The city of Birmingham will bring together government leaders, nonprofits, faith communities, and local businesses on Monday, December 1, for a first-of-its-kind symposium focused on addressing homelessness and improving coordination across the region’s housing system.
The event, The State of Homelessness: Redefining Community, will begin at 1 p.m. at Regions Field and is free and open to the public. It is being organized in partnership with One Roof, the lead agency for Continuum of Care for Central Alabama, which oversees the federally mandated network of organizations that coordinate homelessness response in Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair counties.
The symposium comes as Birmingham invests $1.5 million into strengthening housing and homelessness services, part of a broader shift toward aligning the city’s strategy with One Roof’s coordinated regional system.
The Continuum of Care model, as required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is designed to streamline services and ensure that people experiencing homelessness can access support through a single, efficient process.
Local providers have long acknowledged fragmentation in Birmingham’s homelessness response. While dozens of organizations offer shelter, outreach, mental health care and rental assistance, they often operate independently, creating gaps that residents must navigate on their own.
One Roof, which conducts the annual Point-in-Time Count used to estimate the region’s homeless population, reported earlier this year that Birmingham and surrounding counties continue to face persistent challenges, including rising housing costs, limited shelter space, and increased demand for mental health and substance-use services. The 2024 count found more than 900 people experiencing homelessness across Central Alabama.
Mayor Randall Woodfin said the event signals a reset in how Birmingham approaches homelessness.
“There is no problem too big for a city that has already changed the world,” Woodfin said in the announcement. “We can do it again—because every person in Birmingham deserves a brighter future.”
The symposium will feature remarks from Woodfin, city officials, and community leaders, as well as storytelling from service providers who work directly with families and individuals experiencing homelessness. A roundtable discussion among providers will focus on immediate needs, successful strategies, and opportunities for collaboration.
“Every resident deserves safe, stable housing,” said Alanah Melton, the city’s director of unhoused strategy. “This symposium is about mobilizing our collective power—government, businesses, faith communities, nonprofits, and neighbors—to ensure we meet that responsibility.”
Birmingham leaders have faced increasing scrutiny over how the city handles homelessness, particularly following encampment cleanups and debates around shelter capacity. Homelessness has risen in many U.S. cities over the past three years due to inflation, the expiration of pandemic-era protections and ongoing shortages of affordable housing.
Local governments across Alabama have used federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to expand housing programs, and Birmingham is among the cities investing those dollars into outreach, rental assistance and partnerships with nonprofits.
