A National Shift in Homelessness Policy Is Coming. Community Care Is Still Our North Star.

At Make-A-Day, we start with a simple truth: people know what they need to survive, to stabilize, and to move forward.

We’re reminded of that constantly in the real conversations we have across Columbus. People tell us exactly what would help that day, getting documents uploaded for a housing appointment, figuring out the warming center process, keeping a partner or pet with them, or picking back up a goal they’ve been working on with our team. These are clear, specific needs. None of them require oversight or moral tests. They require trust, follow-through, and a conversation that starts with their priorities, not ours.

That’s why Ohio’s new SNAP restriction (including the ban on buying sugary drinks) is frustrating for so many families. It’s another policy built on the assumption that people living in poverty can’t be trusted with basic decision-making.

And it’s not the only shift happening.

In the last few days, reporting has made public a dramatic proposed change to the federal homelessness system. The Trump administration is preparing to rewrite the rules for HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program (the main pot of federal money for homelessness services) in ways that would cut permanent housing and push communities toward short-term, more punitive models.

Under the proposal, only about 30% of CoC funds could be used for permanent housing, down from roughly 85–90% today, with the rest redirected to short-term programs that require things like mandated treatment, work rules, and cooperation with camping bans. Advocates and local leaders estimate that around 170,000 people nationwide who are currently in permanent supportive housing or rapid rehousing could be at risk of returning to homelessness.

Here in Ohio, COHHIO estimates that these changes could mean an $80 million cut to supportive housing and rapid rehousing, enough to destabilize housing for roughly 10,000 formerly homeless Ohioans if nothing changes. Those are the same types of units and programs many of our guests, and our partner agencies’ clients, rely on when they finally do get inside.

So on one side, we’re seeing more conditions and restrictions at the front door, on food, shelter, and basic survival. On the other, we’re watching the back door of the system being quietly opened, with permanent housing funding on the chopping block and pressure to tie help to work rules, treatment mandates, and encampment crackdowns.

The message behind these policies is consistent: people in crisis need supervision, not autonomy.

But that’s not what we see on the ground.

At our pop-ups and outreach events, people look out for each other long before anyone from an agency shows up. Someone checks in on an older neighbor. Someone saves food for a friend running late from work. Someone brings a newcomer over and says, “Talk to Make-A-Day. They actually help.” People tell us who hasn’t been around, who’s struggling, who’s trying to get into support, or who needs support before their warming center hotel stay ends.

This is ordinary community care. It’s practical, consistent, and it works.

It’s also why we operate the way we do: Our role is simple: trust people, show up, and make stability easier to reach.

We don’t ask people to earn dignity.
We don’t make care conditional.
We don’t pretend we know more than the person standing in front of us.
And in our stability work, we don’t push people toward goals they didn’t set, we help them identify what matters to them and support them in moving at a pace that feels possible.

And research backs up what we see. Cities piloting Guaranteed Basic Income programs are finding that when people receive flexible, unconditional support, they spend it on the same things our neighbors name every day: rent, groceries, transportation, childcare, medication. People don’t need to be directed; they need to be supported.

If you believe our community deserves systems rooted in dignity, here’s where you can lean in:

Volunteer at a pop-up so you’ll see firsthand how people support one another
Become an Investor in Hope to sustain community-centered outreach across Columbus
Pay attention to policy from Ohio SNAP rules to federal CoC changes, warming center funding, and camping enforcement
Share what you know because your voice carries into spaces we aren’t always in

Central Ohio is full of people doing the best they can in systems that weren’t built with them in mind.
We can’t fix every policy overnight.
But we can build a community where trust is the starting point, not the reward.

Learn more at makeaday.fun