The news dominating traditional sources of information, as it does every two years at this time of year, is the elections. This year, for the 2026 midterms, there are many races where the well-being of the homeless population is on the line.

Most prominently, there are overall a ton of federal races that could decide the makeup of the House and Senate; right now it’s looking like those are going to go Democrat (House is almost a sure thing, Senate is very likely). This could be huge for the homelessness crisis getting more attention. Despite there being a comparable amount of apathy in both parties, the Republican admin and government of the last two years have been explicitly hostile towards the homeless, whereas Democrats would at least try to solve the issue.

In addition to federal elections that could determine control of Congress, the midterms bring a ton of state-level elections which are even more consequential for houseless populations in most cases. Luckily, there are lots of candidates running on affordable housing. For example, Olaleye Onikuyide is a candidate for Connecticut state representative who has run on affordable housing as a central tenet. To be honest, though, there are not many explicitly running to allay the homelessness crisis specifically.

After these upcoming midterms, I am expecting to see the predicted blue wave bring an easing of the dehumanizing treatment of homelessness by a newly blue Congress and the wave extending to state governments. Ultimately, though, it is up to these candidates to wake up and prioritize the issue, even if it isn’t the most politically attractive.