The nation is now ten months into a national emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For homeless services systems, it has impacted temporary housing offerings, staffing, resources, and countless other areas. To understand these changes, the Alliance initiated the Voices from the Field project, which has included three national surveys, a series of interviews, and data collection from a small sampling of Continuums of Care (CoCs). The current report highlights the most recent survey (conducted in November) and some insights from the data collection efforts.

The findings point to systems that quickly set up motel/hotel programs, most of which are still up and running as of November. Although survey respondents report expanding the availability of permanent housing, they also estimate that most clients leaving these quarantine/isolation rooms return to shelters and unsheltered locations. Frustration with this norm is causing CoC representatives to identify permanent housing as their number one priority for any new resources that become available. Other significant needs include staffing and growing existing motel/hotel efforts. If CoCs are unable to fund such items, they predict tragic consequences such as growth in unsheltered homelessness.