National Coalition for the Homeless

The National Coalition for the Homeless is a non-profit organization providing direct assistance for homeless people with a variety of needs which include shelter, food, affordable housing and opportunities to work and earn a living wage. The Coalition also acts as an advocacy group on behalf of the homeless to protect their rights as citizens and human beings. The goal of the Coalition is to provide long-term, humane solutions to homelessness.

"NCH" was created in 1984 based in large part on the Coalition for the Homeless. Since then many other cities in the United States have created organizations which are members of the network, such as Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Houston. There are also statewide coalitions, like those in Massachusetts and Colorado, and organizations focusing on the region. The local factions of Coalition for the Homeless often rely on volunteers to help with the programs assisting those who are homeless and at risk of being homeless.

In addition to housing, the Coalition helps provide a variety of services to the homeless, near-homeless and formerly-homeless community such as job placement, medical assistance, food and clothing distribution, legal advice and aid, transportation, and self-help counseling. There are also local projects which seek to make the issue of homelessness more visible to the public, such as the One Night Count, conducted by the Coalition of the Homeless in the Seattle area. On January 26, 2006, volunteers in the One Night Count event found 1,946 unsheltered homeless between the hours of 2 am and 5 am.

National and Local Organizations
This is a partial list of the many local Coalition for the Homeless branches in the United States.
 * Central Florida Coalition for the Homeless
 * Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
 * Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
 * Florida Coalition for the Homeless
 * Houston Coalition for the Homeless
 * Louisville Coalition for the Homeless
 * Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
 * Michigan Coalition for the Homeless
 * Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
 * New York Coalition for the Homeless
 * Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless
 * San Diego Coalition for the Homeless
 * Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco
 * Seattle Coalition for the Homeless
 * Washington, DC Coalition for the Homeless
 * Washington State Coalition for the Homeless
 * Yakima County Coalition for the Homeless