The city-funded Neil Good Day Center in East Village closed Wednesday after the city declined to renew its funding in this year’s budget; the city had paid nearly $950,000 of the center’s $1.7 million annual operating cost. Operator Father Joe’s Villages moved the services two blocks to its Joan Kroc Center, opening Thursday at its own expense, with capacity for 160 people against the day center’s 200-plus a day and no belongings storage. The city said it funds about 2,600 sheltering options across nearly two dozen programs and is working with Caltrans, which owns the land, to return the property.
The Joan Kroc Center absorbing the services is slated for demolition, with residents relocated in early 2028, to make way for the Jacobs Family Campus announced September 28.
Do Good Multnomah’s last day running Vancouver’s 40-bed Kiggins Village Safe Stay shelter was September 30, with Live Love Outreach, which already runs Hope Village and the city’s Safe Park, taking over October 1 under a June City Council decision. Vancouver homeless response manager Jamie Spinelli said Kiggins Village was more expensive to operate than the city’s other Safe Stay sites, that the switch was not driven by Do Good’s performance, and that the city expects to save about $500,000 a year. Do Good’s impact report said it served 114 people at the site from 2023 to 2026, including 51 veterans, with an average stay of 161 days before moving into housing.
The council voted in June to move Do Good Multnomah off Kiggins Village so it could focus on operating the 120-bed Bridge Shelter opening later this year.
The Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment was set to hear testimony Wednesday on the Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ plan to convert a vacant commercial building at 3567 Bigelow Blvd. into a year-round low-barrier overflow shelter, replacing the seasonal Perry South site. Community Family Advocates would run 80 to 100 beds from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., expandable to 150 in severe weather, with a Downtown Partnership shuttle to Second Avenue Commons for daytime services. Councilor Deb Gross said the interim-housing zoning use was intended for transitional housing and is being “misapplied” to an overnight shelter, and said the zoning administrator waived a required development activities meeting and management plan.
The interim-housing use the application relies on was added to the city zoning code by an ordinance passed in August 2025; the Perry South overflow shelter has operated for the past two winters.
Commissioners Nafisa Fai and Pam Treece, in a November 3 runoff for Washington County chair after Fai took 39.1% and Treece 33.1% in May, answered written questions on housing and homelessness. Fai said the county should increase supply, use its Moving to Work authority and prevent homelessness before people lose their homes, and that “no one should have to use the streets as a waiting room for housing.” Treece said she supports new shelters and transitional housing with good neighbor agreements and cited the Center for Addictions Triage and Treatment’s on-site housing and medical services.
Neither candidate reached 50% in the May primary, which triggered the November runoff.
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay transmitted a $746 million supplemental budget to the County Council on September 24, amending the 2026-2027 budget adopted last November. It carries the $19.5 million package for 612 shelter and affordable-housing units announced September 21, $4.4 million to extend the Salvation Army SODO Shelter lease through 2027 (over 200 beds), and $4.2 million for contract and audit oversight in the Department of Community and Human Services. The release said the General Fund faces a $120 million shortfall in 2028-2029 and that the proposal includes $15.4 million in General Fund savings.
Council Budget Chair Rod Dembowski said the council intends to adopt the budget before Thanksgiving.
Vancouver Homeless Assistance and Resource Team manager Jamie Spinelli, responding to the outlet's question of why the city does not ban camping citywide after adopting a 1,500-foot buffer around the 120-bed Bridge Shelter, said neither the city nor the county system has the enforcement, jail or shelter capacity to resolve unsheltered homelessness through enforcement. She cited a county report that the jail has had no available beds 88% of the time since January 2025 and asked where the 500+ people living outdoors would go. The outlet counted more than 100 tents and tarps within a few blocks of the Share House in downtown Vancouver on Thursday.
The city already bans camping within 1,000 feet of its four Safe Stay communities.
The New York Times · on Dignity Village at 25 years
The Times profiled Dignity Village, the roughly 60-person self-governed tiny-home community next to Portland's composting facility, describing its village council, security department and incident-report process. The piece reported an annual operating budget of $60,000, about $1,000 per resident, and said about 60 percent of residents exit to some form of permanent housing versus 42 percent at city-run sites. Councilor Mitch Green was reported attending a Village Federation meeting of self-governed sites.
Green said Portland's city-run tiny home villages cost taxpayers approximately $40,000 per person annually.
Steve Cook, executive director of Blanchet House, said its 75-bed women's shelter Bethanie's Room has turned away five to 10 women each night since the 200-bed NW Northrup Shelter a quarter-mile away closed last week, and is fielding calls from emergency rooms and first responders with nowhere else to send people. City data cited by KATU showed Northrup accounted for 24% to 31% of all city shelter stays each month between October 2025 and February 2026. Portland Solutions spokesperson Laura Rude said six other city overnight shelters have beds available nightly, that the city holds flex beds, and that it is prepared to expand hours and capacity under emergency weather declarations.
OPB reported the Northrup Shelter closed September 18 after one year of operation.
Oakland crews demolished two tiny homes at an encampment near Peralta and 7th streets during a scheduled closure, structures built by Oakland School for the Arts students almost a decade ago and used by two homeless mothers and their children. City spokesperson Sean Maher said the tow provider could not safely move the trailers with the structures in place, that notices were posted 11 days ahead of a September 21 to October 9 closure window, and that the camp was closed over reports of drug sales and sex work and because it blocked a sidewalk and park entrance. Councilmember Carroll Fife said the site was on her monthly top-five concerns list but that she did not expect the homes to be demolished, and that the camp grew after the city shut a tiny-home shelter a couple of blocks away in the spring.
The city's posted closure operation window for the site runs September 21 to October 9, 2026.
In a "Straight Talk" interview, Mayor Keith Wilson said the city "had always expected to flex down" after opening 1,500 shelter beds in his first year and that "the measure is how many beds we have empty," stating the city has empty beds nightly. Wilson said a central-city count last week found tent encampments down 93% from 2022 and zero RVs on the Sunday night count. A city spokesperson said six city-run overnight shelters remain open, including two in Old Town with beds generally available.
