The Alliance was founded in 1983 by a group of concerned citizens determined to meet the emergency needs of the nation’s then-emerging population of homeless people. By 1987, it was clear that homelessness was not a temporary crisis, but that it had taken root. At that time, the organization turned its attention to more permanent solutions and grew to a national network of over 10,000 providers, public agencies, and private partners.

Today, the Alliance is a leading national voice on the issue of homelessness.

In 2000, the Alliance challenged communities and the nation to develop plans to end homelessness. The federal government and Congress adopted this approach and substantially increased resources to implement it. Key elements of the strategy that have been successfully advanced are:

• Permanent supportive housing,
• Rapid re-housing,
• Systematic collection and use of data,
• Coordinated assessment and entry,
• Local systems to end homelessness, and
• Outcome focused crisis systems.

To advance the adoption of key concepts and these strategies, the Alliance undertakes the following principal activities:

• Builds knowledge. It uses research and data to discover what works to end homelessness and develop easily accessible knowledge about these solutions.  The Alliance’s research arm, the Homelessness Research Institute (HRI), leads this work.
• Improves policy. Based upon this knowledge, it educates opinion leaders and policymakers about what works and tries to build strong policy in support of solutions (with emphasis on federal policy).
• Enhances capacity. To help communities implement solutions, its Center for Capacity Building provides training, technical assistance, and tools to providers and public agencies.