020). Asking citizens to “shelter in place” and practice “social distancing” created an unprecedented urgency for communities across the country to respond to the needs of persons experiencing homelessness in the face of this crisis (Doran et al., 2020; Lima et al., 2020; Tsai & Wilson, 2020).

Primary concerns that quickly emerged across the nation were:

● How to provide shelter for people experiencing homelessness who become infected with COVID-19

● How to provide adequate shelter to prevent COVID-19 infection among medically vulnerable persons experiencing homelessness (over 65, underlying health conditions)

● How to address shelter density in existing congregate shelters to comply with CDC guidance for social distancing in shelters (110 sq ft per person)

● How to address the health and safety of unsheltered persons including people in encampments, in light of the crisis;

● How to protect staff who serve persons experiencing homelessness

● How to acquire financial resources and PPE supplies to address the needs of people who are homeless

● How to coordinate screening, testing, tracking and contact tracing with community partners. The responses to this survey provide an understanding of how communities through their CoCs have responded to COVID-19 in the first 4-6 weeks of the crisis.