The Richmond Tiny House Village held its grand opening this week with 12 homes for unhoused people ages 18 to 24, who can stay up to two years; the nonprofit Tiny Village Spirit led the project and Hope Solutions will operate it. Organizers said the project cost less than $1 million, with design help from University of San Francisco architecture students and funding partly from crowdfunding. CBS reported that before the village opened, more than 100 unhoused young adults in Contra Costa County had access to 13 units of emergency housing; first residents are expected in the coming weeks.
The Metanoia Project, one of two seasonal shelters in Cuyahoga County, said it cannot afford to open this winter for the first time in nearly 20 years and may shut down entirely by December 31; it sheltered up to 45 people a night from November through April last season at a cost of about $300,000. Executive Director Kai Saga said the ADAMHS Board's loss of $8.5 million in county funding for 2026 and 2027 cost the shelter $90,000 a year, that a $75,000 county grant that covered part of the gap last year may not recur, and that the organization applied for more than 60 grants this year and was mostly denied. County homeless services director LeVine Ross said traditional shelters have about 400 men's beds and a little over 200 women's beds available, while NEOCH's Chris Knestrick said the coalition counted about 170 people living outside in August.
Cuyahoga County officials have called for 8% cuts to departments and programs funded by the health and human services levy.
Wichita's housing department delivered letters Wednesday telling residents of the encampment north of Chapin Park, known as "Narnia" or "Tent City," that they lose access to their campsites after October 12, with clearing to begin October 13. City spokesperson Tyler Schiffelbein said more than 80 people lived there per August data, 20 to 25 remain, 18 residents have been housed since January and 16 of those remaining hold housing vouchers while waiting for a rental unit. KSN reported Councilman Joseph Shepard said he did not believe the city's resources could meet demand at the site.
United Way of the Plains put the camp's population at about 100 in KSN's September 25 report, and KSN reported city data showing police responded to the area 69 times in three years.
Rochester City Council postponed its expected Tuesday vote on a plan to spend $1.15 million from the city's opioid compensation fund to reopen Peace Village, the city's only sanctioned homeless encampment, until a special meeting October 6. The legislation would authorize an agreement with City Roots Community Land Trust to operate 19 shelters on Industrial Street for adults 18 and older, with an on-site case management team, funded through the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Council members Mary Lupien, Stanley Martin and Kim Smith have proposed a "no barrier" model with no armed security and no personal information shared with police.
Rochester's homeless population has increased by 345 people over the last six years, a nearly 34% rise, according to this year's report from the city council president.
The Jefferson City Council voted 6-3 Monday, with one abstention, to reject a rezoning proposal that would have allowed the seasonal shelter Room at the Inn to relocate and expand to 107 Adams St. The shelter currently operates 20 beds out of First Baptist Church during winter months; the new location would have housed 30 people a night and added a daytime resource center. Board president Scott Johnston said the group will continue searching for a location.
The Jefferson City Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-3 in June against recommending the rezoning.
The Modesto City Council approved $591,000 on Tuesday as a consent item to sustain The Salvation Army's homeless services on South Ninth Street, comprising $491,000 from the state's Permanent Local Housing Allocation program and $100,000 from the city's Cannabis Community Benefit fund. The vote was 6-0, with Councilman Jeremiah Williams recused. A city staff report said the money covers staffing, program administration and facility costs at the shelter campus.
Stanislaus County supervisors had earlier approved an amendment with The Salvation Army, which operates the shelter, extending operations only through September.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson proposed a roughly $9.1 billion 2027-2028 budget with no new tax increases, relying on more than $90 million in General Fund spending reductions. The proposal allocates more than $500 million annually for affordable housing, renters and homelessness services, including $37 million for new shelter capacity toward 960 shelter beds by the end of 2027, and for the first time funds homelessness services directly from the JumpStart payroll tax. The city estimates the new beds could serve about 1,750 people a year.
The City Council's budget process includes department presentations beginning September 24 and a public hearing October 6.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno's administration told the City Council on Tuesday that almost $80 million in cuts are needed to help fill a $100 million deficit in next year's budget if the city does not raise taxes, including cutting 152 full-time city jobs. Among the proposed cuts is recouping $2.5 million by closing the city's only low-barrier city-run homelessness shelter.
The council will hold more budget hearings later this month ahead of a final vote in November.
The Vancouver City Council voted unanimously Monday night, after a public comment period, to approve an amendment to Vancouver Municipal Code 8.22 establishing a "Camping and Outside Habitation Impact Area" spanning 1,500 feet around the new 120-bed Bridge Shelter on Northeast 94th Avenue. Homeless Response Manager Jamie Spinelli said the city sets a 1,500-foot buffer for the larger facility versus 1,000 feet at smaller city shelters. The 24-hour shelter, operated by Do Good Multnomah, is set to open this winter.
The council had tentatively set the 1,500-foot boundary on September 14, with camping prohibited beginning November 1, per The Columbian.
Transition Projects took over operation of the 42-bed Rockwood Bridge Shelter in Gresham after its previous operator, Portland nonprofit Sunstone Way, dissolved earlier this year. Transition Projects staff introduced themselves at a September 17 Rockwood Neighborhood Association meeting and said all residents are adults already approved for permanent housing who are awaiting placement, and that program rules extend to a five-block radius around the shelter.
The shelter, a former Super 8 motel on Northeast 181st Avenue, opened in 2022.
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay sent the County Council a proposed $19.5 million shelter and affordable housing package his office said would create 612 units, including $5 million for an 80-unit tiny home village in Seattle's Central District, $2.4 million to keep Mary's Place's 140-unit family shelter open, and $1.8 million for 100 units of veterans housing in Kirkland. He also announced a partnership in which the county and the Schultz Family Foundation would each commit $10 million over three years for 92 units of youth-designated shelter and transitional housing. The county said approximately 1,000 youth and young adults are experiencing homelessness in King County.
Zahilay committed in March 2026 to advancing 500 units of shelter and housing in 500 days under his Breaking the Cycle initiative; the county says its Housing Finance Program pipeline is expected to deliver 3,205 affordable homes between 2026 and 2029.
