In 1998, the first National Symposium on Homelessness Research was held in Arlington, VA, bringing together researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and formerly homeless people to review and discuss what had been learned in the decade since the passage of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (P.L. 100-77). The McKinney Act provided the first federal funds targeted specifically to address the needs of homeless people. Sponsored jointly by HHS and HUD, the two-day Symposium featured presentations by authors of 11 research papers and facilitated discussions to provide feedback to the authors and Symposium planners. The papers were then revised and published in a compendium titled Practical Lessons: The 1998 National Symposium on Homelessness Research.

Now, 10 years later, the landscape of homelessness research has evolved significantly. New models for housing and service delivery have emerged, and cutting edge research has expanded our understanding of the various populations that experience homelessness. Research on the dynamics of shelter use has yielded important information about the characteristics of single individuals experiencing homelessness and has brought focus to the population experiencing chronic homelessness. Efforts continue within and across federal agencies to standardize homeless-related data definitions and improve performance measurement activities, an example of which is HUD’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The Symposium held in 1998 focused primarily on housing and health and human services. While these issues are still central to the issue of homelessness, additional areas relating to employment, veterans, and the criminal justice system are increasingly important to understanding the complexity of homelessness in the 21st century.