NHCHC Statement on the Appointment of Jeff Olivet to Lead the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness

February 2, 2022

The National Health Care for the Homeless Council congratulates the Biden-Harris Administration on the appointment of Jeff Olivet as the new executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Beginning his career as an outreach worker at a Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) program, Jeff continues to embody the values of the HCH movement: We must make sure that the lived expertise of those who have experienced homelessness is driving our programmatic responses; we must address the needs of the whole person in a holistic manner; and we must work to change systems and structures that drive homelessness – especially structural racism.

These values are the hallmark of Jeff’s career, including his founding of the Center for Social Innovation – the source of the landmark SPARC initiative (Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities) that helped communities across the country develop more effective, anti-racist homelessness response systems.

Jeff also was a driving force behind the formation of the National Working Group for Race Equity, a coalition of national homelessness organizations working to eliminate racist structures in our organizations and the nation’s response to homelessness.

From his direct service experience to his national perspective on homelessness to his involvement in improving systems, Jeff Olivet is singularly suited to lead USICH at this pivotal moment.