The Louisiana Housing Corp. submitted applications to the greater New Orleans and Louisiana Balance of State continuums of care requesting $42.4 million and $38 million respectively — most of each region's federal homeless services funds, now largely spent on permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing — to establish a 200-bed transitional shelter on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge with a mandatory 20-to-40-hour-per-week services requirement. The Balance of State council rejected the application; a National Housing Law Project attorney said the state could appeal a rejection to HUD and seek to become a solo applicant for the funding. Approximately 3,500 formerly homeless people in the greater New Orleans area rely on the federally funded assistance.
A federal appeals court stayed the Rhode Island district court's August order against HUD's FY2026 funding notice on September 16, restarting the local application processes that order had paused.
The 200-bed Northrup Shelter in the Pearl District, run by the Salvation Army and open 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., closed Friday, one year after opening as part of Mayor Keith Wilson's plan to open 1,500 new overnight shelter beds by December 2025. Wilson announced the closure in April as a budget-balancing measure, calling it "our highest cost facility"; a city spokesperson said the shelter averaged 98 guests nightly in September. The Salvation Army said the shelter served more than 2,700 people in its year of operation, and the city's shelter availability website now lists 530 overnight shelter beds.
Northrup is the second overnight-only shelter to close this year; a Centennial neighborhood shelter closed in April.
The Encinitas City Council voted unanimously on September 16 to end its shelter partnership with Vista's Buena Creek Navigation Center and instead contract with the San Diego Rescue Mission for up to 12 dedicated beds at its South County Lighthouse facility in National City. The Rescue Mission beds would cost $87 per occupied bed per night, with an annual maximum of $381,060; staying at Buena Creek would have cost an estimated $715,000 annually, up from $488,758 in fiscal year 2025-26.
A staff report identified potential state funding of $684,575 over five years through the Permanent Local Housing Allocation program.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to approve a resolution reserving a block of rooms at the Studio 6 motel at 4911 NE 82nd Ave., which will operate as the Northeast Family Shelter for adults caring for minor children and for residents in their third trimester of pregnancy. The county's homeless services leader said plans to open a family shelter in Gresham failed "due to a financial situation specific to hotel ownership."
The county's shelter page for the site lists "Rooms for 50+ families" — approximately 50 large-sized guest rooms with private baths.
Denver's Department of Housing Stability submitted plans August 18 to build two 20,000-square-foot cold-weather shelter buildings holding around 200 guests each at 4001 and 4121 N. Monroe St. in Elyria-Swansea, the former site of the Monroe Tiny Home Village, whose contract the city declined to renew in the 2026 budget as part of a set of non-renewals of non-congregate shelter sites that saved $12.4 million. HOST executive director Cole Chandler said the goal is not to add capacity but to protect against buildings going offline or emergencies; if approved, the buildings would be the city's second-largest homeless facility.
The nearby 48th Avenue Men's Shelter is currently the city's largest homeless facility.
At a community meeting required during the zoning process, Denver's Department of Housing Stability presented plans for a 20-family homeless shelter near Columbine Street and 43rd Avenue in Elyria-Swansea. Residents said the area lacks grocery stores, childcare and green space, and questioned whether shelters are being distributed equitably across the city; neighbors also cited the proposed 400-bed cold-weather shelter about a mile away on Monroe Street, which has its own community meeting October 8.
The city filed site plans August 18 for the separate 400-bed Monroe Street cold-weather shelter about a mile away.
KWB Apartments, a permanent supportive housing complex at 44 N. 1000 West developed in partnership by First Step House and Housing Connect, opened with 67 apartments for people exiting long-term homelessness. The $26 million project, funded through public and private sources, pairs the units with on-site case management, mental health care and recovery support; a project official said retention data for this housing model with supportive services runs 90 to 95 percent.
The Dutchess County Legislature approved 23-2 an agreement to move forward with a homeless shelter at 26 Oakley Street in Poughkeepsie, funded by a $13 million grant from the state's Homeless Housing and Assistance Program. Lawmakers also passed resolutions creating a county homelessness action plan and adding three staff to an outreach team for chronically unhoused individuals; residents objected that shelters and services are concentrated in specific city neighborhoods.
The shelter carries an eight-year sunset period, after which it transitions to serving single women and/or families only, and the county committed not to construct more emergency shelters in the city for 35 years.
Vancouver City Council held the first reading of a camping ban covering 1,500 feet around the 120-bed Bridge Shelter under construction, with the ban slated to take effect November 1. A city spokesperson said the ban gives the Homeless Assistance and Response Team and other agencies the ability to work with people living unsheltered in the area before the shelter opens, which officials expect by the end of the year. A public hearing and second reading are scheduled for September 21.
Vancouver already bans camping within 1,000 feet of its Safe Stay sites.
The Vancouver City Council on Monday accepted a $564,100 grant from the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund to expand the city's Homeless Assistance and Response Team into unincorporated Clark County, funding up to four limited-term outreach positions covering Hazel Dell, Salmon Creek, Orchards and other areas for one year. Homeless response manager Jamie Spinelli said the expansion prepares for the 120-bed congregate Bridge Shelter opening in November; a staff report said county residents outside Vancouver will be able to access the shelter for four years after it opens.
Clark County has approved funding for a dedicated sheriff's deputy to support Vancouver's homeless response team.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson released a shelter action plan that would add nearly 1,000 shelter beds by the end of 2027 compared with the start of 2026, dedicating $37 million to new shelter capacity that the city estimates would serve about 1,750 people annually. The plan also includes approximately $11.2 million in 2027 for rental assistance, eviction prevention, legal services and case management for households at risk of homelessness. Eight shelters are planned to open in 2027, funded through the mayor's 2027–2028 proposed budget.
The mayor's 2027–2028 proposed budget funding the plan is scheduled for release Tuesday, September 22.
Tucson's Planning and Development Services Department began the first of five public meetings on making permanent the shelter-friendly zoning changes adopted under the city's February housing and homelessness emergency declaration, which expires next February. City planner Amanda Smith said churches and nonprofits interested in opening shelters have made little progress even under the loosened rules, citing scarce viable sites and limited funding. Staff plan to draft zoning code amendments after the meetings conclude in October, with adoption targeted by spring.
The February emergency declaration shortened the shelter-approval process from several years to about six months; Tucson opened its first sanctioned encampment, STAR Village, in October 2025.
