USICH Staff Return Without Guidance After Court Blocks Layoffs

The Government Accountability Office reports that eight of the eleven U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) employees placed on paid administrative leave in April 2025 returned to active status in mid-February 2026, yet have not received any direction from the Council or the executive director on their work.

USICH is an independent establishment created by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which obligates the agency to maintain a minimum staff, provide technical assistance through regional coordinators, submit annual reports to the President and Congress, and develop a national strategic plan to end homelessness. The Act set a termination date that Congress has extended to October 1 2028, while the President's FY 2027 budget proposes terminating the agency in that fiscal year.

In November 2025 a federal district court held that USICH's implementation of Executive Order 14238, issued in March 2025 to reduce non-statutory functions and personnel, was unlawful because the reductions made performance of the agency's statutory duties impossible. The court set aside USICH's prior actions to implement the order and barred the agency from further reductions. USICH has appealed the decision.

As of May 2026 USICH employed ten full-time staff members and a part-time executive director. Staff interviewed by GAO said they have received no guidance on homelessness policies or priorities since their return, impeding the agency's ability to fulfill its statutory responsibilities. The executive director indicated that the Council must provide guidance before USICH drafts a new strategic plan or initiates policy initiatives.

GAO conducted the review at the request of congressional committees, examining the McKinney-Vento Act, the executive order, court filings, appropriations statutes, and agency documentation, and interviewing the executive director, staff, and three Council member agencies.