The Department of Commerce provides administrative support to two advisory councils related to homelessness: the State Advisory Council on Homelessness (SACH) and the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). The two councils have significant overlap in membership and mission, and therefore they meet quarterly together to collaborate and inform state policy to end homelessness.
Joint SACH-ICH Meetings
- The next SACH-ICH meeting will be held on January 15, 2026. Meeting details to be announced.
View past SACH/ICH Meeting Documents (on Box).
State Advisory Council on Homelessness
SACH is a 12-member governor-appointed advisory council created by executive order in 1994. It was revised by Executive Order 15-01 in 2015. It also includes Ex-Officio, non-voting members from various state agencies.
SACH is charged with the following duties:
- Making policy recommendations to the governor and to the Affordable Housing Advisory Board at least annually on ways to enhance the state’s ability to respond to the needs of people who are homeless, who are at risk of becoming homeless, or who have been homeless.
- Review the Homeless Housing Plan annually.
- Advocate by raising issues and awareness of homelessness, as a council, and also as members in their individual roles; individual members shall also serve as a liaison and information conduit between the Council and their communities and constituencies.
- Provide a forum for an integrated and consistent statewide approach to addressing homelessness.
Monthly SACH work meetings
SACH’s voting members meet monthly to further the work of the council.
2025 meeting schedule to be announced.
Interagency Council on Homelessness
The Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) was created by the Legislature in 2005 (Chapter 484, Laws of 2005) to work to create greater levels of interagency coordination and to coordinate state agency efforts with efforts of state and local entities addressing homelessness. The council is composed of policy-level representatives from the following state agencies:
- The Department of Commerce
- The Department of Corrections
- The Department of Children, Youth, and Families
- The Department of Veterans Affairs
- The Department of Health
Note that representatives from other state agencies voluntarily attend and participate as non-voting members.
The council seeks to:
- Align homeless-related housing and supportive service policies among state agencies
- Identify ways in which providing housing with appropriate services can contribute to cost savings for state agencies
- Identify policies and actions that may contribute to homelessness or interfere with its reduction
- Review and improve strategies for discharge from state institutions that contribute to homelessness
- Recommend policies to either improve practices or align resources, or both, including those policies requested by the Affordable Housing Advisory Board or through state and local housing plans
- Ensure that the housing status of people served by state programs is collected in consistent formats available for analysis