The Standard reported that the candidates running for District 10 supervisor could determine the outcome of the standoff over 60 tiny cabins that have sat unused in storage at the Jerrold Commons homeless shelter in the Bayview. Supervisor Shamann Walton criticized the mayor's office last year when officials moved the cabins from the Mission to the Bayview.
The Standard reported September 2 that the cabins cost $7 million and had sat empty for nearly a year.
Phoenix City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a zoning change extending the special permit for the city's Safe Outdoor Space, a sanctioned camping site that opened in 2023. The 5.5-acre property at 15th Avenue and Jackson Street can hold up to 200 camp sites, with tents provided by the city under a shade structure. Vice Mayor Kesha Hodge Washington credited the city's Office of Homeless Solutions for its work with residents at the site.
The site opened in 2023 near the former "Zone" encampment, which a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered Phoenix to clear that year.
UMOM New Day Centers received more than twice as many families seeking heat respite this summer as last summer, and Phoenix City Council on Wednesday increased the nonprofit's heat-season contract from a planned $300,000 to $772,904.80. The funding covers heat respite centers operating seven days a week for families with minor children experiencing homelessness. Four speakers addressed the council in support of the increase before the vote.
City Manager Eric Batista sent the City Council an ordinance, for its September 15 meeting, that would prohibit camping, sleeping or lying on public property and bar living in vehicles on public ways or in public parking lots for more than 24 consecutive hours, with a $25-per-day fine for people who remain after a notice to vacate. The ordinance is part of Batista's "Disrupting the Cycle" framework, which pairs enforcement with expanded shelter capacity, a live bed-availability dashboard, and centralized shelter access. Worcester has 197 beds across four permanent year-round shelters, with 136 temporary beds added last winter.
The 2026 Point in Time count identified 1,187 unhoused people in Worcester County, down from the previous year.
Oakland is increasing tows and sweeps of inhabited vehicles under an Encampment Abatement Policy that took effect in July, after an April city council vote removed inhabited vehicles from the city's definition of a homeless encampment. City workers began towing vehicles or requiring owners to relocate along San Leandro Street in late August, and Oakland police said they towed more than 60 abandoned and stolen cars and RVs in nearby neighborhoods on a single night. About 2,120 of the nearly 3,660 homeless people counted on the city's streets in 2024 — 58% — lived in vehicles, and the city has 1,260 shelter units for 4,410 homeless residents.
Oakland's point-in-time homelessness declined about 20% from 2024 to 2026, per the same report.
Pallet, the Washington-based shelter manufacturer chosen for Dallas's planned South Dallas transitional housing community, announced it is closing its business after nine years. Dallas's plan calls for a 75-unit non-congregate community on 3.6 acres, at a price of $2.7 million paid from 2024 bond funds and with estimated annual operating costs of $1.5 million to $2 million; the city's published timeline places the Pallet unit order in December 2026 and installation by September 2027. Neither Pallet nor Dallas's Office of Housing and Community Empowerment had responded to requests for comment at publication.
Pallet said it created more than 6,000 beds and sheltered an estimated 30,000 people across the US and Canada since 2017.
City filings show the 61-unit Hudson House at 1712 Summit Ave, a 1906-era building operating as studio micro-apartments, will be used as supportive shelter under a partnership with Purpose. Dignity. Action., which runs the CoLEAD program. The Easton Group acquired the building from Pioneer Human Services for $4.5 million in 2024, with rents around $799 a month plus utilities. PDA said its lodging agreements set occupancy terms without requiring sobriety or criminal background checks.
The Seattle Office of Housing committed $27 million to permanent supportive housing workforce wages at partners and contractors in its latest budget.
The Pasadena Human Services Commission was scheduled to hear a pitch Wednesday, September 9, from Azure Printed Homes co-founder Gene Eidelman for transitional housing units printed from recycled polymer at a Gardena factory. Eidelman cited a San Luis Obispo project where 62 units were manufactured in 10 weeks for a site serving 54 unhoused people, and a Camarillo project of six tiny homes manufactured in six weeks. A staff report to the commission put a 50-bed site's annual operating costs at $3.5 million to $4 million under master leasing.
The city report puts Pasadena's homelessness rate at 423 per 100,000 residents on the 2025 point-in-time count.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and Council President Miguel Meléndez submitted legislation September 1 seeking up to $1.15 million from the city's Opioid Compensation Fund for City Roots Community Land Trust to operate Peace Village, the city's sanctioned encampment, through June 2027. The site is expected to include 15 Pallet shelters with showers, electricity, and heat, accommodating roughly 15 to 30 people at a time. City Council is scheduled to vote September 22.
Peace Village opened at 97 Industrial Street in 2018 and operated for about five years before the site was cleared for construction; Pallet, the shelter manufacturer, announced its closure September 4.
FOX45 News · on Baltimore's shelter-hotel maintenance contracts
Spotlight on Maryland reported Baltimore paid contractor Old Town Hotel Group about $4 million on a first maintenance contract and nearly $2 million on a second for two downtown hotels used as homeless shelters, while an August inspector general report described mold, poor ventilation and mushrooms growing through carpeting found in a September 2025 inspection of the Sleep Inn at 301 Fallsway. The Mayor's Office of Homeless Services said the contractor resolved the reported issues and a new vendor took over in July; Continuum of Care chair Nico Sanders said testing covered six rooms, three of which showed elevated mold spore levels, all at the Sleep Inn.
The city bought the two hotels in 2024 for $15.2 million in federal COVID funds and plans to convert both to permanent supportive housing, with construction tentatively beginning in mid-2027.
Pallet Shelter, the Everett-based manufacturer of micro-modular shelter units, announced it will cease operations Friday. The closure comes months after the nonprofit Everyone Deserves Housing opened a 75-unit Pallet shelter in Interbay under a Seattle Human Services Department contract amended in April from $1.3 million to almost $4 million. Mayor Katie Wilson said the city would continue opening wooden tiny houses; PubliCola reported the city has opened or announced a net 175 new Pallet and tiny house units against Wilson's goal of 1,000 new shelter beds in her first year.
