APA Policy guide on homelessness

Planners can play a significant role in reducing homelessness by determining local housing needs through their comprehensive plans, removing regulatory and legal barriers to the development of affordable and supportive housing, and fostering community support for permanent housing for the homeless. The lack of affordable housing severely limits a community's ability to end homelessness by limiting its ability to move people from shelters to permanent housing. A planner's most fundamental responsibility is to improve communities by addressing existing and future needs. Section A-5 of the AICP Code of Ethics (as amended in October 1991) states that a planner "must strive to expand choice and opportunity for all persons, recognizing a special responsibility to plan for the needs of disadvantaged groups ..." The Code of Ethics further states that a planner must "urge the alteration of policies, institutions and decisions which oppose such needs." This Policy Guide is another in a series of APA policy guides concerning housing related issues and builds on recommended policies APA has adopted in the following guides: Factory Built Housing (2001), Housing (1999), Community Residences (1997), The Supply of Public and Subsidized Housing (1991), and Smart Growth (2002).

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Webpage

American Planning Association. (2003). APA policy guide on homelessness. https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/homelessness.htm