In 2024, a fire at a Pallet shelter on Elliott Ave. W operated by Catholic Community Services destroyed or damaged 25 units and displaced 28 people.
The 200-bed NW Northrup Shelter is set to close permanently on September 18, one year after it opened, and the city said priority services in the area — camp removals, trash pickup, and perimeter security checks — end with the closure. Blanchet House's Bethanie's Room, a 75-bed women's shelter nearby, is already hitting capacity, and executive director Steve Cook said demand is rising even before nearby shelters close.
The shelter building's owner faces a foreclosure suit by Northwest Bank, reported August 27; the closure is one of several this year attributed by the city and county to budget cuts.
The Standard reported, citing emails obtained by public records request, that 60 tiny cabins San Francisco bought for about $7 million have sat unused in a Bayview parking lot at Jerrold Commons for nearly a year, after the mayor's office scrapped a planned SoMa shelter site at 428 11th St. on September 30, 2025. The Housing Accelerator Fund's records show $219,000 was spent on the abandoned SoMa project, and the outlet reported the city has no timeline, budget, or plan to reactivate the cabins.
A January report from the city homelessness department found Bayview-Hunters Point has 21% of the city's unsheltered population and 11% of its shelter beds, while SoMa holds 28% of beds and 11% of the unsheltered population.
A spending breakdown KSTP obtained from Ramsey County showed how St. Paul and the county allocated $2.25 million for shelter expansion before clearing the Pig's Eye Park encampment in early August: $969,500 to Catholic Charities' Higher Ground for 49 beds, $103,125 to Model Cities for 6 stabilization beds, $300,000 for housing-focused case management, and $880,000 in city funds still in contract negotiations. The city previously confirmed only seven people from the camp accepted the beds, and outreach worker John Tolo estimated over 200 people are now at the Randolph Avenue camp.
The county's Shelter Entry and Diversion team handled 608 calls in the most recent reporting week, including 380 for shelter reservations, with several adult shelters at or near capacity.
Cville Right Now · on Charlottesville's Holiday Drive shelter and Free Bridge encampment
Charlottesville planned to open a temporary low-barrier emergency shelter at 2000 Holiday Dr. on Tuesday, September 1, with capacity for 120 people, run by Central Arizona Shelter Services, which set out 37 beds for men, 21 for women, and four isolation beds. The city planned to begin clearing the Free Bridge encampment the same day; City Councilor Jen Fleisher said about 25-30 people remained there. Fleisher said about 80 spaces from a BRACH-managed list become available when Vista 29 opens this fall.
The Free Bridge encampment held as many as 120 people at its height.
Denver City Council's Community Planning and Housing Committee voted Tuesday, September 1, to advance a one-year continuation of the Department of Housing Stability's housing and homelessness strategy through 2027, sending it to the full council for adoption. The 2027 targets include developing at least 930 housing units, preserving at least 490 income-restricted apartments, sheltering at least 12,000 unique households, and reducing overall homelessness by 30% compared with 2024. Committee members asked HOST for more detailed eviction, funding, racial-equity and family-homelessness data.
HOST's citywide Housing Needs Assessment is expected by December 2026, with the next long-range strategy due September 1, 2027.
Roughly 100 residents of the Pig's Eye Regional Park encampment, closed August 5, relocated to the Randolph Avenue woods, which the city said now hold at least 140 to 150 people, up from about 40. Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker told the city council that just seven of the 140-plus Pig's Eye residents accepted shelter beds before the closure, and that the site's terrain and rail access limit emergency response. Ramsey County reported 28 individuals with active housing referrals, of whom eight have been housed, and put its total spending on the relocation effort at $1.1 million.
Ahead of the August 5 closure, the St. Paul City Council redirected $1 million to open 49 new dedicated shelter beds at Catholic Charities' Higher Ground facility downtown.
Sacramento broke ground on the Gardendale Road micro-community near Meadowview, the first of four planned tiny-home sites for unhoused people 55 and older, with 40 units planned there and 28 at a 25th Street site. City officials confirmed the Arena Boulevard site in North Natomas is paused; an internal city manager's office memo obtained by KCRA estimated that site's development and construction at a minimum of $7.1 million, up from a $3.5 million estimate in September 2025 presentations, which officials attributed to its flood-zone location. Mayor Kevin McCarty said "pause does not mean it's done."
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan said on August 26 that the Arena Boulevard project was "officially not moving forward."
Bybee Lakes Hope Center in North Portland raised $1.3 million this year to keep 100 beds open after Multnomah County cut the funding that had supported them. KGW reported that more than 1,000 shelter beds within Multnomah County are set to close by the end of the year as a result of city and county budget cuts.
Multnomah County provided $1.5 million in September 2023 to keep Bybee Lakes Hope Center open on condition of a third-party financial review.
Northwest Bank filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on August 25 alleging that developer Vanessa Sturgeon, Sturgeon Development Partners and North Pearl LLC defaulted on a $6 million loan on the Pearl District building that houses the 200-bed NW Northrup Shelter and now owe $7.2 million in payments and interest. The city leases the building for $18,000 a month; the shelter is set to close permanently on September 18, one year after opening. Mayoral spokesman Cody Bowman said the city does not anticipate the lawsuit will affect the planned closure.
In March, the owners of the neighboring ORO Apartments sued the city of Portland and shelter operator the Salvation Army for $6 million in Multnomah County Circuit Court; that suit remains ongoing.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, toured the Outsiders Inn men's shelter inside St. Paul Lutheran Church in Vancouver on August 27, where staff urged her to protect federal housing dollars, including HOME-ARP and Community Development Block Grant funding administered through local governments. Staff said some funding for outreach and housing stability work is awaiting HUD approval, and case manager Renae Rush said about 15 men at the shelter are "document ready" for housing but have waited a year or longer. Perez said she would follow up on the funding concerns.
St. Paul Lutheran Church has been part of Vancouver's homelessness response since 2003, when it began hosting the Winter Hospitality Overflow overnight shelter program.
City officials told the St. Paul City Council's Public Safety Committee that the encampment near Shepard Road and Randolph Avenue more than tripled in size after the city closed the Pig's Eye Park encampment. Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker said that despite a $1 million investment to expand shelter capacity, the city is aware of only seven former Pig's Eye Park residents who used the provided shelter services. Officials said the Randolph site, a former auto salvage yard, has soil contaminated with lead and carcinogens and flooding risks, and gave no timeline for future encampment closures.
CBS Minnesota reported on August 9 that the same encampment had doubled in size after the Pig's Eye closure.
San Antonio is testing a "decommissioning" strategy for homeless encampments in which the city pauses sweeps of targeted campsites for up to six weeks while outreach workers help residents find housing or shelter, then uses fences, patrols or trespassing enforcement to keep the camps from re-forming. The Express-News reported the city plans to spend $9 million from the 2022 affordable housing bond on new facilities for the homeless, potentially an emergency shelter or transitional housing, to offset a loss of shelter beds.
The city's fiscal year 2025 budget allocated $44 million for homeless services, including the cleanup of 1,300 encampments.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged Bayshore Navigation Center employees Oliver Barcenas, 36, and Erika Porter, 45, with accessory after the fact and obstructing and delaying a police officer, days after their arrest for allegedly aiding Norris Reed III, the suspected shooter of SFPD officer Brittney Taylor on May 31. Porter, who faces two additional misdemeanor counts for allegedly lying to an officer, pleaded not guilty Monday. Five Keys CEO Steve Good said staff told him they placated the armed intruder and evacuated nearly 200 staff and clients from the shelter.
Barcenas was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, August 26; police said a shelter employee alerted them at about 12:17 a.m., over an hour after Reed fled officers.
Sacramento halted its planned micro-community for homeless seniors at 3511 Arena Boulevard in North Natomas, a city-run temporary housing project of up to 40 units for people 55 and older, Councilmember Lisa Kaplan confirmed. The project was last estimated to cost $7.1 million; Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes said the 1.58-acre site sits in an A99 flood zone requiring additional engineering, drainage and compliance work.
The Arena Boulevard site was one of four micro-communities proposed in Sacramento; a group called the Advisory Council for Legal Ethical Oversight filed a lawsuit in April seeking to halt the project.
Spectrum News · on San Diego shelter strategy and 2026 point-in-time results
San Diego's latest point-in-time count found a 6.6% year-over-year decline in unsheltered homelessness within the city, and the countywide 2026 count recorded 5,108 people living unsheltered, down from 5,714, with 4,695 counted in shelters or transitional housing, up from 4,191. The share of households exiting the homeless services system to permanent housing rose from 23% to 29% over three years. Mayor Todd Gloria attributed the results to a mix of shelter types — traditional shelters, safe parking and supervised safe sleeping sites — and said "this mayor is not saying mission accomplished."
CalMatters reported August 21 that homeless point-in-time counts declined in most reporting California counties this year.
The Good Works Coalition, a group of homeless people, advocates and service providers, wrote an open letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration calling for a 24/7 "heat respite-and-navigation" site during summer, better communication about cooling centers, and shelter protections comparable to winter Code Blue. The city has recorded eight heat-related deaths so far this year, according to the Department of Public Health, which does not track the housing status of those who died; city officials said heat poses different threats than cold and kept additional winter shelter beds open year-round this summer.
The additional shelter beds are funded only through the end of the fiscal year, and most city cooling centers close by 9 p.m., with one 24-hour location in Kensington.
Dallas leaders said they will complete a 75-unit transitional pallet housing facility with mental health support in southern Dallas. The city's Office of Housing and Community Empowerment and District 7 Council Member Adam Bazaldua announced plans in early August for approximately 75 transitional pallet homes on underutilized TxDOT property near Interstate 310, paired with behavioral health care, addiction treatment, case management and employment assistance.
Vendor Pallet has built similar communities in Atlanta, Tampa and Denver.
The Oregonian/OregonLive · on an exit interview with departing Portland Solutions director Skyler Brocker-Knapp
The Oregonian published an exit interview with Skyler Brocker-Knapp, the departing director of Portland Solutions, who has run the operational side of the city's shelter expansion under Mayors Wheeler and Wilson since 2021. The paper described the city-county partnership as deeply strained when she joined in 2021; Brocker-Knapp said of the relationship now, "I think we're at a really good place," and said the regional homeless services tax "has provided a lot of really important money to a system that desperately needed it" while adding changes could be made to it, including recognizing the role cities play in the region.
The Oregonian reported Brocker-Knapp's planned departure on August 12.
The Oregonian reported that Portland and Multnomah County will decommission more than 1,000 adult shelter beds between them by the end of the year — about a third of the beds that existed in January — after a five-year expansion that created more than 2,300 new beds. The article attributes the closures to county budget cuts and to Mayor Keith Wilson's shift toward the 1,500 overnight-only beds he campaigned on in 2024.
The Oregonian reported in June that more than 1,100 beds at 12 Portland-area shelters were slated to close by the end of 2026.
The city is converting the Multnomah Safe Rest Village on Southwest Multnomah Boulevard into a treatment-focused shelter: it will still house people leaving homelessness, but residents will be expected to engage in treatment and counseling during their stay. KGW reported that nearby residents gave mixed reactions and questioned whether the change will resolve the livability problems they have reported around the site.
The village opened in June 2022 as the city's first Safe Rest Village and has been operated by Urban Alchemy since July 2025.
San Francisco police chief Derrick Lew announced Friday that two employees of the Bayshore Navigation Center, run by Five Keys, were arrested Thursday evening for allegedly helping Norris Reed III hide from police after he shot and wounded an officer on May 31. Police said one employee gave Reed clothing to conceal his identity and the other gave false statements to officers; Five Keys CEO Steve Good gave a differing account, saying staff stopped Reed at the door, began evacuating the facility — which held more than 200 people — and alerted police, leading to Reed's arrest.
Reed allegedly shot Officer Brittney Taylor around 10:45 p.m. on May 31 after fleeing a robbery; a shelter employee alerted police at about 12:17 a.m. and he was arrested.
The New Times followed a man through arraignment at Phoenix Municipal Court on a class 1 misdemeanor charge of obstructing a public thoroughfare, cited during a July 30 police sweep near 11th Avenue and Jackson Street in the former "Zone" encampment area — his second citation in under a month. The paper reported there are about 900 shelter beds in the neighborhood, leaving a couple hundred people on the street when they fill each night; the man declined a plea deal, was appointed a public defender, and has a follow-up hearing in early September.
A Maricopa County judge declared the downtown Phoenix "Zone" encampment an illegal public nuisance in 2023 and ordered the city to clear it.
A west Houston pilot placing homeless people in hotel rooms while West Houston Assistance Ministries provides employment coaching and other services received an additional $180,000 from council offices, Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones, and the Energy Corridor Management District as it entered its second year, after serving nearly 100 people on $30,000 in its first year. The city's 222-bed residential services center in East Downtown has operated at capacity since opening this summer, against an estimated 1,200 unsheltered people in Harris County.
Houston's 2026 point-in-time count tallied 3,321 homeless people in the area, per Houston Public Media's June reporting.
Washington County's Department of Housing Services is implementing a pre-screening process for people referred to county-funded shelters and transitional housing within 1,000 feet of schools or day care facilities, checking for existing legal residency restrictions before assignment. County spokesperson Emily Roots said no one will be denied shelter and that people with restrictions will be referred to a different location; she said the process was developed with the sheriff's office and Community Corrections and had unanimous board support. The change follows concerns raised in April by Reeds Crossing neighbors about the Aloha Safe Rest Village's proximity to two elementary schools, though Roots said the policy was not created in response.
The Aloha Safe Rest Village, renamed Next Step Community, has been delayed by construction and is now expected to open this fall, with a good neighbor agreement still being worked out.
Chula Vista and Imperial Beach approved a two-year agreement letting Imperial Beach place eligible unsheltered residents in Chula Vista's 62-unit Village at Otay pallet shelter, with Imperial Beach reimbursing $90.60 per night per participant. The Chula Vista council approved it 4-1 Tuesday, with the dissenter citing a lack of regional and county involvement; Imperial Beach's council followed unanimously Wednesday. Chula Vista will also administer tenant-based rental assistance of up to 24 months on Imperial Beach's behalf.
The shelter has operated since May 2023 and served 210 people, with 39 exits to housing between July 2025 and June 2026.
Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello pitched a "Unified Regional Approach" to homelessness in which jurisdictions retain their own budgets and funding while coordinating through a shared data system, and said the model is deliberately unlike the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. Tacoma, which Mello said currently hosts 80% of homelessness services in the county, is weighing whether to join; several other cities have passed resolutions committing to collaborate.
Seattle and King County set a January 2027 timeline in August to take back $159 million in contracts from KCRHA.
Marcus Clark said he and all three of his children were hospitalized with respiratory problems while staying at the former Sleep Inn on Fallsway, a hotel Baltimore converted to a homeless shelter, after tests found more than 1,000 toxic mold spores in the family's room. Advocates including Rev. Christina Flowers called on Maryland's General Assembly to investigate conditions in the city's hotel shelters, which were purchased with more than $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The city Inspector General's office previously documented mold, mushrooms growing from carpets and non-functional ventilation across multiple rooms at the hotels.
Multnomah County's Homeless Services Department will close the St. Johns drop-in center, a day center in North Portland for people experiencing homelessness, on August 31, after the Board of County Commissioners voted to cut its funding as part of addressing a $67 million shortfall in the department. According to the program, the center has served more than 330 people since opening in July 2025, with over 75 daily visitors; the county said its FY 2026 budgeted operating cost was about $530,000.
HSD said it will work to identify possible new facilities; a replacement center would open no sooner than July 2027.
SF.gov (Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing) · on the citywide Good Neighbor Policy for city-funded shelter and service sites
San Francisco announced a revised citywide Good Neighbor Policy setting a single standard for how city-contracted shelter, transitional housing, supportive housing, and service sites steward the surrounding public space: three perimeter checks a day, acknowledgment of community concerns within 24 hours, and reasonable efforts to resolve routine concerns within 72 hours. The policy sets a four-tier corrective-action ladder running from notice-and-correction to contract remedies including payment holds and termination, with app testing beginning in August, provider training in September and October, and implementation planned for November and December 2026.
The policy covers all HSH-funded shelter, transitional housing, access-point, drop-in, and supportive-housing property-management contracts and all DPH client-serving program contracts.
Vancouver began a deep cleaning of the encampment surrounding the Share House Men's Shelter — the city's largest homeless encampment — on Wednesday, requiring residents to relocate for several days; a city notice says they can return Friday. The city's HART team lead, Jamie Spinelli, said the temporary removal addresses accumulated waste and biohazards that weekly in-place cleanups cannot, and said there is no location the city can direct campers to in the interim.
The city closed the nearby Mill Plain Boulevard soundwall camp in March 2025.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers cleared a state-owned lot in Norman on Friday under Gov. Kevin Stitt's Operation SAFE, giving residents 20 minutes to gather belongings before bulldozers removed tents; volunteers estimated 40 to 60 people were displaced. It was the second Operation SAFE sweep of the same site, which people had returned to after a May clearance. Letters from state COO David Ostrowe put state spending on clearing encampments from state property at $375,701 in Oklahoma City and $523,873 in Tulsa; Norman's clearing cost was not included.
Norman voters approved an $8 million shelter bond in April; construction is on hold while the Oklahoma Supreme Court considers an appeal challenging the bond's approval.
The city's Street Services Coordination Center reported receiving 1,734 new campsite reports for the week of August 10-16, including 479 reports of people living in vehicles. Teams assessed approximately 662 reported campsites, visited 392 active campsites and removed 158 campsites the city said posed a health and safety risk. Six people accepted shelter referrals and three used a shelter bed for at least one night.
The program's cumulative totals since April 11, 2022 are 9,766 shelter referrals and 2,965 people who have used a shelter bed.
Management at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority told the agency's executive leadership team last week which staffers will lose their jobs in late August or early September, the first staff cuts of the agency's wind-down to a coordination role. Staff represented by the PROTEC17 union sent a letter to the governing board urging the agency to cut two top executives first, whose combined compensation tops $600,000 — what the union called "the direct financial cost of five to six full-time operational staff." The agency currently has 73 staff and has overspent its administrative budget by as much as $1 million this year.
Seattle and King County set a January 2027 timeline to take back $159 million in homelessness contracts from the authority, narrowing it to coordination.
Public records obtained by the Mercury showed Portland Solutions staff coordinating public messaging with Riff City Strategies, the PR firm for Urban Alchemy, which holds the city's largest homeless services contract at $90.4 million through 2028. Complaints filed against the nonprofit's Portland shelter sites since 2023 have reached at least 156, including allegations of staff drug use and sexual harassment; the records showed city staff sharing draft press responses with the firm, recommending journalists, and connecting the firm to Mayor Keith Wilson's office. A Portland police spokesperson declined a request to collaborate on a story promoting the nonprofit, writing that PPB should not promote "a business that's mentioned in at least one criminal investigation."
Councilors Candace Avalos and Sameer Kanal issued a May 8 memo requesting more oversight of the contract after earlier KATU reporting counted more than 80 complaints against Urban Alchemy sites between 2023 and 2025.
A tiny home village with 123 units and 208 beds opened in the parking lot of the Sun Valley Metrolink station, operated by the nonprofit Hope the Mission — its 36th shelter location and fourth village opened in four months. Move-ins began August 17 at a pace of 25 residents per day until the village reaches capacity. Mayor Karen Bass said the site is part of a plan to build more than 500 tiny homes across Los Angeles.
A second Hope the Mission tiny home village opened less than two months earlier at the Van Nuys Amtrak/Metrolink station.
Pendleton Mayor McKennon McDonald and Library Director Jennifer Johnson traveled to Portland to study the city's homelessness response, touring the Portland Solutions coordination hub, the Clinton Triangle shelter site, and the NW Glisan Oasis day center, and meeting with Mayor Keith Wilson and Portland Solutions Director Skyler Brocker-Knapp. The pair said they hoped to adapt elements of Portland's system to Pendleton's smaller scale.
Pendleton hosts a seasonal warming shelter and a transitional housing complex but no year-round overnight shelter.
La Casa Norte broke ground August 12 on the conversion of the former North Hotel at 1622 N. California Ave. into a non-congregate shelter with 40 private rooms for youth ages 18–24, each with its own bathroom and mini kitchen. The approximately $6 million project received city approval in summer 2024, with remaining construction set to begin this month and renovation complete in mid-2027. The nonprofit said 12 young people moved into the completed first floor this spring and three have transitioned to stable housing.
Through its Non-Congregate Shelter Acquisition program, the city is working to convert approximately 300 traditional shelter beds into non-congregate settings.
The CTA board approved $9 million in pilot programs with four nonprofits, three of which will place crisis intervention teams on the Red, Blue and Green lines to aid riders experiencing homelessness, substance use disorder and mental health issues; the fourth funds 20 community violence intervention specialists on the downtown Red Line. The board also renewed a $4.2 million annual outreach agreement with the Department of Family and Support Services and amended a second DFSS pact to add $412,500 for at least 30 dedicated shelter beds for CTA riders, set to be available before winter.
The terms of all current CTA, Metra and Pace board members expire September 1, when the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority board is seated.
The city of Portland plans to eliminate the RV parking component at the North Portland Road shelter site, its last sanctioned venue for homeless people living in vehicles. KGW reported the change is part of a city effort to cut costs.
The site opened in 2024 with both shelter pods and RV parking spots; the city's other RV site, Sunderland RV Safe Park, closed in September 2025.
Six months into a $30 million contract to run the Aspen, a former DoubleTree hotel shelter, Urban Alchemy told a Denver City Council committee it is exceeding the housing department's performance targets: 93% occupancy against a 90% goal, 99% of clients getting intake housing conversations, and 88% receiving regular housing-focused case management. Average length of stay across the city's shelters rose from 166 days in 2025 to 229 days in 2026, which deputy director Jeff Kositsky attributed to the loss of housing authority vouchers and ARPA funding.
The city's performance metrics for shelter providers do not count housing exits; Kositsky told the council providers do not control housing resources.
San Diego is funding an additional 160 shelter beds at Rachel's Promise, the Catholic Charities-operated downtown women's shelter, bringing its total to 210 beds — about 110 beds for single women opening the following week and 100 beds for women with children the next month, including 28 family units. The city is funding the program at $5.6 million a year. San Diego Housing Commission data showed the share of unhoused women and girls in SDHC shelter programs rose from 29.9% in fiscal year 2021 to about 40.5% in fiscal year 2026.
Rachel's Promise operated as a 50-bed shelter before the expansion.
After St. Paul closed the Pig's Eye Park encampment on Aug. 5, dozens of its residents moved about seven miles up the Mississippi River to an encampment near Randolph Avenue and Shepard Road, which one longtime resident said doubled in size. Before the shutdown, city officials estimated around 220 people lived across three major encampments, 140 of them at Pig's Eye, and the city is spending at least $1 million to expand shelter capacity. Residents of the adjacent Waterford Bay Apartments reported increased 911 calls and concerns about car break-ins; state Rep. Leigh Finke opposed the closure strategy.
Sahan Journal reported on Aug. 5 that the closure began against a 1,400-person shelter waitlist and 49 newly added shelter beds.
Skyler Brocker-Knapp, who has led Portland's effort to build its own homeless shelter and outreach system for the past four and a half years — first under Mayor Ted Wheeler, then as director of Portland Solutions under Mayor Keith Wilson — will step down from her city job next week to become chief strategy officer at United Way of the Columbia-Willamette. Her deputy director, Hank Smith, will take over on an interim basis at the end of the month.
The city confirmed in July that its city-run adult overnight shelter system will shrink to 580 beds this winter, down from 876.
Philadelphia's Office of Homeless Services runs weekly encampment cleanups citywide, posting notices and cleanup dates in advance and sending outreach workers with police to offer shelter before trash crews clear sites, a process Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration ties to her goal of "functional zero" street homelessness. At one I-95 on-ramp site, an outreach worker found beds for all five remaining residents; the article noted couples are hard to place because most shelters separate men and women.
KYW reported in July that February's point-in-time count found 711 people living unsheltered in Philadelphia, down from more than 1,100 counted in 2025.